Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M0978

Inner Platform Effect

Inner Platform Effect
SystemsHigh supportSystems Theory
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

In pursuit of 'flexibility', designers create a complex configuration system that becomes so intricate it essentially becomes a poor, incomplete replica of an operating system or programming language.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Anti-over-abstraction. Don't try to make everything configurable. When you find users needing to write scripts in your software to accomplish tasks, you've gone too far.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Excessive pursuit of 'flexibility' causes the configuration system to balloon to the point of nearly reimplementing a language/OS, but with far inferior quality compared to real tools. The mechanism is 'replacing mature, general-purpose tools with crude, self-made ones', which is both hard to use and hard to maintain.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-platform_effectZH · Explicit
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