C.40.NP:4.4 - Distinguish reuse, recursion and growth

An adequate way can be reused without changing it. Select improvement of the developing means when a new limitation or opportunity makes that change worthwhile. To claim recursion, trace how an improved means contributes to a subsequent improvement: a new error-analysis Method changes construction of the next learning task, or a prepared practitioner changes preparation of the next practitioner. Merely applying a corrected instruction to its usual task shows use, not this further relation.

Characterize what has become attainable: a new problem class, a previously unavailable combination of quality and cost, a stronger way of constructing questions, or an improved capacity to obtain further changes. Keep the original result and the investment in future change visible. Preparing another contributor can temporarily reduce current output while making a valuable continuation possible.

Use the mechanisms appropriate to the subject. Software may permit restoration of a previous version; human experience, changed authority and damaged work relationships cannot be rolled back by replacing a file. Limited trials, parallel work, revised commitments and recovery of necessary functions need their own subject Methods. A cross-subject analogy identifies a question, not its mechanism.

Where criteria change, retain the earlier result and explain the new question. A better score under changed criteria is not evidence that the subject improved. If quantities are not comparable, state the acquired possibility and its conditions directly. Qualify the observed transitions and retained means; do not extrapolate finite success into guaranteed endless development.