Dynamic Permanence
On stability and obsolescence in how we build software.
In software engineering, the "ideal way of working" used to hold its value for years. Teams could invest the effort to establish a workflow, settle into it, and rely on that foundation for a long stretch. Today, AI is fundamentally altering how software is built—and more importantly, it is compressing how long any current best practice stays relevant before the next shift renders it obsolete.
Constant Churn
Reacting to every shift as it happens. The team never settles, stability evaporates, and energy is spent perpetually reconfiguring how work gets done rather than doing the work.
The Rigid State
Locking into a fixed way of working to protect stability, making change hard to push through even after the underlying reality has moved on and made the current approach obsolete.
Do we aim for Permanent Dynamism or Dynamic Permanence?
Permanent Dynamism makes motion the permanent state—a guarantee of endless churn where nothing is ever settled.
Dynamic Permanence anchors on permanence. It is the deliberate practice of maintaining genuine stability for as long as a way of working remains valid—giving teams a solid floor to stand on—while ensuring the organization is never calcified when the moment comes to move on. Stability is preserved while it serves the work, and replaced cleanly when it no longer does.