[jph]

The core thesis is "I believe principles should not stifle progress".

It turns out that people can have very different kind of principles in mind.

Some principles are primarily ethical, such as "Make our product work for people with disabilities, because it's the right thing to do".

Some principles are primarily legal, such as "Encrypt data at rest and in motion, because we don't want compliance problems".

Some principles are primarily practical, such as "Bias for action: if you're 80% sure, and you decision is easy to reverse, then proceed."

[hosh]

There are the deeper principles that are broadly applicable in many fields, generate new practices, and applicable in creative and versatile ways.

[omnimike]

I interpreted this post completely differently. I think it is talking specifically about design principles for code/systems. The core thesis appears to be "principles should be based on what works in practice, not what sounds good in theory."