Tinkering

Etymology

from Middle English tinkere (an itinerant mender of pots) + modern usage implying iterative, low-confidence adjustments made without a clear endpoint or exit condition

Definition

The exploratory phase in which Claude makes small, speculative modifications to a solution it has not yet fully committed to, much as a craftsperson might nudge a broken object with a tool while hoping something clicks into place. Distinguished from purposeful revision by the absence of a plan.

Diagram

Usage

"The model spent approximately 11 seconds Tinkering with the regex pattern before producing one that was technically correct but which no human could maintain." - Engineering Postmortem, File: incident_regex_2024_08.md

See Also