# The 26 Principles, Revisited — #19: Optionality Architecture — What I Said, and What’s Actually Happening
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## Article Content
Part of my “26 Principles, Revisited” series — checking my own math, nine months into the year I predicted. Throw out the roadmap. Build a portfolio of instant pivots instead. Day 19 argued for replacing rigid, multi-year roadmaps with a deliberately built set of live options you can activate fast — committing to a direction, not a fixed path. The organizations navigating AI uncertainty best in 2026 are the ones that treated their AI strategy as a portfolio of small, reversible bets rather than a single locked-in roadmap — which is exactly why so many of the defunded projects from Principle #7 were the rigid, all-in ones, not the flexible ones. Verdict: Held up — the flexible bets are visibly outperforming the locked-in ones. Next up: Principle #20, Network Velocity — revisited.

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Source: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/10/the-26-principles-revisited-19-optionality-architecture-what-i-said-and-whats-actually-happening/