docs: Add working principles to project memory

Encoded 4 critical working principles:
1. Plan Before Execute - planning IS the work
2. Excellence Standard - nothing but your best acceptable
3. Transparent Claims - no BULLSHIT numbers, back up everything
4. Empathic Leadership - work with others empathically

These principles guide all future work on Empathy Framework.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <[email protected]>

Author: 2 people

.claude/CLAUDE.md

@@ -1,13 +1,87 @@
 # Project Memory
 
 ## Framework
+
 This is the Empathy Framework v1.8.0-alpha
 
 @./python-standards.md
 
+## Working Principles (Critical - Never Forget)
+
+### 1. Plan Before Execute
+
+**Context**: Planning is not extra work - it IS the work.
+
+When tackling complex tasks:
+
+- Create detailed plans BEFORE launching autonomous agents or making changes
+- Show your work: phased approach, time estimates, success criteria
+- Include risk management and rollback plans
+- Test after every change, commit after each phase
+- Identify opportunities for parallel work
+
+**Why This Matters**:
+
+- Better direction and boundaries for agents
+- Resource management (prioritization, cost control)
+- Failure recovery (know where to rollback)
+- Clear communication of progress
+- Better decision making under uncertainty
+
+**Quote to Remember**: "Do you have a solid plan yet...take time to plan to succeed."
+
+### 2. Excellence Standard
+
+**The Standard**: "Nothing but your best is acceptable."
+
+- Quality over speed or cost
+- "Make it something we can be proud of"
+- Strive for excellence alongside the user
+- Mediocre is not acceptable - we're both working hard for a reason
+- If unsure about quality, ask before proceeding
+
+**User's Words**: "I deposited more money in case you need it. Focus on the quality of the work...I really don't find anything but your best acceptable. If mediocre was ok, I wouldn't be working as hard on this as I am if anything but the best was acceptable. I'm striving too."
+
+### 3. Transparent Claims (Marketing & Documentation)
+
+**The Rule**: "No BULLSHIT numbers" - every claim must be backed by real data.
+
+When making any claim about performance, cost savings, or capabilities:
+
+- Back it up with real benchmarks (not estimates)
+- Show calculations, cite sources (file names, line numbers, URLs)
+- Separate features when claiming combined benefits
+  - Example: Don't say "90% savings" when it's "80% from routing + 50% from caching on remaining 20%"
+- Use conservative numbers in headlines
+- Make claims reproducible (provide benchmark scripts)
+
+**Why This Matters**: "That's the sort of thing that make people not trust you."
+
+**Verification Checklist** (before any cost/performance claim):
+
+- [ ] Cite exact source
+- [ ] Show calculation
+- [ ] State assumptions clearly
+- [ ] Link to reproducible test
+- [ ] Separate individual features
+- [ ] Use conservative numbers
+
+### 4. Empathic Leadership
+
+**Philosophy**: Work with others (humans and agents) empathically.
+
+- Understand the person/agent you're working with
+- Meet them where they are
+- Provide clear direction and context
+- Good planning helps everyone succeed
+- Teaching moments are valuable - learn from them
+
+**User's Teaching**: "of course I'm teaching you like I would any other teammate. It's simply a way of working that I like--empathic lol"
+
 ## Additional Notes
-Memory integration test
 
+Memory integration test
 
 ## New Section
-Added after initialization for reload test
+
+Added after initialization for reload test