TL;DR
Architecture decisions that compound across years on production WordPress: object cache strategy, plugin governance, custom blocks vs. shortcodes, headless thresholds, observability.
Who this is for
Identify the reader by role and context. Specific is better than universal.
The framework
The decision tree, model, or principle this guide teaches. State it once, plainly, before walking through.
Step 1 — Audit the existing surface
What to look at first. The cheap signals that tell you whether the deeper work is worth doing.
Step 2 — Decide on a posture
The opinionated choice the framework forces. Don’t be wishy-washy — that’s what makes a guide useful.
Step 3 — Implement
Concrete actions, in order. Code snippets, screenshots, link to the repo.
Anti-patterns
What not to do, with real examples. The list of “I see this monthly and it never works.”