"Never again" is Rob Coleman's private vow after a prior savings deck became a layoff. He believed careful framing would prevent the same outcome. The acquisition does not care about his framing. The vow is the backstory that explains why Rob is so careful with language throughout Redundant — and why the weaponization of his data hits him so hard.

How the term evolves

Redundant: Rob's backstory — the promise he made to himself after the last time his data was used to justify layoffs.

Essential: The vow evolves into the condition set itself — Rob's determination to build a system that prevents the weaponization of technical data.

See also