“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” isn't a children's book.

“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” isn't a children's book.
It's a business principle.

If you give the mouse a cookie,
he wants a glass of milk.

If you give him milk,
he wants a napkin.

...and so on.

Each request is revealed over time, not all at once.
Each completed request exposes the next.

Most work follows this exact pattern.

We tell ourselves:
“If we just ship this feature…”
“If we just hit that milestone…”
“If we just fix this problem…”

And then we do.
Immediately, something new appears.

Progress creates clarity.
This is why iteration matters.

Yes, better planning helps. Anticipating needs will help.
But trying to anticipate everything upfront is usually a mistake, not a strength.
A bug, not a feature.

Too much planning can become procrastination.
• Scope creeps
• Projects bloat
• Velocity slows to a crawl

The lesson isn’t to stop giving cookies.
It’s to stop pretending the story ends there.

Instead of chasing a final requirement,
what if we built systems ready to respond to the next one?