Assumption drift occurs when systems continue to operate under conditions they were never designed for, because the assumptions that once justified them are no longer examined. Legacy is not age; it is misalignment.
Has the operating environment changed while governance cadence stayed the same?
Are people rewarded for preserving the system rather than questioning expired assumptions?
Has convenience replaced understanding of underlying mechanics and failure modes?
Are costs delayed, redistributed, or hidden until success makes them unavoidable?
Does the organization assume it can exit dependencies later at acceptable cost?
ADLAF is used for learning, diagnosis, and interpretation—not prescriptions. It restores the ability to reason clearly about evolution before modernization becomes crisis response.