workeither

Workeither is a neologism encountered in some software development and productivity discourse. It denotes a dual-path approach to work tasks in which each task is specified with both a primary objective and a built-in fallback or alternative path.

The concept mirrors the logic of the Either or Result types used in programming, which encode a value representing success or failure. Workeither emphasizes planning tasks so they can complete via either outcome, with explicit handling for both possibilities during design, estimation, and automated workflows.

Practically, a workeither task might include two acceptance criteria: if the primary approach succeeds, the team delivers the main artifact; if it fails, the task automatically pivots to a backup plan with minimal rework.

Benefits include greater resilience, clearer contingency planning, and faster recovery from disruption. It also makes risk explicit in task definitions and can improve handoffs between teams.

Critics argue that workeither can introduce extra complexity or ambiguity if not well scoped, and the term remains informal rather than a formal standard. It is mainly used in lightweight planning discussions, design reviews, and some academic discussions about software reliability.

Related concepts include contingency planning, fail-fast, graceful degradation, and the Either monad in functional programming.