Be selective and intentional with configuration choices to avoid bloat and unnecessary complexity. This applies to build configurations, development environment settings, and dependency management. Key practices: - Exclude unnecessary directories and files from build processes to improve performance - Make optional development features configurable rather than enabled by default - Avoid introducing new dependencies unless existing solutions cannot fulfill requirements - Document optional configurations clearly so developers can enable them when needed Example from TypeScript configuration: ```json "exclude": [ "**/node_modules/**", "**/.next/**" ] ``` This approach reduces build times, keeps development environments lean, and minimizes maintenance overhead while ensuring configurations remain focused on actual project needs.