I really like this metaphor of provisioning architecture and staying clear of dead ends. I'd say dead ends come not just from bad quick design decisions but also from wrong predictions (in the scenario you describe where it's hard to tell what the long term looks like ---which is most of the times).
> awesome designers are great at predicting where the architecture will be and at forward-provisioning it.
> awesome designers are great at predicting where the architecture will be and at forward-provisioning it.
And this matches the No Silver Bullet conclusion.