> Here's the dangerous way I put it that I only tell senior people: understand why rules were made and make sure the people who made them would be happy.

If you aren't absolutely sure those senior people know what they're doing, the this is a great way to end up with originalism.

Frankly, most corporations do not last long enough for this to be a problem. Governments are their own issue, but without the political inertia and staying power of a nation-state, your organization will likely be long dead (or at least irrelevant and dying) before interpretations will drift that far. Most of the time, for most engineers, at least some of the people who made these rules in the first place are still around -- which helps ensure that nothing drifts too too far.

Of course there are exceptions, probably even upwards of 20% of the time, but we're talking generalities.