When developing specifications -- and the drivers themselves -- we follow the following principles:
Drivers attempt to provide the easiest way to work with MongoDB in a given language ecosystem, while specifications attempt to provide a consistent behavior and experience across all languages. Drivers should strive to be as idiomatic as possible while meeting the specification and staying true to the original intent.
Too many choices stress out users. Whenever possible, we aim to minimize the number of configuration options exposed to users. In particular, if a typical user would have no idea how to choose a correct value, we pick a good default instead of adding a knob.
Users test and deploy against different topologies or might scale up from replica sets to sharded clusters. Applications should never need to use the driver differently based on topology type.
The features available to users depend on a server's version, topology, storage engine and configuration. So that drivers don't need to code and test all possible variations, and to maximize forward compatibility, always let users attempt operations and let the server error when it can't comply. Exceptions should be rare: for cases where the server might not error and correctness is at stake.
Administrative helpers are methods for admin tasks, like user creation. These are rarely used and have maintenance costs as the server changes the administrative API. Don't create administrative helpers; let users rely on "RunCommand" for administrative commands.
When determining server capabilities within the driver, rely only on the maxWireVersion in the hello response, not on the X.Y.Z server version. An exception is testing server development releases, as the server bumps wire version early and then continues to add features until the GA.
Specs guide our work. While there are occasionally valid technical reasons for drivers to differ in their behavior, avoid encouraging it with a wishy-washy "SHOULD" instead of a more assertive "MUST".
While we have some idea of what the server will do in the future, don't design features with those expectations in mind. Design and implement based on what is expected in the next release.
Case Study: In designing OP_MSG, we held off on designing support for Document Sequences in Replies in drivers until the server would support it. We subsequently decided not to implement that feature in the server.
For any unusual case, relying on documentation or anecdote to anticipate the server's behavior in different versions/topologies/etc. is error-prone. The best way to check the server's behavior is to use a driver or the shell and test it directly.
Drivers should follow X.Y.Z versioning, where breaking API changes require a bump to X. See semver.org for more.
Backward breaking behavior changes can be more dangerous and disruptive than backward breaking API changes. When thinking about the implications of a behavior change, ask yourself what could happen if a user upgraded your library without carefully reading the changelog and/or adequately testing the change.