(2021-04-09) Shorthand For Shaping Work In Progress

Ryan Singer: Shorthand for shaping (work in progress). *Here’s a look at some shorthand I’ve been playing with, early in the shaping process. (ShapeUp)

I use this when I have a bunch of stuff in my head for a design but I don’t know where to start*

So first, I listed the systems that were swimming around in my head.

After they were out of my head, I numbered them to refer to them symbolically

Then, using the numbers, I drew a quick interrelationship diagram. I wrote the numbers in a circle first, then drew arrows to show when doing one thing would make it easier to do another. ((2021-04-09) Singer1UnfoldingTheInterrelationshipDiagram)

The interrelationship diagram is never perfect. It just has to be good enough to give me ideas about sequence — what to do in what order. Now I see the mixed pool (2) and ceremony (5) as the starting points for everything else.

That decision helped me think about what to sketch. To represent what the sketch should do, I wrote this description

Now that I had a defined concept of what to sketch, I sketched it:

The “ceremony” is the new dedicated screen (on the right) for creating a project of different possible types.

Now I felt I knew where I was. I had a place to start adding in the third type and options for start/end dates. So I took a swing at (5 • 1 • 4), which would be a plug replacement for (5 ¬ (1 • 4)).

There are probably dozens of other ways to represent this. The point isn’t to find the perfect way or the One True Way. The point is just to get some handle on what I’m doing so I know where I am, understand how the parts in my head fit together, and feel confident about where to go next.