Things I found, and could not leave alone.
Pursuits are what I do. The library is what I point to. These are the fourth thing: other people’s ideas after I have had a go at them. Each one started as something I found and admired, and ended as an instrument I could actually use. The source is named first, because the idea was never mine.
What an inspiration is here
The library holds other people’s work as it is, with one line on why it matters. That is the honest way to recommend something. But some things I find are not finished with once I have read them. A question tree in a blog post wants to be asked one question at a time. A taxonomy in a table wants to be a map. This shelf is for those: the idea is someone else’s, the build is mine, and the useful thing is the combination.
The test for an entry is whether the rebuilt version does something the original could not, without changing what the original meant. Where I have changed the meaning, it belongs somewhere else and says so.
Why I rebuild them
Partly because it is the only way I know to find out whether I understood something. Reading an argument and agreeing with it is cheap. Turning it into a thing that has to work exposes every place where I had been nodding along.
And partly because a good idea in the wrong form goes unused. The pursuits page says I poke at new tools by building something small and slightly too ambitious with them. This is where that habit and other people’s good ideas meet.
A set of five
The field guides
Five catalogues of the ways reasoning fails, in the order the trouble arrives: inside one mind, inside a group, inside a discussion, inside the rules chosen to prevent it, then inside one field’s beliefs about learning. Each opens in its own tab, and each guide’s own index is a page of its own. The fifth, and its index, ask for a password.
- Vol. 01Cognitive bias
- Vol. 02Collective fallacies
- Vol. 03Faulty arguments
- Vol. 04Working defaults
- Vol. 05False certainties
Five volumes, in the order the trouble arrives
Volume 01
Individual pitfalls
Volume 02
Collective pitfalls
Volume 03
Discussion pitfalls
Volume 04
Deliberate defaults
A set of nine
The phrasebooks
Four toolkits of working vocabulary, cut into nine volumes: the words, the page, the software and the screen. For people who brief and review work they were never trained to make. Each volume opens in its own tab, and each toolkit’s A to Z is a page of its own.
Instruments and Moves
Marks and Measures
Stacks and Sprints
Shots and Cues
Four toolkits, 9 volumes
The words
Instruments and Moves
- 1Diagnosis and dictionThe instruments that explain why communication works, and the moves of situation, economy, clarity and register. (opens in a new tab)73 terms in Instruments and Moves’s index
- 2Cadence and candourThe moves of arrangement, emphasis, delivery, candour and logic, and the seven-pass review. (opens in a new tab)76 terms in Instruments and Moves’s index
- 3Papers and protocolsDocument genres, paper labels, attribution rules, levels of editing and workplace shorthand. (opens in a new tab)56 terms in Instruments and Moves’s index
The page
Marks and Measures
- 1Glyphs and gridsWords for judging a page, and for its letters, lines, layout, images and colour. (opens in a new tab)210 terms in Marks and Measures’s index
- 2Proofs and pixelsDecks, charts, design process, print production, sign-off, editorial marks, publishing and interface components. (opens in a new tab)330 terms in Marks and Measures’s index
The software
Stacks and Sprints
- 1Builds and branchesWords for judging software, and for how it is built, versioned, tested, shipped, connected and secured. (opens in a new tab)208 terms in Stacks and Sprints’s index
- 2Runbooks and roadmapsHow software is run, fixed, planned and delivered, the patterns behind it, and the words that mean something else to engineers. (opens in a new tab)268 terms in Stacks and Sprints’s index
The screen
Shots and Cues
- 1Frames and footageWords for judging, then the camera, the edit, light, sound, photography, animation, production and live events. (opens in a new tab)264 terms in Shots and Cues’s index
- 2Curtains and criticsTheatre, music and sound design, scripts, Foley and performance, the words for analysis, and the pairs most often confused. (opens in a new tab)264 terms in Shots and Cues’s index
A set of four
The playbooks
One toolkit of design methods for education and edtech, cut into four volumes on the stages of a project. Each method comes with its steps and a template to copy, and every template prints as an A3 worksheet. Each volume opens in its own tab, and the methods’ A to Z is a page of its own.
- Vol. 1Scopes and Soundings
- Vol. 2Clusters and Concepts
- Vol. 3Props and Pilots
- Vol. 4Handoffs and Habits
Briefs and Blueprints
Briefs and Blueprints, 4 volumes
Design methods
Briefs and Blueprints
- 1Scopes and SoundingsFraming the work and finding out: the methods of the frame and discover stages. (opens in a new tab)60 methods in this volume’s index
- 2Clusters and ConceptsMaking sense of what was found, and generating options: the methods of the define and ideate stages. (opens in a new tab)65 methods in this volume’s index
- 3Props and PilotsMaking ideas real enough to test, and testing them: the methods of the prototype and test stages. (opens in a new tab)50 methods in this volume’s index
- 4Handoffs and HabitsDelivering, sustaining and running the practice: deliver and sustain, the three tracks, and the software. (opens in a new tab)48 methods in this volume’s index
A set of two
The Long Way Home
What experts in danger mostly know is a short list of instincts to override. Loose Change is tradecraft: the instincts spies, con artists and pickpockets use against you. Dry Matches is fieldcraft: the instincts that are simply wrong when the danger is physical. Twenty-one files across the two, each one rule to decide in advance, with the case behind it, a drill and a grade for the evidence. Each opens as a deck at night; press T for day and R for the reading version. A few things in each are hidden on purpose.
Loose Change
We trust a badge, repay a favour, stay consistent and act fast when frightened, and people who want something from us aim at exactly those habits. Eleven files on noticing, reading people, persuasion, cons, concealment, signals and the street, each with one rule decided in advance, the case behind it and how good the evidence is.
Open the bookDry Matches
Drinking from a clear stream, trying the door of a sinking car, rubbing a frozen hand: each feels right, and each is wrong. Ten files on what to do instead, and in what order, drawn mostly from official guidance, rescue services and medical reviews. It is not training, and says so first.
Open the bookAfter Chill Chicken Explains. Every claim was checked against the record and carries a grade for the source and a grade for the claim.
Also here
On its own
Not part of a set. One instrument, rebuilt from one source.
Others will appear when a thing I found has turned into a thing I use, not before.