Trackers
Three running lists in planning/ hold candidates — quick, lean task notes that aren't on a board or in the queue. Each is a different stance on not-yet-done work — keep an item in the one that matches its stance, and move it when the stance changes. Phases pull from them at open; side phases usually sweep several at once. Keep the notes lean: an item that bloats, or a cluster of connected items, is a phase trying to be born — pull it out.
- Holds
- Known small fixes (≤30 min)
- Unit
- the fix
- Leaves when
- Removed when fixed — the commit is the record
- Holds
- Unanswered questions blocking future work
- Unit
- the question
- Leaves when
- Compressed to a one-line pointer when resolved
- Holds
- Known directions waiting for a trigger
- Unit
- the trigger
- Leaves when
- Removed when shipped (archive is the record), or promoted when the trigger fires
How work flows
- 1An Open Question resolves → it becomes a Future Consideration (direction now known, trigger pending), a punch-list item (small fix), a phase (coordinated work), or just a decision recorded in its home doc.
- 2A Future Consideration's trigger fires → it promotes out to the punch list, a phase board, or feature scope.
- 3A punch-list item grows past ~30 min or sprouts an open design call → it promotes to a phase board (or to Open Questions if the open part is a question).
- 4Any of them, once it's multi-task with real design thinking → opens a phase (the rows leave the tracker; the board gets the cohesive chunk).
- 5Any of them, needed sooner than later → gets a seed on the queue, or opens a board directly, depending on how soon it'll be picked up.
None of these is an archive. When an item is done it leaves — removed, or compressed to a pointer at its home doc / phase archive. Reassessment is ritualized at phase open (scan for overlap + fired triggers) and phase close (prune shipped, compress resolved). Don't let finished items accumulate behind banners or strikethroughs — that bloat is the thing these rules exist to prevent.