Delaminated Black Box

When we use an application to do the thing we need done, we are often left wondering if the work was done right. Here we explore unwinding application behavior into layers that can be inspected, adjusted, saved and shared as pages within the federated wiki lineup.

See Working Within the Lineup

We've written scripts that traverse hypertext assembling pages into linear order for eventual publication. A style has emerged where a sequential story is surrounded by carefully curated alphabetical supplemental reading called the garden. We found this approach broke down when working with collaborating authors telling their own stories but then assembling a single garden to surround their own experiences within the environment they share.

See Automation as Team Player

Our script was declared a black box. Our authors found they were unsatisfied with the output and left with no idea how to improve it. Our attempt to add additional diagnostic output proved unsuccessful because internal algorithms were themselves a dim memory.

The replacement is a suite of four scripts, each interpreting a page prepared by the previous script and in some cases offering to go deeper into the work of that script before going on. One pair of scripts develops the work of one author, the other pair assembles the garden they will share. expand

Our process has some similarities with scientific research reports where one expects a summary of previous work, new results ready to be used, and then suggestions for next steps.

We find this approach influences our development cycle as we code the production of our next report in small steps that we can validate before its work is done.

This sequence provides an extension of agile iterations where the intended user can take delivering of working parts incrementally. Our users can apply and share their own work in progress and review and assess each new step as it emerges.