Field Notes · Layer 04
Strategic Frameworks
Working models for hard decisions. Each begins with a diagram, then explains itself.
A framework is a method, not a theory. It exists to help someone make a better decision under real constraints. Each one begins with a figure that does the first teaching.
The library
Working models · written as they prove out
01
The Two Battles
One earns the choice. The other earns the loyalty.
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02
Pole Positioning
Why categories converge, and how to occupy a position that resists the pull. Tested across eighteen categories.
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03
Continuum Thinking
Reality rarely comes in two options. It comes in a range.
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04
Unity and Variety
Every system lives between sameness and difference. The art is choosing where.
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05
Elements
Every medium is built from primitives. Name them and you can compose.
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06
Principles
Rules eliminate judgment. Principles require it.
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07
Principles as Families of Techniques
Each principle is a dial, and every technique is a setting on it.
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08
Semantics
How symbols come to mean anything at all.
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09
Syntax
Same parts, different order, different meaning.
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10
Pragmatics
The same message, two contexts, two meanings.
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11
The Construction of Meaning
Meaning is not inside the object. It is assembled in the mind.
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12
Cognitive Load
Effort is not the enemy. Unmanaged effort is.
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13
Color
Every color choice is a position on the unity-variety line.
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