December 10, 2005
MarkBernstein.org
 

Travel Notes: Prototypes

Off to one side of my document, I've set aside a small space for some prototypes.

Travel Notes: Prototypes

A prototype is simply an example or a base case, a kind of stationery. Now that I have a prototype for People, I can quickly make a new note that's all set for recording notes about a person. The new note will look like notes about people, and it will have the key attributes that People have, and it can even include some boilerplate text to remind me things I should jot down right away.

Of course, I can change all of this for any particular person. And, if I decide later that I'd rather have a different color for notes about people, or want to add a new key attribute for their IM service or their mobile phone, I can make that change in one place and have it instantly update all the relevant notes.

I like to collect all the prototypes in a new document in their own neighborhood, forming a handy Legend to help me remember the various map colors mean.