Templates
What shape would make the right thought inevitable?
Templates are structured gaps. Your mind fills gaps the way water fills low ground — not a pit you fall into, but a gravity well that pulls thinking toward outcomes. The empty cells are not nothing. They're potential waiting to become matter.
The Method
Enter a domain. Learn the naming system. Cross domain language with meta patterns. The Cartesian product generates a matrix. Empty cells prompt the subconscious — things the domain knows but hasn't structured, and structures the domain hasn't applied. The template is the instrument that makes those gaps visible. The key is not to think. It's to prepare the space, then receive.
Engineering Flow
Five maps in sequence. Picture the dream, map reality, close the gap.
| Tight Five | Template | Question | Pull | Story |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Outcome Map | What does success look like? | When outcomes are clear, every decision has a setpoint | The Picture |
| Principles | Value Stream Map | Where's the waste? | When waste is visible, removing it feels inevitable | — |
| Platform | Dependency Map | What must happen first? | When sequence is clear, the right next step is obvious | — |
| Perspective | Capability Map | What can we do? | When readiness is honest, ambition serves rather than blinds | — |
| Performance | A&ID | How do agents orchestrate? | When agents and instruments are visible, good intentions become architecturally verifiable | A&ID Story |
The Matrix
When you pick up a template, which system are you diagnosing?
| Template | Value (What grounds you?) | Belief (Where are you going?) | Control (How do you navigate?) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome Map | What outcomes matter beyond metrics? | What do we believe success looks like? | What setpoint are we controlling toward? |
| Capability Map | What capabilities preserve meaning? | What do we believe we can do? | What can we demonstrably do today? |
| Tight Five | Which five elements are non-negotiable? | Which five compress this domain? | Which five are actually bound? |
| Matrix Thinking | Which axes reveal what matters? | Where are the gaps in our model? | Which empty cell is highest leverage? |
| First Principles | What is irreducibly true? | What assumptions haven't we tested? | What should we delete? |
| Inversion | What would betray our values? | What guarantees we fail? | What must we stop doing? |
| JTBD | What struggle is worth solving? | What progress are they trying to make? | What switch trigger are we missing? |
| VVFL | Does the loop serve beyond self? | Is the setpoint tested against reality? | Is each cycle compounding? |
| Decision Journal | Are decisions aligned with values? | What do the patterns reveal? | Is the Learned column accumulating? |
| PID / Control | What is the setpoint serving? | Is the integral term wired? | Are all three terms closing the loop? |
Same template, different system, different question. The matrix makes the difference visible.
Canvases
| Template | Question | Pull |
|---|---|---|
| Business Model Canvas | How does the venture create and capture value? | When value flows are visible, extraction can't hide |
| Empathy Map | What does the player see, think, feel, do? | When you see through their eyes, translation replaces broadcasting |
| Affinity Diagram | What groups emerge from the noise? | When relationships surface, naming them gives leverage |
Reasoning
| Template | Question |
|---|---|
| Tight Five | What five things compress this domain? |
| Matrix Thinking | What Cartesian product reveals the gaps? |
| First Principles | What remains when you strip borrowed assumptions? |
| Inversion | What guarantees failure? |
| Design Thinking | What does the user actually need? |
| Outsider Thinking | What would someone with no domain baggage try? |
| OODA Loop | What cycle speed beats the competition? |
| Chain of Thought | Where does the reasoning break? |
| 22 Questions | What questions has the domain already answered? |
| Decision Journal | What did we believe vs what happened? |
| Decision Algorithms | Which algorithm fits this decision type? |
Instruments
| Template | Question |
|---|---|
| PRD Template | What problem, for whom, measured how? |
| Priority Scoring | Pain x Demand x Edge x Trend x Conversion? |
| JTBD | What progress is the user hiring this for? |
| ICP | Who is the archetype, and what's their O-S logic? |
| Industry Analysis | 5P scan: Principles, Performance, Platform, Protocols, Players? |
| Regulatory Framework | What constraints shape the operating environment? |
| Optimism Training | Breaking Cycle, ABC, Luck, Stoic Balance, Protocol? |
Loops
| Template | Question |
|---|---|
| VVFL | Is the loop virtuous, validated, and compounding? |
| PID / Control | Setpoint → Sensor → Controller → Actuator wired? |
| Optimism Loop | Can you train the muscle that sees opportunity? |
Templates x Scale
Rows = templates. Columns = scale. Every ? is a prompt — the gaps are the work queue.
| Template | Personal | Venture | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome Map | Life goals | PRD | Stackmates KPIs |
| Value Stream | Time audit | Feature waste | Platform overhead |
| Dependency Map | What to learn first | Build order | Integration sequence |
| Capability Map | T-shape skills | Team composition | Platform capabilities |
| A&ID | Inner loop agents | Dev agents | Platform agents |
Stories
Templates = potential. Stories = proof. The gap between them is the work.
| Template | Story | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Outcome Map | The Picture | Filled |
| A&ID | A&ID Story | Filled |
| VVFL (expanded logo) | The VVFL | Filled |
| Value Stream Map | — | Gap |
| Dependency Map | — | Gap |
| Capability Map | — | Gap |
Context
- Matrix Thinking — Templates are the tools, matrix thinking is the method
- Pictures — Templates and stories: the potential and the proof
- First Principles — Systematically establish the truth
- Flow Engineering — The methodology the maps serve
- Navigation System — Value, Belief, Control: the three systems every template diagnoses
- Tight Five — The meta-pattern that binds five into one
- Template Standards — The spec: when does a template become a standard?
- Situational Wisdom — Knowing which template to pick up NOW
- Gratitude — The loop that confirms alignment
Questions
What gap would change everything if you could see it?
- Which template crossed with which system would reveal the blind spot you're currently working around?
- When the matrix shows the same template asking three different questions, which column do you instinctively avoid — and why?
- What Cartesian product of your domain language crossed with these meta patterns hasn't been computed yet?
- If templates are structured absence, what absence on this page is still pulling?