System Diagram Blueprints
We don't start from scratch — use the best blueprint of what works then evolve based on needs and desires. What are the most useful patterns for maximally effective communication of intent and function?
| Pattern | Question | Pull | Story |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents & Instruments | How do agents orchestrate? | When agents and instruments are visible, good intentions become architecturally verifiable | A&ID Loop |
| Outcome Map | What does success look like? | When outcomes are clear, every decision has a setpoint | The VVFL |
| Value Stream Map | Where's the waste? | When waste is visible, removing it feels inevitable | — |
| Dependency Map | What must happen first? | When sequence is clear, the right next step is obvious | — |
| Capability Map | What can we do? | When readiness is honest, ambition serves rather than blinds | — |
Run the four maps as an evidence chain when redesigning a business flow. The maps make the outcome, current stream, hard dependencies, and available capabilities visible; Business Process Re-engineering owns the decision to replace the process rather than improve it incrementally. | 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 makes patterns actionable | — | | Confidence Matrix | Are you doing the right thing without choice? | When enforcement tiers are visible, discipline stops substituting for structure | — |
Principles
Blank patterns waiting for inspiration. Each one is a structured gap — dots on a page. Connect them to reveal the shape. Fill in the spaces to make it yours.
Context
- Matrix Thinking — Patterns are the instrument, matrix thinking is the method
- Business Patterns — The same concept applied to venture economics
- 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?
- 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?