PS-REP-178 · r1
REPRESENTATION
OBSERVED
ENGAGED
LEGIBLE OR CREDIBLE
Simplify it enough to be followed and the people who would know stop believing it.
01 DEFINITION
Condition in which a working arrangement is depicted for readers who understand the domain, so every simplification that makes the depiction followable removes something those readers were using to judge whether it is real, and the two demands rise against each other.
02 CONDITIONS
UNCERTAINTY
CONFLICTING
Two complete accounts of what the depiction should be are present and cannot both be met.
TIME PRESSURE
LOW
There is time to decide, and having it does not make the decision easier.
ERROR ASYMMETRY
ASYMMETRIC
Losing the audience and losing their belief are different failures with different remedies.
OPERATOR STATE
DEDICATED
The reader is giving this their attention, which is why omissions are noticed at all.
03 WHERE IT APPEARS
MEDICALA device explained to clinicians must be simple enough to follow and detailed enough that a clinician does not dismiss it.
INDUSTRIALEquipment shown to engineers is judged on the details a clear diagram removes first.
FINANCEA method presented to people who build such methods is read for what has been left out.
AI EXP.An account of how a system reaches an answer is either followed or believed, and the version that is followed is the version specialists distrust.
CONSTRUCTIONA rendering shown to people who build is assessed on the joins a rendering smooths.
DEFENSEA depiction prepared for readers who operate such arrangements is checked against what they already know of them.
04 WHAT AEON WORKED THROUGH HERE
The audience knew the domain, so the picture had to be followable by them and survive their inspection at the same time. Reproducing the real arrangement lost the argument; smoothing it lost the audience. The work went into which details were carrying belief rather than meaning, and into holding those at full weight while the rest gave way.
The question it keeps returning to is which details are load-bearing for belief rather than for understanding — they are not the same details, and the ones carrying belief are usually the first a clear picture would drop.