3-part model to document systems
The accounting system distinguishes three things:
- The journal: a sequential log of events with economic impact.
- The P&L: the time-bound result of activity — what was produced and consumed.
- The balance sheet: a snapshot of the whole at a given point in time.
This maps surprisingly well to how we build systems.
The journal becomes the log of actions we take while building.
The P&L maps to releases — discrete increments of value delivered.
The balance sheet is the artifact itself — the system as it exists at a specific moment.
Each requires a different kind of documentation:
- Journal → a sequential log of entries
- Release → what changed relative to previous versions
- Artifact → a complete description of the current system
While building my Personal Context System, I need to feed LLMs with context. Since LLMs are stateless, they must be initialized with the current state. The artifact documentation is the most effective for this.
That realization exposed a problem: my journal documentation is bloated and doing work it shouldn’t.
I suspect this three-part model is also useful for organizing work more broadly—but that needs further thought.