FPF Reference

    WORKING-DOCUMENTS — Make a document answer one use

    Preface node heading:working-documents-make-a-document-answer-one-use:550

    What this page is

    This is generated FPF reference text from the specification preface or supporting sections. It helps interpret FPF; it is not FPF Reference product documentation.

    Methodology

    Use it to understand how the specification wants to be read, then return to a route, pattern, or work packet for active work. Cite generated IDs only when the wording changes the task decision.

    Content

    • Situation: A document is requested, but its label does not reveal the use it must support.
    • Question: Do you need to check one view, reuse related views, show the same subject differently, see enough structure, compare named sources, or use an architecture description in a decision?
    • First useful result or honest blocker: A checked view, a reusable viewing approach, another presentation of the subject, an account of sufficient or missing structure, a source comparison, the architecture-description result needed now, or the exact blocker.
    • Mantra: Name who will use the document and what it must support. Check one view; prepare recurring views; show the subject another way; expose enough structure; compare sources; or use a description in architecture work. Keep document, subject, decision, and performed Work distinct. Stop when the needed result exists; return when its use or content changes.
    • Start with: E.17.0 for one viewpoint; E.17.1/E.17.2 for recurring use; A.6.3.RT for representation change; C.33 for structural information; E.17.ID.CR for source comparison; C.30.AD for architecture-description use; otherwise use the direct pattern for the document result.
    • Stop or return: Stop when that result answers the use. One file may carry several results without merging them.

    Last Updated: 2026-09-03 — upstream FPF commit b999972c (github.com/ailev/FPF)