Monday. The brief hangs on the wall like a crest: problem fixed, scope sealed, surprises unwelcome. Sequence is religion. First the question, then the answer. Anything else is called scope creep.
Wednesday. The first graspable thing sits on the table — crooked, too heavy, somehow right. Suddenly the problem was never the problem. Nobody strikes the sheet on the wall. Everyone says «better understood». Meaning: the question has migrated with it.
What moved is in no status line: the assumption of who hurts; the measure of what «done» means; the border of what still fits. The solution did not only answer. It rewrote the question.
Friday. Two documents in the room. On the wall: the frozen hypothesis with letterhead. On the table: the pair that still holds — problem and solution in the same drift. Scope without migration is delivery; migration without mooring is facilitation. Design begins where both may change direction together.
