Process

I work in three movements: a gathering phase, a shaping phase, and a finishing phase. They are not strictly sequential. Each project pulses through them at different cadences. But naming them helps.

Gathering

The gathering phase is when I am most likely to be mistaken for someone doing nothing. I read; I sit with notes; I let the problem expand to its full size before I try to bound it. The point is not productivity — it is to assemble enough material that the shaping phase has something to shape. Cut this short and you spend the next two phases improvising material you wish you’d already gathered.

Shaping

The shaping phase is the part everyone recognises as work. Drafts. Discards. The slow conversion of raw material into a thing that has structure. Most of my mistakes happen here, and most of my recoveries. I try to keep a single rule: the shape should fit the material, not the other way around. If the shape is fighting the material, the shape is wrong.

Finishing

Finishing is the easiest to skip and the most expensive to skip. It is the bit where the work earns its place — the proof-reading, the polish, the deliberate presentation. People who skip finishing build a reputation for half-built things. I try to give finishing at least one full day, no matter how small the project. A good finish is the difference between I made this and here is something I made you.