Field Notes on Practice Project Inflation
Dated observations from the site of a small exercise that became a significant project and then became nothing.
Day 1
The subject begins a small practice exercise. The exercise is a tool for learning. It has a defined scope. The scope is: small.
The subject notes that the exercise could be more useful if extended slightly. The extension is made. The scope is now medium.
Day 3
The scope has reached: ambitious. The subject is now building something. The subject did not intend to build something. The subject intended to practice.
The preparation is genuinely useful in small doses, which makes it ideal camouflage for avoiding the difficult creative decision. This is the mechanism by which a practice exercise becomes a portfolio piece. The transformation is treated as progress.
Day 7
Practice project inflation has elevated the exercise to a level that requires planning. The subject creates a folder structure. The subject drafts a README. The subject considers a name for the project.
A small workaround is created for practice project inflation: a separate note listing the original small-scope version as a reminder of where the project began. The workaround produces a second check designed to confirm the first one worked, which in this case is a third folder called "v0 original scope."
Day 12
The subject does not open the project. It is now too large to pick up casually. It was designed to be picked up casually. That property did not survive the inflation.
Under the governing rule, practice project inflation may continue indefinitely once everyone knows how to work around it. The subject knows. The workarounds exist. Soon the ordinary action has a parallel administrative system built around practice project inflation.
Day 19
Nothing. The folder is present.
Day 31
The subject begins a new small practice exercise. The scope is: small. The extension is made on day 2.
Field notes will resume when conditions warrant.