Provisional Order on Portfolio Update Avoidance
The finished work is ready to be shown as soon as the presentation of the finished work is also finished.
What Would Have Happened If the Portfolio Had Been Updated When the Work Was Finished
The work was finished in March. This document considers what would have happened if it had been added to the portfolio at that time.
The March scenario:
The work is exported. A screenshot is taken. The portfolio page is opened. The work is added.
Total time: forty minutes. The portfolio reflects reality. People can see the work.
What actually happened:
In March, the portfolio was assessed. It was determined that the portfolio needed reorganization before the new work could be added. Adding the new work to a disorganized portfolio would misrepresent the new work. The new work deserved context.
Reorganization was scheduled for April.
Any task adjacent to making may replace making while portfolio update avoidance still feels productive.
April:
The portfolio reorganization began. It became clear that the reorganization required a visual audit. Some old work was no longer representative. Decisions about what to remove were complicated. Removal required judgment. Judgment required distance. Distance requires time.
The new work was not added. The portfolio remained in a state of active reorganization.
May through November:
The portfolio existed in a condition described internally as "in progress." Two new pieces of work were completed. Neither was added. Both were waiting for the portfolio reorganization, which had stalled during a period when the visual audit produced no clear conclusion.
The person with finished work that has been waiting months to become presentable had, by November, five finished pieces and one portfolio in active reorganization.
The counterfactual:
If the work had been added in March, four people would have seen it by now. The portfolio would be less organized. The work would be visible.
The reorganization would not exist.
Present state:
The portfolio reorganization continues. The work accumulates. The gap between what has been made and what is visible grows at the rate of one finished piece every six to eight weeks.
The work is ready. The presentation of the work is not ready. Both remain in this condition indefinitely.