Article Outline Template
Use this template when creating docs/articles/NNN/article.md.
Replace all [...] placeholders. Remove this header line when creating the actual file.
# Article NNN: [Full title from content-strategy.md roadmap]
**Key Message:** [One clear sentence — the central insight or tension the article must land. Not a summary of topics covered, but the thing a reader should be left thinking about.]
**Series:** [A/B/C] — [Noticing the shift / Reframing the work / Tensions & Implications] (Part X of Y)
**Publish Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD from distribution-schedule.md]
---
## Story Outline
### Opening: [Name the move — e.g. "The familiar discomfort", "The moment of hesitation"]
- [What shared experience or observation the piece begins from — something the reader has lived]
- [The small tension or asymmetry that the opening surfaces without explaining]
- [What question or unease the opening leaves hanging — do NOT answer it here]
> **Phase note (Phase C articles 012+):** Drop directly into the discomfort. No warm-up from earlier articles. Earn the reader fresh. The opening must work for someone who has never read the series.
### The shift: [What is actually happening / what has changed]
- [Name the structural change precisely — not "AI is taking over" but something specific]
- [What practitioners already notice but haven't put words to — this is the "yes, I've noticed that" moment]
- [One concrete scenario or example that makes the abstract tangible]
- [What this is NOT (avoid false binary): not X vs Y, not inevitability, not doom]
### Evidence and examples
Develop 2–4 concrete examples. Each should:
- Describe a realistic situation (not hypothetical; grounded in how the work actually goes)
- Name a specific role, context, or technology to give it weight
- Show the dynamic rather than assert it
Example 1: [Name — e.g. "The production incident"]
- [Setup: what the practitioner is doing / their normal state]
- [Encounter: what the system or AI does / fails to do]
- [The moment: what the practitioner discovers about their own position]
- [What this reveals about the broader pattern]
Example 2: [Name]
- [Setup]
- [Encounter]
- [The moment]
- [What this reveals]
[Add more examples as needed. 3 is usually right for a 1,500-word essay.]
### Implications and tensions
Do NOT resolve these. Hold them open.
- [What this complicates that used to be simpler]
- [A trade-off with no clean answer]
- [Something that gets harder, even as something else gets easier]
- [A question about roles, practices, or assumptions that the shift surfaces]
- [What a practitioner should be thinking about — not what they should do]
### Close: [Name the ending move — e.g. "The open question", "What we're left holding"]
- [How to end without resolution — the piece can close on a question, an observation, or a reframing]
- [The last image or observation the reader takes away — make it concrete]
- [What should NOT be in the close: prescription, certainty, a call to action]
---
## Series connections
| Article | Theme | Connection to this piece |
|---------|-------|--------------------------|
| [NNN-1] | [Prior article theme] | [What it established that this piece builds on — or must NOT repeat] |
| [NNN-2] | [Earlier article theme] | [Any overlap and how this piece differentiates] |
| [related] | [Related theme] | [Thematic echo to acknowledge or avoid] |
**Differentiation note:** [1–2 sentences on what makes this article distinct. What is the specific insight or angle that a reader who has followed the series will find genuinely new?]
---
## Notes and potential examples
[Scratchpad — use freely]
- [Angles worth developing]
- [Specific technical scenarios to research]
- [Questions to explore]
- [References or prior art worth reading]
- [Things to avoid — patterns from prior articles that must not recur]