Version. 0.3 Date. 2026-05-11 Status. Active scoping with Step 0 findings absorbed and explain-affordance principle named. Drafted by Claude.ai. Operator: Marvin Percival. Successor to v0.2 (2026-05-11; same day). Supersedes v0.2. Phase name. Conversational creation surface voice. Companion documents.
loomworks-phase-56-step-0-inspection-brief-v0_1.md plus CC findings on branch phase-56-step-0 at commit 3cc5a086c4ca7761888ad56345270a9374523fcd (findings file phase-56-step-0-findings-v0_1.md in engine repo docs/phase-impl-notes/).loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md (companion forward-looking design-space document; not a Phase 56 deliverable).Three changes:
discipline-plus-recovery principle. The voice principles document at docs/voice-principles-v0_1.md names plain-terms-discipline and names the discipline-plus-recovery pattern that frames future affordance work. The document is still a single artifact authored at Step 1; the content addition is one section, no scope change.All other v0.2 content holds: shape selection, sub-arc decomposition (three sub-arcs, sub-arc 1 with five components), P56-D settlements, test surface estimate (~11–19 engine, ~1–2 OL), build sequencing (6 active steps + 2 reserved), acceptance gates, Step 0 absorption table.
Phase 56 ships voice work on the conversational engagement creation surface that Phase 55 shipped. The work has three substantive components: (a) coverage expansion — authoring per-field elicitation prompts for the fields the current flow does not yet ask about (voice-as-sound, rules-to-observe, signs-it's-working); (b) the terminal-turn affordance language revision — the "Discovery record / brief" chip choice currently carries methodology vocabulary and is the one identifiable voice-gap location on the existing surface; (c) the voice principles document — naming the plain-terms-discipline and the discipline-plus-recovery pattern that frames future explain-affordance work. Calibration runs through persona-based test conversations; 2–3 personas authored as forward-looking discipline establishment. The explain affordance itself is not built in Phase 56 — it's a Phase 57+ candidate scoped in the companion investigation document. Phase 32 (the marketing engagement, the first real use of the surface) becomes naturally first-line again after Phase 56 closes.
(v0.1 → v0.2 trajectory held from v0.2.)
Third trajectory move surfaced at v0.3. After v0.2 absorbed Step 0 evidence, the Operator named a structural observation: "I can see from this finding that the interface with the operator is going to need an 'explain' option, as everyone may not fully understand the response or request from the Companion. The explanation could be via voice or on form button."
The observation surfaces a principle Phase 56 had not yet named: plain-terms-discipline reduces comprehension gaps but does not eliminate them. Even with the Companion speaking in plain language, an Operator can encounter a question where the concept is unfamiliar regardless of how plainly framed. The discipline reduces incidence; a recovery affordance handles the remainder.
Two readings of "via voice" surfaced. Reading A — voice-input trigger: the Operator speaks "explain" audibly; the system recognizes the speech. Reading B — Companion's voice as delivery channel: a UI button triggers the Companion to speak (in writing) an inline explanation. The Operator selected Reading A. This made the explain affordance more distant from Phase 56's text-substrate scope than Reading B would have been — Reading A requires voice-modality substrate (speech-to-text into the converse channel; possibly text-to-speech for delivery) that does not yet exist. Voice modality is its own substrate addition adjacent to the queued mobile presence direction (queued directions v0.10).
The Operator's original framing was "via voice or on form button." The affordance therefore has two trigger modes — the button mode buildable on text substrate now; the audible mode requiring voice-modality substrate. An investigation document (loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md) scopes both trigger modes as a single affordance concept with two delivery paths; the investigation does not commit to a phase shape, preserving the design space for later scoping.
The Phase 56 absorption is small: the voice principles document at sub-arc 1a names the discipline-plus-recovery principle, framing the future affordance work conceptually. The principle naming is a section in docs/voice-principles-v0_1.md, not a new sub-arc or new component.
This third trajectory move adds a new methodology candidate:
discipline-plus-recovery — new methodology candidate. Plain-terms-discipline is necessary but not sufficient. Any UX discipline that reduces an incidence rate needs a recovery affordance for the irreducible residue. The pattern likely generalizes: security defaults need easy override paths; structured fields need free-text escape hatches; canonical workflows need bypass affordances for unanticipated cases. Single-instance evidence at Phase 56; carries to v0.21 as candidate. Investigation document scopes the first instance (explain affordance) without committing the phase shape.Engine repo: (sub-arc 1 components unchanged except 1a content)
docs/voice-principles-v0_1.md. Names the plain-terms-discipline on product surfaces. v0.3 addition: also names the discipline-plus-recovery principle as the conceptual frame for future affordance work, with the explain affordance as the first instance and a forward-reference to loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md. Single artifact; one section addition; no scope change.Operator Layer repo: (sub-arc 3 unchanged)
Calibration: (sub-arc 2 unchanged)
Marketing repo: untouched.
(Items from v0.2 held; one new item added.)
create_project.md. Phase 57+ carry-forward.New at v0.3:
discipline-plus-recovery principle that frames the affordance conceptually; Phase 56 does not build either trigger mode. Design space scoped in loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md. The investigation may surface a split-phase candidate (button mode as a near-term Phase 57+ candidate; audible mode as part of a voice-modality arc adjacent to mobile presence). Phase 56 calibration evidence (persona conversations) may inform when comprehension gaps surface and what kinds of questions trigger them — feeding the future affordance scoping.
Voice-tune selected. The v0.1 → v0.2 reshape refined the work category to additive coverage expansion. The v0.2 → v0.3 refinement adds the discipline-plus-recovery principle to the voice principles document scope; no shape change to the phase itself. Phase 56 unblocks Phase 32; produces the voice principles document as long-lived reference material; establishes the calibration discipline; and names the conceptual frame future affordance work inherits from.
(See v0.2 for full decomposition; 1a content note updated above. No sub-arc structure change.)
(See v0.2.)
(See v0.2. No new P56-D items at v0.3.)
~11–19 engine tests; ~1–2 OL vitest.
6 active steps + 2 reserved buffer slots. (See v0.2.) Step 1 voice principles document content now includes the discipline-plus-recovery section; no time impact (single content addition within Step 1's existing scope).
Gate 1 of v0.2: "Voice principles document landed at docs/voice-principles-v0_1.md." Refined at v0.3: "Voice principles document landed at docs/voice-principles-v0_1.md; includes both the plain-terms-discipline section and the discipline-plus-recovery section with forward-reference to the explain-affordance investigation document."
Other gates held.
(v0.1 and v0.2 observations held — see v0.2 for full list.)
Extended at v0.3 — the explain-affordance surfacing. After v0.2 absorbed Step 0 evidence (the dialog-example mis-identification was corrected by substrate evidence), the Operator's structural observation surfaced a different kind of gap from what the dialog-example surfaced and what Step 0 corrected. The dialog-example said vocabulary leak; Step 0 said coverage gap; the Operator's observation now says comprehension-residue gap. All three are real. Plain-terms-discipline addresses the first two; the explain affordance addresses the third.
The trajectory now has four positions:
discipline-plus-recovery) and forward-references the investigation; the affordance itself is Phase 57+ work.Each move was load-bearing. None alone would have produced v0.3's full picture. The Discovery-record posture preserved across versions reconstructs the path.
New methodology candidate — discipline-plus-recovery. First instance. Described above in §How we got here. Carries to v0.21 as candidate alongside gap-diagnosis-precedes-gap-implementation (also single-instance from this same scoping arc).
(v0.2 observations held.)
New at v0.3:
discipline-plus-recovery. Plain-terms-discipline is necessary but not sufficient. Any UX discipline that reduces an incidence rate needs a recovery affordance for the irreducible residue. First instance: explain affordance for comprehension-residue gap. Likely instances elsewhere: security defaults / override paths; structured fields / free-text escape; canonical workflows / bypass affordances. Carries to v0.21 as candidate.loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md — forward-looking design-space document. Scopes the explain affordance across two trigger modes (button; audible), surface options, composition strategies, substrate dependencies, relationship to mobile presence direction, candidate phase shape. Not a Phase 56 deliverable. Input to future phase scoping.discipline-plus-recovery to the voice principles document scope (small content addition, no structural change); the explain affordance carry-forward; the investigation document reference.loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md (produced alongside this v0.3). Confirms or amends the design-space scoping.loomworks-phase-56-cr-drafting-handoff-v0_1.md. Hands to fresh chat for CR drafting. v0.3 of this scoping note is the active scoping at CR drafting time.loomworks-explain-affordance-investigation-v0_1.md (companion artifact; informs voice principles document content at sub-arc 1a).phase-56-step-0-findings-v0_1.md (engine repo docs/phase-impl-notes/).current-status-manifest-v0_40.md.loomworks-queued-directions-and-deferred-work-v0_10.md.loomworks-phase-55-close-session-handoff-v0_1.md.loomworks-marketing-creation-flow-content-v0_3.md.phase-55-cr-engagement-creation-assistance-v0_1.md).DUNIN7 — Done In Seven LLC — Miami, Florida Phase 56 scoping note — v0.3 — 2026-05-11