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In design, when is where

The spine showed that a rule has five dimensions. This discipline takes the third of them, the when, the moment the deed happens. In running work the when feels like a time, a point on the clock when the deed is done. But we are not running the work here; we are designing it. And in design, the when is not a time. It is a place. The moment a rule happens is its position in the structure, and to design the when is to decide where the rule sits.

See that "after step C, before step D" and "between step C and step D" say the same thing. One sounds like time, the other like place, but they name a single fact: the rule's position in the order. When you design the moment a deed happens, you are not setting a clock; you are placing the deed among the other deeds, fixing what comes before it and what comes after. The order is the design, and the design is the order. Time, on the design table, is position.

This is why the when belongs to design and not only to the running. At runtime the moment arrives as an event, a step finishes, a signal comes, and the deed fires. But that event only fires the deed because the designer placed the deed there, after that step, before the next. The runtime moment is the design's position, met in live work. So to design the when is to build the structure in which every deed has a place, and the moment each deed happens is simply the place it was given. Get the placement right and the timing is right; the clock only delivers what the structure already decided.

The highest possible standard is to design the when as a position in the structure rather than a time on the clock, placing each deed among the others so that its moment is the place it was given, and the order itself carries the timing.

Key Takeaway: In running work the when feels like a time; in design it is a place. "After step C, before step D" and "between step C and step D" say the same thing, the rule's position in the order. To design the when is to place the deed among the others, fixing what comes before and after, not to set a clock. The runtime moment is only the design's position met in live work, so place rightly and the timing follows.

In design, the when is not a time but a place: where the rule sits is when it happens.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Rules · Discipline 4: When · Section: In design, when is where

MarvinPro | June 2026

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The step inside the rule

The smallest place a when lives is inside a single rule. A rule is often not one motion but a few, done in order, and that internal order is itself a design. Select the template, fill it from the case, send it, log that it went. Those steps have a when of their own, not a clock time, but a position: this step after that one, each in its place. To design the rule's manner is partly to place its steps, and the placement is the steps' when.

Here the when and the how meet. The how is the manner the deed is done in, and when the manner has parts, the order of those parts is where the when enters the rule. A step set in the wrong place breaks the rule as surely as a wrong word would: send before you fill, and the message goes out empty; log before you send, and the record lies. The steps are sound only in their order, and the order is the designer's choice. So even within one rule, the when is already at work, placing each step where it belongs among the others.

And even here the order need not be a single line. A step may wait for two others to finish before it can run, or open into two that follow it, the rule branching inside itself. Most rules are simple and run straight through, but the designer should see that a step's place is defined by all its neighbours, what must come before it and what follows from it, and that these can be more than one on each side. To place a step is to know its neighbours. That is the when at its smallest, the order of steps inside a single rule.

The highest possible standard is to place every step of a rule in its right position among the others, seeing all that must come before each step and all that follows, so the rule's internal order is sound and no step sits where it cannot work.

Key Takeaway: The smallest when lives inside one rule: a rule is often several steps done in order, and that order is a design. The when meets the how here, when the manner has parts, their order is the when inside the rule. A step in the wrong place breaks the rule (send before you fill, the message goes empty). The order can branch, a step may wait for two others or open into two, so to place a step is to know all its neighbours.

A rule's steps are sound only in their order, and the order is a place for each, not a time.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Rules · Discipline 4: When · Section: The step inside the rule

MarvinPro | June 2026

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The rule among other rules

Climb one level, and the rule itself has a place. A rule rarely stands alone, the first discipline showed that making one rule calls others, until a small structure of rules stands where one began. In that structure each rule has a position: it fires after some rules and before others, and that position is the rule's when. Just as a step sits among the steps of its rule, a rule sits among the rules of its structure, and placing it is deciding when it happens.

This is the level at which the when starts to build the process. Chain the rules by their positions, this after that, that before the next, and the order of the work appears. The when of each rule is a link, and the links together are the sequence the work runs in. A rule placed after the wrong one, or before a rule it depends on, throws the order out: inform the customer that the work is done, placed before the rule that does the work, and the message lies. So the designer places each rule where its deed belongs in the flow, after what it needs, before what needs it, and the placed rules become an ordered chain.

And as with steps, the order among rules can branch. A rule may sit at a junction, reached by more than one path, or opening into more than one, the structure dividing and joining rather than running in a single line. A case that becomes an emerging issue leaves the ordinary chain and takes another; the rule that routes it sits at the fork. To place a rule is to know all its neighbours too, every rule that can lead into it and every rule it can lead to. The when, at this level, is the rule's position in the branching structure of rules, and that structure, ordered by every rule's place, is the beginning of a process.

The highest possible standard is to place each rule in its right position among the others, after what it depends on and before what depends on it, seeing every path that leads into it and out of it, so the placed rules form a sound and ordered structure.

Key Takeaway: One level up, the rule itself has a place: it fires after some rules and before others, and that position is its when. This is where the when builds the process, chain the rules by their positions and the order of the work appears, each rule's when a link in the sequence. A rule placed before one it depends on throws the order out. The structure can branch (an emerging issue leaves the ordinary chain at a fork), so to place a rule is to know all its neighbours.

A rule's when is its place among the other rules, and the placed rules, chained, are the beginning of a process.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Rules · Discipline 4: When · Section: The rule among other rules

MarvinPro | June 2026

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The structure goes on above the rule

The placing does not stop at the rule. The structure of rules is itself a part of something larger, and that larger thing sits inside something larger still, on up until the whole of an area's work is reached. The same truth holds at every level: each part has a place among its neighbours, and that place is its when. A structure of rules sits within a larger structure; that one sits within the whole end to end of the area, the full span of work that an Owner owns. At each step up, the unit is bigger, but the design move is the same, place the part where it belongs among the others.

This book does not climb that ladder. The larger structures, the ones above the single rule and its immediate companions, are the subject of their own books, built for exactly those units, and they take up the placing at that scale. Here it is enough to see that the ladder is there: that a rule's place among rules is not the top, that the structure goes on above it, and that the same when, position among neighbours, governs all the way up to the end to end. The reader who has understood placement at the step and the rule has the whole idea; the larger books apply it to larger parts.

What matters for the rule is this. When you design a rule's when, you are placing it not only among the rules beside it but, through them, within every structure above, up to the end to end the area owns. The rule's position is a position in the whole. That is why the when is designed with care even for a single rule: a rule sits in a structure, and the structure reaches all the way up. Place the rule rightly, and it sits rightly in everything that contains it.

The highest possible standard is to place each rule knowing that its position is a position in every structure above it, up to the end to end of the area, so a rule placed rightly among its neighbours sits rightly in the whole that contains it.

Key Takeaway: The placing does not stop at the rule: the structure of rules sits in a larger structure, and that in the whole end to end an Owner owns, the same truth at every level, each part placed among its neighbours. This book does not climb the ladder, the larger structures have their own books; it is enough to see the ladder is there and that the same when governs all the way up. A rule's position is a position in the whole, which is why even one rule's when is designed with care.

A rule's place among rules is a place in every structure above it, up to the end to end of the area.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Rules · Discipline 4: When · Section: The structure goes on above the rule

MarvinPro | June 2026

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A real example

Follow the same rule into its when, and the placing shows at once. Inside the rule that sends a customer message, the steps have an order: select the template the case calls for, fill it from the case, send it, record that it went. That order is their when. Send before the fill and the message goes out empty; record before the send and the log says a thing happened that has not. The steps are right only in their places, and the places are the design.

Climb to the rules. The case is served not by one message but by three, and each is its own rule, placed: one after the first contact, one once a part of the work is done, one when the case is resolved. Those placements are the rules' whens, and chained, they are the order the case runs in. The third cannot sit before the second, the message that says the work is done cannot go before the work, so the rule that sends it is placed after the rule that does the work, and the order holds because each rule sits where its deed belongs. And the order branches: when a case turns out to be an emerging issue, it leaves this ordinary chain and takes the escalation path, and the rule that spots it and reroutes it sits at the fork, a rule with more than one path out.

These rules do not float. They sit inside a larger structure of the work, which sits inside the whole end to end of serving the customer, the span the Owner owns. This book stays at the rule; the larger structures have their own books. But the example shows the truth that runs all the way up: each part, the step in the rule, the rule among rules, sits in a place among its neighbours, and that place is its when. Design the placement, and the order of the work is built, one positioned part at a time.

The when of a rule is where it sits, and where it sits is a place in the whole.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Rules · Discipline 4: When · A real example

MarvinPro | June 2026

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When

In design the when is not a time but a place. The moment a deed happens is its position in the structure, and "after step C, before step D" says the same as "between step C and step D." To design the when is to place the deed among the others, fixing what comes before and what comes after, so that the order itself carries the timing. The runtime clock only delivers what the structure already decided.

The placing happens at every scale. Inside a single rule, the steps have an order, select before send, fill before send, and that order is the steps' when; set a step in the wrong place and the rule breaks though every step is sound. One level up, the rule itself has a place among the other rules it was made alongside, firing after some and before others, and chaining the rules by their positions is what makes the order of the work appear. At both levels the order can branch: a step or a rule may sit at a junction, reached by more than one path or opening into more than one, so to place a part is to know all its neighbours, every path in and every path out.

And the placing does not stop at the rule. The structure of rules sits within a larger structure, and that within the whole end to end of the area, the span an Owner owns. The same when, position among neighbours, governs all the way up. This book stays at the rule and its companions; the larger structures are taken up in their own books. But the ladder is there, and a rule's position is, through every structure above it, a position in the whole.

You now hold the dimension that builds the order. To design a rule's when is to place it, among its steps within, among its fellow rules without, and through them in every structure above, up to the end to end. Place each part where its deed belongs, after what it needs and before what needs it, see all its neighbours on every side, and the positioned parts become an ordered whole. That is how a process takes its shape: not as one decision, but as many rules, each set in its place. The next dimension turns from where the rule sits to why it exists at all: the why.

The when is position in the structure: place each part among its neighbours, and the placed parts become the order of the work.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Rules · Discipline 4: When · Chapter Outcome

MarvinPro | June 2026

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