PROCESS

Here is How to Build

Design

Rules

Ask the Performers

An exception is found before it is handled, and the surest way to find one early is to ask. Before the work goes live, the designer puts a plain question to the Performers, the people who will meet the cases: what will this rule not fit? What case can you imagine where you would not know what to do? The Performers know the ground. They have done work like this before, and they can see, ahead of time, the odd cases, the awkward customers, the situations the clean rule did not picture. Their answers come back as what-ifs: what if the customer has opted out, what if there is no template, what if the client insists on their own channel. Each what-if is an exception, surfaced before a single real case has arrived.

This is why the question is asked early, and not at the last moment. A what-if raised in good time can be designed for: scoped in, given a way forward, written into a guide, or folded into the rules before the work begins. A what-if raised at go-live cannot, there is no time left to design the answer, and the Performer meets the case unprepared. And early asking does more than buy design time. It buys adoption. A Performer who was asked what they feared, and who then sees their case answered in the design, arrives at the live date already holding the answer, already trusting it, because it was built partly from what they said. Asking is not only how exceptions are found. It is how the Performers come to own the handling of them.

So the asking is deliberate, not a courtesy. The designer does not wait for the Performers to volunteer their doubts; the designer draws them out, case by case, because a doubt unspoken is an exception undiscovered, and an exception undiscovered is a Performer who will one day be stranded. The ground-level knowledge the Performers carry, the cases they have seen, the trouble they expect, is among the richest sources of exceptions there is, and it is free for the asking. A designer who skips the question is choosing to find the same exceptions later, the hard way, when a real customer is waiting and a real Performer does not know what to do.

The highest possible standard is to ask the Performers, well before the live date, what cases the rule will not fit, drawing their what-ifs out deliberately, so that exceptions are found early enough to design for and early enough for the Performers to adopt the answers as their own.

Key Takeaway: The surest way to find an exception early is to ask the Performers, before go-live, what the rule will not fit; their what-ifs are exceptions surfaced before any real case arrives. Ask early, because a what-if raised in good time can be designed for, and because a Performer who was asked, and then sees their case answered, arrives already holding and trusting the answer. The asking is deliberate, not a courtesy: a doubt unspoken is an exception undiscovered, and an exception undiscovered is a Performer who will one day be stranded.

The surest way to find an exception early is to ask the Performers what the rule will not fit, well before it is ever used.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Exceptions · Discipline 2: The What-If · Section: Ask the Performers

MarvinPro | June 2026

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The other ways exceptions surface

Asking is the surest way, but it is not the only one, and a designer who relies on it alone will miss the exceptions the Performers could not name. Exceptions surface by more than one route, and the wise designer watches every one of them. The what-if is the first to know, not the last word.

The earliest route of all is often the design itself. As the designer builds the rule, working through its five decisions, shadowing the real work, laying the steps in order, the edges show themselves. You see, while you design, that a case would not fit here, that a step assumes something not always true, that a path has a corner the rule does not turn. The very act of designing the normal case reveals where the normal case ends. These exceptions are found at the desk, before anyone is asked and before anything goes live, and they are often the first found of all, because the designer who looks closely at the work sees its edges as a part of seeing the work. A second route is the early life of the design. Some exceptions cannot be imagined, by Performer or designer, because no one has met them yet; they appear only when real work meets the rule for the first time. So in the early live period the Principles call hypercare, the designer stays near and watches, and the unimagined cases show themselves while still few. And there are more routes than these. A Stakeholder raises a case no one had considered. A Challenger names a flaw that turns out to hide an exception. A pattern shows up across several cases that no single what-if had caught. Exceptions can arrive from any direction, and the designer stays open to them however they come, rather than trusting that one channel has found them all.

What matters is not to fix the number of routes but to watch them all. The what-if is the most deliberate and the most repaid, because it is asked on purpose and it serves adoption, but it is one source among several, and the others find what it cannot. The design reveals the edges you build into; the early life reveals the cases no one foresaw; and the people around the work, the Stakeholder, the Challenger, the pattern in the cases, reveal the rest. A designer who knows this does not ask once and consider the job done. They keep looking, from every side, because an exception unseen is not an exception absent. It is only one not yet found.

The highest possible standard is to watch every route by which an exception can surface, the design itself, the early life of the work, the people around it, and the patterns in the cases, rather than trusting that any single channel, even the what-if, has found them all.

Key Takeaway: Asking is the surest way but not the only one, and relying on it alone misses what the Performers could not name. The earliest route is often the design itself, where building the rule reveals its edges, found at the desk before anything goes live. A second is the early life of the design, where unimagined cases show themselves when real work meets the rule, watched for in the period the Principles call hypercare. And there are more, a Stakeholder, a Challenger, a pattern across cases. The number of routes is not fixed; what matters is to watch them all, because an exception unseen is not absent, only not yet found.

Exceptions surface by more than one route, and the designer watches them all, not just the what-if.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Exceptions · Discipline 2: The What-If · Section: The other ways exceptions surface

MarvinPro | June 2026

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Early Discovery

What unites every route is not how the exception is found but when. The discipline is early discovery: to find exceptions while they are still few, before they have done harm, whatever the means. An exception found at the desk during design, an exception named in a what-if before go-live, an exception caught in the first days of real work, each was found early, and that is what each has in common and what makes each worth the effort. The means vary and the list of them stays open. The timing does not: early, always, by whatever route.

The reason is cost, and it is plain. An exception found early, before a customer is harmed and before a Performer is stranded, costs little to handle, there is time to design a way forward, to write a guide, to fold it into the rules, all in the calm before or just after the work begins. The same exception found late costs far more, because by the time it is noticed it has usually been paid for already, in a customer left in the dark, a Performer who guessed wrong, a piece of trust spent. This is not particular to processes; it is the old truth that a fault costs less the earlier it is caught. The discipline applies it to exceptions: go and find them early, by every means, rather than letting them find you late, through the damage they do.

So early discovery is active work, done at the start, not something that happens to the designer down the line. The designer designs with an eye for the edges, asks the Performers before the live date, watches the first real cases, and stays open to exceptions arriving from any other quarter, and does all of this early, on purpose, while the exceptions are few. However each one is surfaced, it arrives at the same next step: the decision of what to do with it now, scope it in or park it. That triage is the next discipline. What this one secures is that the exceptions reach it early, found on purpose while they are still cheap to hold, rather than lying hidden until they break something. Find them early, by any means. That is the whole of it.

The highest possible standard is to discover exceptions early by every available means, at the desk, by asking, by watching, and from any other quarter, while they are still few and cheap to hold, rather than letting them surface late through the harm they cause.

Key Takeaway: What unites every route is not how but when: the discipline is early discovery, finding exceptions while still few and before they harm, whatever the means. The list of means stays open; the timing does not. The reason is cost, the old truth that a fault costs less the earlier it is caught: found early there is time to design a way forward in calm, found late it has usually been paid for already, in a customer left in the dark or a Performer who guessed wrong. So early discovery is active work done at the start, and however each exception surfaces, it reaches the same next step, the triage of scope in or park.

Early discovery is the discipline: find exceptions by any means while they are still few and cheap, rather than letting them surface late through the harm they do.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Exceptions · Discipline 2: The What-If · Section: Early Discovery

MarvinPro | June 2026

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A real example

Return to the software company, as the communication design is being readied. Some of the exceptions were found at the desk, before anyone else was involved. As the designer laid out the three messages and shadowed how Support and the Back Office actually worked, the edges appeared on their own: a step that assumed a template always existed, a moment that assumed the customer always wanted to hear from the company. Designing the normal case showed where the normal case ended. These were the first exceptions found, and they were found simply by looking closely at the work while building it.

Then the designer asked. Before anything went live, sitting with the Performers who had handled customers for years, the question was put plainly: what will these messages not fit? The answers came ready. What if a customer has asked never to be contacted? What if the client's administrator wants every message routed through them? What if trouble comes in that we have no template for at all? Each was a what-if, an exception surfaced weeks before a single real message was sent, and the Performers, having been asked, came to the live date already knowing the answers to the cases they had raised. But not every exception was imagined. When the work went live, the designer did not leave; in the early days, watching closely, a real case arrived that no one had pictured, a customer whose trouble fit no template because the trouble itself was new. No what-if had named it. It surfaced in the live work, caught early only because the designer was still watching when it came.

Three routes, and there could have been others, a Stakeholder with a case in mind, a Challenger pointing at a flaw. What they shared was the timing. The edges found at the desk, the what-ifs found by asking, the unknown issue found by watching, all were found early, while they were few, before any had grown into a pile of stranded cases. None waited to announce itself through damage. By the time the work had been live a short while, almost every case the rule did not fit had already been seen, by one means or another, and each was on its way to a decision. That is the discipline: not one channel trusted to find everything, but every channel watched, and all of them early.

The edges were found at the desk, the what-ifs by asking, the unknown issue by watching; different routes, one timing, all early, before any could harm.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Exceptions · Discipline 2: The What-If · A real example

MarvinPro | June 2026

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The What-If

An exception is found before it is handled, and the surest way to find one early is to ask. Before the work goes live, the designer asks the Performers, who know the ground, what the rule will not fit, and their what-ifs are exceptions surfaced before any real case arrives. The asking is deliberate, drawn out case by case, because a doubt unspoken is an exception undiscovered. And it is done early, both so the what-if can be designed for while there is still time, and so the Performers, having been asked, arrive at the live date already holding and trusting the answers, which is how they come to own the handling of them.

But asking is not the only way, and a designer who relies on it alone misses what the Performers could not name. The earliest route is often the design itself: building the rule reveals its edges, the cases it will not fit, found at the desk before anything goes live. A second is the early life of the work: the cases no one could imagine show themselves when real work meets the rule, watched for in the period the Principles call hypercare. And there are more, a Stakeholder with a case in mind, a Challenger whose flaw hides an exception, a pattern across several cases. The number of routes is not fixed; the designer watches them all, because an exception unseen is not absent, only not yet found.

What unites every route is not how but when. The discipline is early discovery: to find exceptions while they are still few, before they have done harm, by whatever means. The reason is cost, the old truth that a fault costs less the earlier it is caught. Found early, before a customer is harmed and a Performer is stranded, an exception is handled in calm, with time to design a way forward. Found late, it has usually been paid for already, in trust spent and work gone wrong. So early discovery is active work, done at the start: the designer designs with an eye for the edges, asks the Performers before the live date, watches the first real cases, and stays open to exceptions from any other quarter, all early, on purpose, while they are few.

However an exception is surfaced, by the design, by a what-if, by the early watching, or by some other route, it arrives at the same next step: the decision of what to do with it now, scope it in or park it. That triage is the next discipline. What this one secures is that the exceptions reach it early, found on purpose by every available means, rather than lying hidden until they break something. Design with an eye for the edges, ask the Performers, watch the first real cases, and stay open to the rest. Find them early, by any means, and little that the rule does not fit will stay unseen for long.

Find exceptions early and by every means, so none is left to accumulate unseen.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Exceptions · Discipline 1: An Exception · Chapter Outcome

MarvinPro | June 2026

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