skills/product-idea-pack/references/formats/editable-line-board.md

# Format: Mechanism board

## Use when

The question is how the idea works and where it can break. Use this format to expose actors, objects, relationships, dependencies, hand-offs, evidence, assumptions and weak links. The board must remain easy to move, relabel and recombine in a workshop or working deck.

Do not use it as a vector redraw of the proposition sketch or as a set of low-fidelity product screens.

## Deliverable character

- fully editable SVG with vector-tool-compatible structure;
- loose frames and confident line work without a fake sketch filter;
- typed proposition and annotations;
- one dominant mechanism plus the actors, inputs and outcomes needed to challenge it;
- enough incompleteness to invite alternatives.

## Composition patterns

Use the structure that best exposes the learning question:

- **Causal chain:** input or decision → transformation → consequence, with confidence or uncertainty at each link;
- **Actor and object map:** people, systems and information objects connected by actions, ownership and permissions;
- **Service hand-off:** trigger → responsible actor → hand-off → resolution, including gaps and failure routes;
- **System relationship map:** a central proposition connected to capabilities, dependencies, evidence and affected outcomes;
- **Competing mechanisms:** two or three genuinely different ways the same value might be delivered.

Prefer an asymmetric editorial composition to a regular grid. Do not put every element inside a card, and do not turn the mechanism into a screen-by-screen journey.

## Vector construction

- Keep frames, arrows, highlights, controls, icons and text as separate named groups.
- Use simple strokes, open shapes and slightly irregular paths where useful.
- Type important relationships and distinguish observed structure, proposed mechanism, assumption and open question.
- Retain realistic example content, but omit navigation and microcopy that do not explain the mechanism.
- Use standard fonts and avoid font-dependent layout tricks that break when edited.
- Keep a clean background; paper texture is optional and must remain a removable layer.

## Connectors and spacing

- Route every important connector through a dedicated clear lane.
- Stop arrowheads before shapes and copy.
- Use a single reading direction for the main sequence.
- Distinguish optional or uncertain relationships with dotted lines and words.
- Maintain at least one annotation-height of whitespace between independent clusters.

## Copy

Use the shared title, three beats, question and note. Annotations explain relationships, dependencies and mechanism → value rather than merely naming components. Mark weak links honestly. Keep each annotation short enough to move without reflowing the board.

## Revision

Prefer local vector edits. Preserve accepted positions and copy when changing another cluster. The main reason to choose this format is that revision should not require regeneration.

## Output and QA

Produce:

- editable SVG;
- presentation PNG.

Reject the result if the board looks like a polished wireframe kit, has connector collisions, depends on tiny interface copy, hides assumptions, cannot be meaningfully rearranged or could be mistaken for a product storyboard.