Ethan McNamara

Blueprint

Evolve the template. Preserve the choices.

Reusable project plans that can improve over time while keeping the changes each team has made.

Role
Designed and built, start to finish
Status
Concept
Area
Product architecture

42s · 4 beats

Drawn in the browser. It plays while it is on screen; pause or scrub it at any point.

The problem

Copying a template is easy. Updating it afterwards is not: a blanket update overwrites decisions, and never updating leaves every project forked.

The idea

Keep the original defaults alongside the current values. The difference shows which fields still inherit and which are a customer’s decision.

How it is built

A three-way comparison explains each change, and an apply is refused if the project moved since the preview.

Read the diagram as text

A project owner requests a template update. The preview explains the incoming changes while personal choices stay protected, and the owner approves it. If the project is unchanged since that preview, the approved changes are applied; if it moved, a fresh preview is required.

Changes explainedStill currentChanged meanwhileProject ownerRequests an updateUpdate previewPersonal changes protectedProject ownerApproves the previewProject unchangedsince preview?Updated projectApproved changes onlyProject changedReview a fresh preview

Diamonds are decisions. Indigo marks the path that matters. Scroll across to see all of it.

Scope

A design proposal. Templates and relative dates exist today; the versioning and preview layer does not. The film uses fictional choices and illustrative dates, and changes nothing.