Main idea

A specification is handed over, an interview write-up filed, an RFP response sent. The question usually asked then is "where is the file?": it verifies that an output exists, which was already settled at the moment of sending.

The useful question is another one: what remains? Which ideas have been stabilized, which sources support them, which decisions were made, which alternatives were discarded, which formulations were validated, which points are still fragile, which elements could serve another audience.

If the only answer is "the final document", the work has been consumed: it produced an output without leaving anything behind.

Why it matters

This is a test, not an exhortation — it is asked at the end of the work, it has an enumerable answer, and that answer is verifiable by a third party.

It also separates two situations that look alike from outside. Two pieces of work may have delivered the same document and not have the same value: one lets you redo, adapt, explain and defend, the other doesn't.

Nuances and limits

The test says nothing about the quality of what remains. You can leave behind a great deal of unusable material.

And asking the question afterwards often comes too late: what wasn't noted during the work cannot be reconstituted at the end of the road.

Open questions

• Should this test be applied after every deliverable, or only when reuse is plausible?