Originally written in French. Translated by AI — the meaning has been preserved, not the prose.
Short definition
A layer of knowledge sitting between the sources and the deliverables, gathering what has been understood before any transformation for a particular audience.
Full definition
The phrase evokes a philosophical tradition in which ideas exist independently of their sensible realizations. That is not the sense intended here, and the author accepts a name that isn't technical.
In the articles on this blog, the world of ideas is a working floor, not an ontology. It holds atomic notes, thematic notes, definitions, hypotheses, contradictions, decisions, examples, limits, relations between ideas and points to check.
Its distinctive trait is negative: nothing it holds addresses a client, a developer or a reader. Its quality criterion is therefore not elegance but reusability.
Usage in the field
Used to designate what is missing between raw material and the documents produced, and to justify why a note must not be written in the format of the deliverable at hand.
Synonyms and variants
"intermediate layer", used when the emphasis falls on the position in the chain rather than on the content.
Not to be confused with
- Build — the place where outputs are manufactured for a given audience. The world of ideas keeps what will be able to produce, the build produces.
- Deliverable — a document oriented towards an audience, produced from this layer. What enters here addresses no one; what leaves it addresses someone.
- source — uninterpreted primary material. The world of ideas begins where reformulation begins.
- archive — a set kept as a record. Here nothing is kept to prove what was done, everything is kept to be able to do it again.
Examples
A product decision, the hypothesis it settles, the contradiction it leaves open and the limit it sets belong to the world of ideas; the user story that follows belongs to the build.
Ambiguities / debates
The phrase isn't established and the author acknowledges it. It has the drawback of its philosophical connotation, and the advantage of prejudging no tool.