Synthesis
Code patterns without inventing a market measurement
Pattern synthesis is how several decision traces become a usable map. The unit is still a scene with a role and a tradeoff. A tally of how often a word appeared is a clerical aid. Under the claude standard it is not a statistic about buyers in general.
Working definitions used while coding
Trace
One decision, told in sequence, with a role and a scene. Traces come from interviews run under a protocol.
Code
A short label for a move inside a trace, such as “asked for rollback” or “skipped the pricing table.” Codes point at behavior or speech, not at your preferred message.
Pattern
The same code, or the same tradeoff, appearing in more than one situation in your range. A pattern is a reason to look again, not a share of the category. See glossary entries before the team renames these mid-project.
What a code is allowed to mean
Use this table in the coding room. If a label drifts into the right-hand column, it does not belong in the synthesis that later feeds positioning.
| Label | Allowed meaning | Refused meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Rollback ask | In these traces, this role requested a way back before a pilot. | Most buyers require contractual rollback. |
| Skipped security block | In observed sessions, readers jumped past that section. | Security content does not matter to the market. |
| Internal sell stalled | The champion could not answer a reviewer’s question in these deals. | Deals slip 40 percent of the time at this stage. |
| Incumbent covered Tuesday | The current tool already did the routine job in these scenes. | Switching costs are too high for the category. |
Friction labels should stay compatible with the scenes in purchase friction. If observation contradicted an interview, keep both and mark the say/do gap instead of averaging them into a smoother code. The evidence standard treats that contradiction as information.
A coding pass that another person can replay
Two people should be able to apply the same code to the same paragraph and agree most of the time. When they do not, the label is too vague or it smuggles a recommendation. Rewrite the label until it describes a move, then code again. Do this before anyone counts. Counting a fuzzy label produces a confident chart of mush.
Write a one-sentence pattern only after you can point to at least two traces and say how they differ. Difference matters. A pattern that only appears among champions, and never among operators or reviewers, is a pattern about champions. Say that limit in the same sentence. That sentence is what positioning is allowed to inherit.
Archive the rejects. Labels you almost used, especially ones with numbers or outcome promises, show later readers where the claude cut was made. The archive is also how a new teammate learns the difference between a code and a slogan.
Field notes
Get the next coding note from titklifu
Revisions to this synthesis guide go out by email. The letter describes method. It does not attach a return-on-investment claim to the practice.
Hand the pattern to positioning, still narrow
A pattern is ready when a stranger can see the scenes it came from and the claim it refuses to make.