A Practical Guide on Pattern Writing for Pattern Languages of Practices

Summary

A guide to writing each element of a pattern in Iba’s “concise deep style”: short, readable statements that still carry specific meaning. For each element it gives key considerations, content forms (common sentence shapes), and checkpoints for revision, with examples from Iba Lab pattern languages.

Why it’s useful here

The most detailed source for this site’s pattern format and the checklist in the pattern writing guide.

Key ideas

• A pattern covers what to do, how, and why; not who, when, or where
• Solution: what to do and how, in the imperative, at a middle level of abstraction; no metaphors, no pattern name
• Problem: what goes wrong in the context without the solution; avoid blaming the reader
• Context: when the pattern becomes useful; drop information that applies to every pattern
• Forces, Actions, and Consequences add the causes, concrete examples, and results
• If two patterns share the same context and problem, they’re probably one pattern
• Alexander: “Each pattern is a three-part rule, which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a solution” (The Timeless Way of Building, p. 247)

Related

• iba-2014-journey-to-pattern-writing.md
• iba-2016-pattern-language-3.md