timeline

A chronology is the highest-value artefact in this workspace and the one a person is least able to build for themselves while inside the thing. It is also what a therapist, a lawyer, an HR process or a doctor will ask for first.

Sources, in order of weight

1. Documented — anything in material/: messages with timestamps, emails, calendar entries, photos with EXIF dates, medical letters, payslips.
2. Recalled — session notes. Dated to when the event happened, not when it was told to you.
3. Approximate — "sometime that spring". Keep it, mark it.

Never silently promote recalled to documented. The distinction is the value of the artefact.

Output

artefacts/timeline.md, rebuilt in place (this artefact is the exception to append-only; keep the previous version in archive/ when it changes substantially).

---
type: artefact
kind: timeline
updated: 2026-08-14
built_from: [material/*, sessions/260714-*, sessions/260801-*]
---

# Timeline — <issue>

| Date | What happened | Source | Confidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2024-03-11 | <one line, factual, no interpretation> | material/240311-email.eml | documented |
| 2024-04 (approx) | ... | sessions/260714-first | recalled |

## Gaps
Periods with nothing in them, and whether that's because nothing happened or because
nothing was kept.

## Contradictions
Where two sources disagree about the same event. State both. Do not resolve them
by picking the more recent account.

Procedure

1. Inventory material/ — list what exists and what date range it covers.
2. Extract dated events. One row per event. Factual sentence only: who did what, when. No adjectives, no motive.
3. Pull recalled events from session notes, dating them to the event.
4. Sort. Mark gaps of more than a month where the issue was presumably still live.
5. Flag contradictions explicitly rather than choosing.
6. Show the person the gaps and ask if they have material that fills them — this is usually the moment they remember the folder of screenshots.

Rules

• One line per event, no interpretation. "M said the project was fine" not "M was being dishonest about the project".
• Absolute dates always. Approximate is 2024-04 (approx), never "last spring".
• Cite every row. A row without a source is a row you invented.
• Do not fill gaps by inference. An empty stretch stays empty.
• If the material is emotionally heavy to go through, say so before starting, and offer to do it in passes rather than one sitting.