Scaffolding
From apse
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[edit] Problem
[edit] Context
To make any project a success we must follow it along the whole of its life doing what is appropriate for it at each stage. in its pure form Scaffolding is a tool not a stage, however to use it to its fullest potential it is helpful to think of it as a sort of extended stage. Scaffolding may be in place from day one to the last day before it is all taken down to reveal the finished product. If you use scaffolding it must be treated like a stage however it can span more then one normal stage in a project's life.
[edit] Discussion
Scaffolding can be anything you do that helps you with a project but that will not be visible in the finished work. For literary works scaffolding might be excessive note taking, for a dancer it may be a secluded dance studio to practice in, for a sales person it might be hours of study. Scaffolding is whatever was important to a project but that is not visible when the project is done.
[edit] Solution
There are all kinds of uses for scaffolding some times what counts as scaffolding is not totally clear. In one group literary project the coordinator used a note book to keep record of the progress of all the people working for him. The notebook was like scaffolding for him because it provided the frame work for his later work with the ideas generated from those working under him. Even though the people working for him gave him feedback both verbal and written it helped enormously for him to have the mountain of notes to serve as scaffolding.
"A plan is like the scaffolding around a building. When you're putting up the exterior shell, the scaffolding is vital. But once the shell is in place and you start work on the interior, the scaffolding disappears. That's how I think of planning. It has to be sufficiently thoughtful and solid to get the work up and standing straight, but it cannot take over as you toil away on the interior guts of a piece. Transforming your ideas rarely goes according to plan."
- Twyla Tharp, in "The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life"
