Vocabulary
werk uses a specific vocabulary drawn from structural dynamics. These terms have precise meanings within the instrument.
Core terms
Section titled “Core terms”Tension — the fundamental unit. A held relationship between a desired state and current reality. Not a task, not a ticket, not an issue.
Desired — the description of what you want to exist. Always displayed above actual.
Actual (reality) — the description of what is true right now. Updated as the world changes.
Gesture — an atomic unit of change. Every mutation in werk is a gesture: add, desire, reality, position, resolve, hold, split, merge, note. Gestures are recorded and form the basis of the logbase.
Epoch — a period of a tension’s life between significant changes. When desired or actual changes, a new epoch begins. The old state is preserved as a ghost.
Ghost — the previous state of a tension before an epoch boundary. Ghosts are the record of where things were.
Signal — a computed indicator that a tension needs attention. Signals surface by exception — they appear when something is structurally notable, not as a permanent dashboard.
Structural terms
Section titled “Structural terms”Parent / Child — containment relationship. A child tension lives within the structural scope of its parent.
Position — the declared sequence of a tension within its parent. Position 1 means “work on this next.”
Closure — the ratio of resolved children to total children. [9/18] means nine of eighteen children are resolved.
Frontier — the set of positioned (sequenced) children within a parent. The active work surface.
Held — a tension that is active but not positioned. It exists, it matters, but it’s not in the current sequence.
Temporal terms
Section titled “Temporal terms”Horizon — the deadline for a tension, expressed as a month (e.g., 2026-06).
Urgency — the percentage of available time that has elapsed. Computed from creation date and horizon.
Wave — the sequential position among a parent’s children. Wave 1 means this tension is first in sequence.
Practice terms
Section titled “Practice terms”Session — a period of active engagement with the instrument. Sessions are recorded in the logbase.
Resolution — the closure of a tension. Reality has matched desire, or desire has been updated to match reality, or the tension is no longer relevant.
Release — a tension whose desired state has been let go. You are no longer pursuing this outcome. This is not failure — it is structural honesty about what you’re no longer holding. Distinct from resolution, where reality met desire. Requires a reason.
Structural dynamics — the discipline, developed by Robert Fritz, of working with the generative tension between current reality and a desired state to create outcomes.