AI Pivot — Methodology

The methodology was written around data governance, back when Qpoint watched the traffic leaving the back end of a web application. Qpoint now works on AI visibility and governance. A paragraph added the morning of 2026-10-21 (5eb411a14) noted the refocus, but the text still called data governance the textbook wicked problem, and the Product and Brand paragraphs still formed "the problem of data governance".

AI governance is the named example of a wicked problem throughout the methodology: the doc, the /method article, the brand foundation's methodology section and the CLAUDE.md summary. The principles, their order and their sources are unchanged.

• brand/design_methodology.md: the wicked-problems section, Forming the Problem (Product, Brand)
• app/pages/method.vue: the same passages on /method
• brand/qpoint_brand_foundation_v1.5.md §07: the one sentence that names data governance as the wicked problem
• CLAUDE.md: the Design Methodology summary's first bullet

Out of scope: the positioning appendix (headlines, taglines), which is draft marketing copy and gets a note that it predates the pivot, and the voice guidance in the foundation and essential guide ("We don't just solve data governance—we give it form").

• kick-off (2026-10-21): cycle created. AI governance replaces data governance as the textbook case in the wicked-problems section, with the three properties restated for AI use. The morning's refocus paragraph becomes one line of history: the framing began with data governance in web-app back-end traffic, and the method didn't change when the focus did. Product and Brand in Forming the Problem name AI governance. /method matches. The foundation's §07 sentence and the CLAUDE.md summary follow. The appendix gets a one-line note. Uncommitted.
• rename (2026-10-21): the first section is now titled "AI Governance Is a Wicked Problem" ("AI governance is a wicked problem" on /method and in the CLAUDE.md summary), replacing "Design Addresses Wicked Problems". The one cross-reference to it, in brand/foundational/sources/rittel-webber.md, follows. Uncommitted.
• callout (2026-10-21): "Qpoint's core value proposition is an act of design: giving a shapeless problem tangible form" read awkwardly, and so did a first rewrite ("Qpoint does what a designer does first…"). After six drafts, Mark wrote the line himself: the /method callout now reads "We use this method to understand and deconstruct the AI ecosystem's wicked problems into well-defined micro problems resolvable by product-shaped solutions." The bold lead and the slogans after it are gone. Foundation §07 is back to its original sentence for now. Uncommitted.
• history line cut (2026-10-21): the line "This framing began with data governance… The method didn't change when the focus did" is removed from the doc and from /method. The /method callout is set at 22px medium. Uncommitted.
• callout reworded (2026-10-21): the callout is now "We use this method to understand and deconstruct the governance challenges presented by the AI ecosystem into well-defined micro problems resolvable by product-shaped solutions." It is styled 20px medium, in a 680px box with a grape-700 border. Uncommitted.
• ship (2026-10-21): committed alone with a temp index (only the c120 entry in CYCLES.md; other sessions' work left out), then npm run deploy. Committed 5e38c3859, deployed 553517691; _deploy.json on design-f39.pages.dev shows 5e38c3859, and /method serves the new heading and callout.

• AI governance is the methodology's named wicked problem. The first section is now "AI Governance Is a Wicked Problem" in brand/design_methodology.md, on /method and in the CLAUDE.md summary. Its three properties are restated for AI use, and Forming the Problem's Product and Brand paragraphs name AI governance. The principles, their order and their sources are unchanged.
• The /method callout is Mark's own sentence: "We use this method to understand and deconstruct the governance challenges presented by the AI ecosystem into well-defined micro problems resolvable by product-shaped solutions." It is 20px medium in a 680px box with a grape-700 border. It took six drafts to get there. The two rewrites that praised Qpoint as an act of design didn't land; the version that worked describes what the method does to the problem.
• The history line about the data-governance origin was added, then cut. The pivot reads as the focus now, not as a change of course.
• Left as they are: the positioning appendix (marked pre-pivot), the voice guidance in the foundation and essential guide ("We don't just solve data governance—we give it form"), foundation §07's "core value proposition is an act of design" sentence, and TOUR.md, which still opens on data governance.