Key Concepts
Notes, Beats, Beat Versions, Revisions, and Coda — the four primitive concepts that give every part of a delivery system an explicit name and role.
Key Concepts
Harmonic Composition is built from four primitive concepts. Together, they give every part of a delivery system a named, explicit role — from preserved context to durable capability to incremental progress to a defined destination.
Notes
Explicit, versioned, discoverable context that preserves the reasoning behind the work — the memory layer that survives handoffs.
Explore Notes →Coda
The specific, resolved end-state the system converges toward — the reference point that gives every decision a direction.
Explore Coda →Beats
Durable, outcome-oriented capabilities the system must possess — the stable vocabulary of what the system can do.
Explore Beats →Beat Versions & Revisions
The planning and execution increments that advance a Beat — how capability evolves without losing continuity.
Explore Beat Versions →How the four concepts relate
The Coda establishes where the system is headed. Beats define the durable capabilities needed to get there. Each Beat is planned through one or more Beat Versions, which carry the description, scope, and acceptance criteria for a slice of the capability. Revisions deliver each Beat Version incrementally, one pull request at a time. Notes carry the context that keeps all of these coherent — across handoffs, over time, and through changes in the people doing the work.
Notes inform every other concept. They shape the Coda, constrain the Beats, guide Beat Version planning, and keep Revisions aligned with original intent.
The Coda determines which Beats are relevant. A Beat that cannot be connected to the current Coda does not belong in the current phase.
Each Beat is advanced through Beat Versions — planned increments that each carry a slice of the capability's development toward the Coda.
Each Beat Version is delivered through one or more Revisions — PR-level increments that ship the work and evolve the capability.