# Resolving a message > A message from the developer is not simply answered. Page: Methodology · Start Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology#resolving-a-message This section is stop 5 of 102 in the learning route. Previous: [04 - Adversarial by default](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/start/adversarial-by-default.md). Next: [06 - Three encodings](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/start/three-encodings.md). It builds on [01 - The loop](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/start/the-loop.md). A message from the developer is not simply answered. It is first understood as a whole, in one pass, before any reply is written, by reading it through the fifteen questions shown in [E1·a the readings](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology#resolving-a-message-panel-a). This is the [orient](https://banes-lab.com/records/stage/orient.md) node of [the loop](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/start/the-loop.md) applied to a request. It matters because most drift starts here: a request answered at its surface is one the model answered without reading what lies under it. ### Fifteen readings, one pass A message answered only at its surface gets wrong the details that only its structure would have shown. A request to rename a function is answered by renaming the function, and three collectors that found it by a naming pattern quietly stop finding anything, because the model never asked what the name was connected to. A reply forms from the first plausible reading of a message, and the first reading is the surface. For this reason I treat the structure behind a request as what is being asked about, and the wording as evidence about that structure. A message is understood before it is answered, rather than answered from its first reading. In practice, the model is asked to read a request through the fifteen questions in their order before replying, and to write the reply as that understanding, in connected sentences rather than under headings. To check this, take a reply and ask which of the fifteen questions it rests on. A reply that skipped one is incomplete rather than concise, and the question it skipped is where its mistake will be. The questions scale with the request. A one-line request that comes down to one file and one edit still goes through them, but they take a moment and most of the answers are empty; an empty answer is still an answer, not a skipped question. The fifteen questions are what turn this kind of judgement into something a check can enforce, because each one has a defined kind of answer. [Identity](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-identity.md) asks what exists, and the answer is a set. [Structure](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-structure.md) asks how the parts are arranged, and the answer is an ordering. [Relation](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-relation.md) asks what a thing connects to, and the answer is a graph. [Probability](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-probability.md) asks how sure each reading is, and the answer is a number between zero and one. The others, [composition](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-composition.md), [space](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-space.md), [time](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-time.md), [state](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-state.md), [change](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-change.md), [behaviour](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-behaviour.md), [function](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-function.md), [cause](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-cause.md), [meaning](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-meaning.md), [scale](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-scale.md) and [novelty](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-novelty.md), each have a kind of answer of their own. A question with a defined kind of answer can be turned into a condition that a check can test. What that condition does from there is described in [from intent to predicate](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/coverage/an-architecture-is-its-predicate-set.md), on the architecture page, and that is how a reading the developer did once becomes a check that runs every time. [Introspection](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/introspection.md) means looking one level below the [abstraction](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/abstraction.md) a thing presents. A document's list of sections is its surface, and the rule that decides what may go into a section is its structure. A function's signature is its surface, and which state it owns and how long that state lives are its structure. A count is a surface, and the scope it was counted over is its structure. Reading at that level is what makes the first reading of a request agree with the final [verification](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/verification.md) of its result, because both are then looking at the same thing. E1·a the readings ```mermaid flowchart TB message["A message arrives"] subgraph readings["Read whole, in order"] identity["What exists"] composition["What it is made of"] structure["How the parts are arranged"] relation["What it connects to"] space["Where it sits"] time["When it happens"] state["The condition it is in"] change["How it is already moving"] behaviour["What it does"] function["The role that doing serves"] cause["Why it happens"] meaning["What it signifies"] scale["The level it lives at"] probability["How sure each reading is"] novelty["What cuts against expectation"] end reply["The reply is that understanding, made explicit"] message --> identity --> composition --> structure --> relation --> space --> time --> state --> change --> behaviour --> function --> cause --> meaning --> scale --> probability --> novelty --> reply ``` ## Links to - [Orient](https://banes-lab.com/records/stage/orient.md) - [The loop](https://banes-lab.com/disciplined-methodology/start/the-loop.md) - [Ont Identity](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-identity.md) - [Ont Structure](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-structure.md) - [Ont Relation](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-relation.md) - [Ont Probability](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-probability.md) - [Ont Composition](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-composition.md) - [Ont Space](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-space.md) - [Ont Time](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-time.md) - [Ont State](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-state.md) - [Ont Change](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-change.md) - [Ont Behaviour](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-behaviour.md) - [Ont Function](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-function.md) - [Ont Cause](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-cause.md) - [Ont Meaning](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-meaning.md) - [Ont Scale](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-scale.md) - [Ont Novelty](https://banes-lab.com/records/reason/node-ont-novelty.md) - [From intent to predicate](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/coverage/an-architecture-is-its-predicate-set.md) - [Introspection](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/introspection.md) - [Abstraction](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/abstraction.md) - [Verification](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/verification.md) ## Linked from - [From intent to predicate](https://banes-lab.com/software-architecture/coverage/an-architecture-is-its-predicate-set.md)