{"id":606,"slug":"research-first-workflow-stages-0-to-5","title":"Reference framework: Research-first workflow — 5 stages (Capture → Foundation → Synthesis → Article → Marketing page → Maintain)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["knowledge-base","agency-methodology","editorial-discipline"],"reference_body":"**The sequence IS the methodology. Skipping Stage 1 and starting at Stage 3 is what produces content that doesn't hold up.**\n\n```\nStage 0  CAPTURE\n         Reading inbox + writing inbox (Matuschak)\n         → transient notes, prompts, quotes, observations\n         Tool: plain markdown, Obsidian daily note, memo app\n\nStage 1  FOUNDATION RESEARCH (INTERNAL)\n         Atomic concept notes, one idea each, densely linked\n         Every claim sourced; every source dated\n         Confidence label inline: Verified / Industry-consensus /\n                                  Single-source / Speculative\n         Audience: future self + internal team + AI agents\n         Output: a knowledge base, not a draft\n\nStage 2  SYNTHESIS / OUTLINE\n         Cluster atomic notes around a public question\n         Decide what stays internal (kill-your-darlings step)\n         Identify the single argument the article will make\n         Output: annotated outline that points at notes, not paragraphs\n\nStage 3  PUBLIC ARTICLE (DERIVED)\n         Narrative draft for prospects/peers\n         Shorter than the research; one argument; named sources\n         Confidence still visible but smoothed into prose\n         Links back into the public-facing portion of the KB\n         Output: a versioned, dated article with a \"last updated\" stamp\n\nStage 4  MARKETING PAGE\n         Brief; problem/outcome framing\n         Two or three sentences of substantive claim\n         Each claim linked to the article that defends it\n         Each article linked to the underlying research\n         Output: a short page whose credibility is one click deep\n\nStage 5  MAINTAIN (LIVING DOCUMENT)\n         Quarterly review: which research has new sources?\n         Which articles need a refreshed timestamp?\n         Which marketing pages now point at stale defenses?\n         Changelog visible to readers and crawlers.\n```\n\n**The Candid KB itself is the operational realization of Stage 1.** Each entry is an atomic concept note. The seeder lib ([[scripts/lib/kb-seed.js]]) is the infrastructure. Future public Candid articles get derived from this KB; the Candid marketing site links back into it.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"audience-layering-foundation-article-marketing","title":"Reference framework: audience layering — foundation research vs public article vs marketing page (3-column comparison)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"research-first-tooling-stack-2026","title":"Reference: research-first tooling stack 2026 — Obsidian + Git + Quartz/Astro + AI overlay (RAG)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-research-first-sequence-foundation-before-article","title":"RULE: Foundation research before article, article before marketing page. Never write the marketing page first.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"research-brief-research-before-pages","title":"Research brief: Research Before Pages — methodology for KB-backed websites (piece 14 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T20:46:33.388Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T20:46:33.388Z"}