Sent as a file, or kept in a repoone spec, three people
one spec · 84 linesthree people touch itthree weeks later, one question
they part company here — where the change lives
Attachment
it travels as a copy
spec.xlsxTanaka
spec_latest.xlsxSato
spec_latest_suzuki.xlsxSuzuki
spec_latest_suzuki_v2_final.xlsxTanaka
One attachment, four inboxes.
The original is wrong now, and still in circulation.
Both edits are right. Neither file is.
Four files — and the newest name is not the newest content.
Search the thread, ask around, guess.
Search the thread, ask around, guess.
copies of the truth12344
who changed whatno mechanical answer
getting the last version backsearch the thread
Repository
it stays in one place
spec.mdmain
a1b2c3dspec: first draftTanaka+84
b4d5e6fspec: fix the timeout wordingSato+2 −1
c7e8f90spec: add the SSO sectionSuzuki+11
One file, one address.
Two lines changed — and the diff says which two.
Different lines, so they merge without anyone being asked.
The question does not arise: current is a position, not a name.
git blame line 41 → b4d5e6f → “fix the timeout wording”.
git blame line 41 → b4d5e6f → “fix the timeout wording”.
copies of the truth11
who changed whatevery line knows
getting the last version backone command
draftThe first version goes out. On the left it goes out as a COPY — the moment it is attached, every recipient holds a different object that merely looks the same.
one editSato fixes two rows and replies to the thread. The fix now exists in a second file, and nothing in the first one knows that it has been superseded.
in parallelSuzuki never saw the reply and edits a different section of the ORIGINAL. Two correct edits now live in two files, and neither file contains the other.
which one?Which file is current? On the left the question has no mechanical answer, so it gets settled by seniority and memory — and the settlement produces one more file.
three weeks laterSomeone asks why the timeout is 30 seconds. On the right that is one command, and the answer arrives with its reason attached. On the left it is an archaeology project with no guarantee of a finding.
three weeks laterSomeone asks why the timeout is 30 seconds. On the right that is one command, and the answer arrives with its reason attached. On the left it is an archaeology project with no guarantee of a finding.
None of this is about Excel being a bad program. It is about an attachment being a COPY: the moment a document travels as one, “which version is true” stops having a mechanical answer — and every habit a team invents to compensate (a naming convention, a shared drive, one person who remembers) is an unpaid version-control system with no diff.