First, the scribble
A question, a rough diagram, or a sentence beginning, “Surely I can just…”. Nothing alarming yet.
Build the thing
The first version only needs to be real enough to test. After that, every awkward result tells us what to measure, move, rebuild or order next.
What actually happened
Each project tells the story and points to any useful code, circuits or files in the Data Bank. If it worked, excellent. If it didn't, it usually left a better question behind.