Voice Guide Governance

Created 2026-02-28

Updated 2026-02-28

Status active

Tags voicewritinggovernancereference

This document explains how changes to the voice guides are proposed, reviewed, and applied. The goal is to keep these guides accurate, up-to-date, and jointly owned — without creating overhead that slows down actual writing work.

Ownership

Guide	Owner	Who can confirm changes
`VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md`	Both	Both Patrick and Ksenia must confirm
`VOICE-GUIDE-PATRICK.md`	Patrick	Patrick confirms; Ksenia may observe
`VOICE-GUIDE-KSENIA-ASIA.md`	Ksenia	Ksenia confirms; Patrick may observe
`VOICE-GUIDE-GOVERNANCE.md`	Both	Both confirm

How Updates Are Proposed

Source: Copy feedback in a working session

The most common source of updates. During a writing session, feedback from Patrick or Ksenia reveals something that belongs in the guides — a pattern that keeps recurring, a phrase that keeps being flagged, a new example that belongs in the Good vs. Needs Revision table.

Process:

Claude identifies the insight during the session and flags it: “This feels like something that should go in the voice guide.”
Patrick or Ksenia confirms: yes, add it / no, it’s context-specific.
If confirmed, Claude drafts the update and applies it immediately, adding an entry to the Version History.

Source: Direct instruction

“Add this to the voice guide.” Add it. If it affects the unified guide, note that Ksenia also needs to confirm.

Source: Ksenia’s review (for her own guide)

Ksenia reviews VOICE-GUIDE-KSENIA-ASIA.md and corrects or expands what’s there. She confirms the update, and Claude applies it and notes it in Version History.

Confirmation Protocol

Unified guide changes

Changes to VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md affect both people. Both must confirm before the change is applied permanently.

In practice:

Patrick proposes a change in his session → Claude drafts it → Patrick confirms → Claude notes “Pending Ksenia confirmation” in Version History
Ksenia reviews in her next session → confirms or adjusts → Claude applies the final version and marks it confirmed by both

If a change is straightforward and clearly consistent with what’s already in the guide (e.g., adding a word to the Avoid list that both people have flagged repeatedly), one person’s confirmation is sufficient with a note that the other should review.

Personal guide changes

Patrick confirms changes to his guide. Ksenia confirms changes to hers. No cross-confirmation required unless the change reflects something that should move to the unified guide.

What “confirmed” means

In a working session: “Yes, that should go in the guide” or “That’s right.”
In writing: A clear instruction to add, change, or remove something.
Not required: a formal sign-off or separate review meeting. These are working documents, not contracts.

Applying Changes

Claude applies confirmed changes directly in the relevant MD file and updates the Version History table at the bottom.

Version History format:

| Version | Date | Change | Confirmed by |
|---------|------|--------|-------------|
| 1.1 | YYYY-MM-DD | [Description of what changed] | [Patrick / Ksenia / Both] |

For draft or pending entries:

| 1.1 draft | YYYY-MM-DD | [Change proposed] — pending Ksenia confirmation | Patrick |

Frequency

There is no fixed review schedule. The guides are updated when:

A working session surfaces something that belongs there
One of the guides is referenced for a task and something is missing or incorrect
A recurring problem in Claude’s output points to a gap in the guides
Ksenia reviews her guide for the first time and confirms or corrects it

Over time, the guides should stabilize. The Version History will show when they were last meaningfully updated.

What Does Not Require a Guide Update

Context-specific decisions that won’t apply elsewhere
One-off copy choices made for a specific page or campaign
Stylistic preferences that apply to a single piece but not broadly

When in doubt: if Patrick or Ksenia has flagged something twice, it probably belongs in the guide.

Ksenia’s Guide — Initial Review

VOICE-GUIDE-KSENIA-ASIA.md was created as a draft (v0.1) on 2026-02-28, inferred from Ksenia’s written work in the knowledge base. It has not yet been reviewed by Ksenia.

For Ksenia: When you first use this guide in a session with Claude, take 5–10 minutes to read it and note anything that doesn’t sound right. Tell Claude what to correct. Claude will apply the changes and bump the version to 1.0, marking it as confirmed by you.

Pending Review — 2026-03-02

For Ksenia: The following changes were applied to two live program pages today (2026-03-02) during a copy review session with Patrick. All changes are grounded in VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md principles already confirmed by both of you. Please review and confirm — or flag anything that doesn’t look right. If you’re happy with all of them, these patterns can be added as examples to the unified guide’s “Good vs. Needs Revision” table.

Pages changed: baseworks.com/smsg-spring-2026/ and baseworks.com/practice-sessions/ DB backup taken before changes: /tmp/backup-before-voice-copy-changes-20260302.sql (on server)

Ksenia’s (=Asia’s) response: Changes 1, 3, 6, 7 - Good. (Change 7 is VERY good) Change 2 is not good because the paragraph is built on one of the cathrases/taglines - “It’s not about what you do but about how you do it.” What I did: to soften the stone-throwing, I changed “Most physical practices” (e.g. pilates, dance…) “Most approaches to physical education” (e.g. implicit class models, where teh teacher teaches movements and techniques in class - more general). Alternatively, if anything needs to be changed, it’s not the order of Baseworks vs other practices, but this reference to “Most physical practices” at the beginning. Change 4 is not good because it collapses the 2nd bullet point about body awareness/perceptual skills (One of the key PODs) into intensity modification and self-regulation already mentioned in bulletpoint 3. Suggestion: keep as is. Change 5: I accepted the change, but I think we need to be more inclusive by expanding to “Guided practice for Baseworks practitioners experienced movers.” Why? Because not everyone who completed a study group is an “experienced mover.” I am also not 100% sure about the term “mover” because I think it comes from the Movement Culture. For example, I am not sure if competitive athletes or professional dancers identify as “movers.” Needs discussion.

SMSG Spring 2026 (`/smsg-spring-2026/`)

Change 1 — Hero supporting line

Before: “…for people who are already physically active and ready to go deeper.”
After: “…for people who are already physically active and want to understand how their body actually moves.”
Reason: “Go deeper” is flagged wellness/marketing language. Replaced with a specific, direct description of what the program offers.

Change 2 — The Gap section, paragraph 1

Before: “Most physical practices focus on what you do — the exercises, the reps, the poses, the technique. Baseworks focuses on how you do it: the quality of attention…”
After: “Baseworks focuses on how you move: the quality of attention you bring to movement, the precision of how you activate your body, the awareness of what is actually happening as you move through space. Most training focuses on what you do — the exercises, the reps, the poses, the technique.”
Reason: Voice guide principle — lead with what Baseworks IS. The contrast is still present but moved to a supporting position. “Most physical practices” softened to “Most training” to avoid positioning against other disciplines directly.

Change 3 — Who Tends to Find This Useful

Before: “…often find it expands their toolkit in ways their primary training didn’t address.”
After: “…often find it adds precision and analytical depth their primary training didn’t address.”
Reason: “Expands their toolkit” is a metaphor. Voice guide: no metaphors. Direct description preferred.

Change 4 — What You’ll Develop (bullet)

Before: “Spatial and body awareness that transfers beyond the practice space, into everything you do.”
After: “Attention and self-regulation skills that practitioners often find useful beyond movement practice.”
Reason: Two issues — (1) “practice space” is a flagged term; (2) cross-domain transfer framed as guaranteed outcome, not observation. Voice guide: use qualifying language (“practitioners often find”), present as observation not promise.

Practice Sessions (`/practice-sessions/`)

Change 5 — Hero subheading

Before: “A continuing practice space for experienced movers. Not a drop-in class — a place to go deeper with people who already know how to work.”
After: “Guided practice for experienced movers. The emphasis is on depth, not on introducing new material.”
Reason: “Practice space” flagged; “Not a drop-in class” is negative framing (describe what it IS); “go deeper” flagged; “people who already know how to work” is vague. The revised version is the phrasing the voice guide itself suggests for this concept.

Change 6 — “The Format” section heading

Before: “Not a class. A practice space.”
After: “Guided practice. Minimal theory.”
Reason: Negative framing in first sentence; “practice space” flagged. Revised heading describes what the sessions ARE, in two short positive statements.

Change 7 — “The Format” section body, paragraph 1

Before: “Most movement classes teach you something. Baseworks Practice Sessions let you practice it — with guidance, with feedback, and with people who are already in the work.”
After: “Baseworks Practice Sessions let you practice the method — with guidance, with feedback, and with other experienced practitioners working through the same framework.”
Reason: Opens with what other classes do instead of leading with Baseworks. “In the work” is vague informal language — replaced with a specific, clear description.

Review outcome — Ksenia confirmed 2026-03-02

Implemented on site (Changes 1, 3, 6, 7): Confirmed by both Patrick and Ksenia. Live on both pages.

Implemented with Ksenia’s edit (Change 2): Ksenia preserved the original sentence order (core tagline structure “not about what you do but about how you do it” is a key method phrase). She narrowed the contrast reference from “Most physical practices” to “Most approaches to physical education” to avoid positioning against specific disciplines. This is now live.

Implemented with open discussion (Change 5): Live as proposed. Ksenia flags that “experienced movers” may not include all eligible participants (e.g. alumni who aren’t high-level athletes) and questions whether “mover” is too associated with Movement Culture terminology. Possible future revision: “Guided practice for Baseworks practitioners and experienced movers.” Needs further discussion between Patrick and Ksenia before any update.

Not implemented (Change 4): Ksenia noted that “Spatial and body awareness” is one of the key PODs (points of distinction) for the method and should not be merged with the self-regulation bullet. Kept as-is. The open question about “practice space” as a flagged term in this context remains — worth revisiting separately.

Next step: Changes 1, 3, 6, 7 confirmed by both — Claude can add these as examples to the “Good vs. Needs Revision” table in VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md. Changes 2 and 5 need one more round of discussion before propagating to the unified guide.

Pending Review — 2026-03-24

For Ksenia: The following changes were added to VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md during a blog post working session with Patrick. All are marked as draft pending your confirmation.

Change 1 — Principle 6a: Em dashes and contractions (v1.8 draft)

Em dashes should be used sparingly. Overuse reads as AI-generated. Prefer commas, periods, or restructured sentences. Keep em dashes only when they are doing real structural work (e.g., introducing a definition).

Use contractions (doesn’t, isn’t, won’t, they’d) for natural reading flow in public-facing copy.

Change 2 — Capitalization rule: Method, Practice, Approach (v1.9 draft)

“Baseworks Method” — always capital M when “Method” follows “Baseworks”

“Baseworks Practice” — capital P when referring to the structured practice system (Foundation, Elements, Strategy, Integrate); lowercase when descriptive (“their daily practice”)

“Baseworks Approach” — capital A when referring to the principled framework as a named concept; lowercase when descriptive (“the Baseworks approach to movement education”)

Requested action: Review and confirm, adjust, or flag for discussion.

Ksenia’s response (2026-03-25):

Change 1 (em dashes/contractions): Confirmed.

Change 2 (capitalization): Confirmed overall. Expanded the “Baseworks Practice” lowercase rule: “Baseworks practice” (lowercase p) is permissible when it refers to “the practice of Baseworks” as a general activity (e.g. “my Baseworks practice is unstructured”). But preferred phrasing is “when we practise Baseworks” or “in the practice of Baseworks” to avoid ambiguity with “Baseworks Practice” (the four-module system). Addition applied to the table cell.

Patrick confirmed Ksenia’s addition (2026-03-25). Both changes (1.8, 1.9) now confirmed by both. Applied to VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md.

Pending Review — 2026-03-31

For Ksenia: The following changes were added to VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md during a contact inquiry session with Patrick (v2.3 draft). All pending your confirmation.

Change 1 — “Thank you for reaching out” added to Avoid list

Too casual for formal correspondence and contact form responses

Standard first-contact opener: “Thank you for your inquiry” or “Thank you very much for your inquiry”

Change 2 — Communication dynamics rules added to Email section

Follow-up responses must reflect the existing conversation — do not reuse the first-contact opener in a follow-up. Each exchange should read as a natural continuation.

Fit assessment framing: use relevance and complementarity, not performance. “You’d find the program very relevant to what you’re already doing” — not “You’d do well in this program.” The program matches personal objectives; it doesn’t measure how someone performs.

Change 3 — Three new Good vs. Needs Revision entries

“Thank you for reaching out” → “Thank you for your inquiry” (first contact only)

“You’d do well in this program” → “You’d find the program very relevant”

“Thank you for your inquiry” in a follow-up → natural continuation (“Hi James,”)

Requested action: Review and confirm, adjust, or flag for discussion.

Pending Review — 2026-03-31 (Email Signatures)

For Ksenia: The following change was added to VOICE-GUIDE-UNIFIED.md (v2.4 draft) and communications-guide.md (v1.1) during a participant communication session with Patrick.

Change — Email signature convention

Sign with whoever is sending the email (Patrick or Asia), not both names

Patrick and Asia alternate on participant communications; the sign-off reflects who is actually writing

This aligns with existing practice in Patrick’s voice guide (“Signing with just ‘Patrick’ is standard”) and extends it as a shared convention

Requested action: Review and confirm, adjust, or flag for discussion.

Version History

Version	Date	Change	Confirmed by
1.0	2026-02-28	Initial creation	Patrick
1.1	2026-03-02	7 copy changes reviewed by Ksenia. Changes 1, 3, 6, 7 confirmed by both. Change 2 live with Ksenia’s edit (sentence order preserved; “Most physical practices” → “Most approaches to physical education”). Change 5 live with open discussion on “experienced movers” terminology. Change 4 not applied (body awareness POD).	Both