Write The Rules
Write rules a stranger could run without asking you anything; stop editing when nobody needs to ask.
Formerly Programme
LeWitt: wall drawings executed from written instructions alone.
Seen in Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #118, 1971
Try it on your work
Set a rule that produces one new thing each day without your judgment ("each day, combine the first two objects I touch") and run it for a week. Keep the one output you would never have authored.
Write a sentence-generating rule ("every title is a lie plus a place") and produce twenty outputs mechanically. Pick none; just note which rule-products embarrass you, and why that might matter.
Define a rule that makes one project decision automatically for a week: "the cheaper option wins," "whatever came second gets cut." At week's end, count how often you wanted to override it, and where.
How it has been used
Write rules complete enough that the work makes itself: Sol LeWitt's wall drawings are executed by other hands from written instructions and he never touches the wall. The move forces you to put everything into the rules, because you're forbidden from correcting the output.
Where it leads
Grouped under Help the parts work together