What is status tracking?

Status tracking is a concept in personal epistemology: Objects often move through defined states — tracking these states enables workflow.

Example: A blog post moves through draft, in review, published, and archived. An e-commerce order moves through placed, confirmed, shipped, delivered, and possibly returned. A job application moves through applied, phone screen, interview, offer, accepted. None of these objects change identity — they change status. The status type tells you where the object sits in its lifecycle and, critically, what operations are valid next.

This concept is part of Phase 12 (Classification and Typing) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for classification and typing.