diff --git a/doc/design/assistant.mdwn b/doc/design/assistant.mdwn
index 5cbdb20d19..3bbd27c581 100644
--- a/doc/design/assistant.mdwn
+++ b/doc/design/assistant.mdwn
@@ -5,14 +5,6 @@ This is my design and plan for developing it.
 Still being fleshed out, still many ideas and use cases to add.
 Feel free to chip in with comments! --[[Joey]]
 
-## the pitch
-
-The blue sky goal would be something automated like dropbox, except fully
-distributed. All files put into the repository would propagate out
-to all the other clones of it, as network links allow. Note that while
-dropbox allows modifying files, git-annex freezes them upon creation,
-so this would not be 100% equivalent to dropbox.
-
 ## roadmap
 
 * Month 1 "like dropbox": [[!traillink inotify]] [[!traillink syncing]]
@@ -20,4 +12,9 @@ so this would not be 100% equivalent to dropbox.
 * Month 3 "easy setup": [[!traillink configurators]]
 * Month 4 "release": [[!traillink leftovers]]; release
 * Months 5-6 "9k bonus round": [[!traillink Android]]
-* In my overfunded nighmares: [[!traillink Windows]]
+
+## not yet on the map:
+
+* [[desymlink]]
+* [[deltas]]
+* In my overfunded nighmares: [[Windows]]
diff --git a/doc/design/assistant/deltas.mdwn b/doc/design/assistant/deltas.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cf2d9f6c34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/design/assistant/deltas.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Speed up syncing of modified versions of to existing files. 
+
+One simple way is to find the key of the old version of a file that's
+being transferred, so it can be used as the basis for rsync, or any
+other similar transfer protocol.
+
+For remotes that don't use rsync, a poor man's version could be had by
+chunking each object into multiple parts. Only modified parts need be
+transferred. Sort of sub-keys to the main key being stored.
diff --git a/doc/design/assistant/desymlink.mdwn b/doc/design/assistant/desymlink.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e12cd52dc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/design/assistant/desymlink.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+While dropbox allows modifying files in the folder, git-annex freezes
+them upon creation.
+
+To allow editing files in its folder, something like [[todo/smudge]] is
+needed, to get rid of the symlinks that stand in for the files.