Since we're First-To-File, my invention notebook and my date of conception don't matter now
Wrong :) You know that they still matter since your invention notebook is your iterative innovation tool. Yes, at one time, when we were First-To-Invent (FTI), it's role documenting your initial conception, played a more critical role in establishing patent priority and monopoly rights. Even with the new AIA First-To-File (FTF), date of conception can still play a role in certain circumstances, especially during infringement battles that might result in an injunction or the payment of forced royalties. But that's not my point here. The importance of Schwartz's Big-Bang-Theory of IP Capitalization and the factoring of The Schwartz Method (TSM) into Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) has a more fundamental role.
Achieving FTF on a true Preferred-Embodiment (P-E) is a matter of integrating patent preparation into every nook and cranny of the product development road map. The days when the luxury of filing unfocused provisionals and drafting the patent on the P-E as an afterthought, are over. Waiting to patent, when the "product is perfected" and deliverable, in a rush before the "first sale", more or less as a "Hail Mary", will not likely get you rights under FTF. Ostensible, it would seem like it could if you really "acted fast".
Reality, a patent is a precious articulation relying on the critical formulation of the MPEP compliant rubric, and if you want to ensure it's Right-First-Time (RFT) on the true P-E, then one good answer is to get everyone in the product development lifecycle loop IP Savvy and give them the tools to pop the draft utility compliant patent application out coterminously with the first alpha test, let alone the first sale.
The Schwartz Method tools: the IDPAW(Invention Disclosure Patent Application Workbook) is one of the ingredients in the IP-BC "secret sauce". When the framework of the IDPAW is understood by all parties in the IP hunt, then your IP conversation will be completely different, especially with IP Counsel. The end game is not a Hail Mary, but rather getting into the red zone, what we call the IP zone, during your first possession, meticulously moving the ball down field, and scoring a touchdown not throwing a wish at the goal posts and for sure, not getting just a field goal.
When you apply IDPAW to form a Utility Compliant Patent Disclosure (UCPD) and then generate a Utility Compliant Patent Application (UCPA), you will be able to run your innovation plays on each iteration of your P-E product line, and build a resounding lead in every game you play, as you develop your IP portfolio at the lowest cost and with the highest quality.
