Some thoughts to add.
Single mating. Not a practical option for everyone, but you can track more specifically. Record keeping becomes more about individuals than it does pens. It also adds emphasis to the female side of the mating. In a pen of females, an individual female has less influence. When a superior hen is discovered, it allow to put more emphasis on that female.
I do not believe in the old adage that the female sets type or contributes the size, and the male color. It just does not make genetic sense other than in sex linked genes. The part that I do like about it is the idea gives more value back to the hen. Such as the saying "the secret is in the dam". Well, I believe there is no secret in the dam. I do believe however, that the female side of the equation is devalued when she is one of many. I want to trim my flock down to superior performing hens as much as I do superior performing males. I need to see what a hen has to offer. Not the results getting lost in the shuffle or based on my impressions, which I do not trust.
So when it comes to record keeping, I want it all based on individuals. The offspring and the parents.
I also want values considered for individual characteristics. Something that can add a better sense of the overall value of a bird. Certainly on any given year or in an individual family certain traits would be more valuable than another. I want to be flexible enough to shift, but I want to establish priorities. What I am trying to do is organize the process.
I got this idea re emphasized from someone else, and I intend to follow it to some degree. What I want is my results, process, and assessment to a bit more scientific. I get the intuition and art ideas. At least if intuition is used in a way that is based on knowledge or pass experiences. That is really what is intuition is. Knowledge of evidence that is necessarily on the surface.
Still at the end of the day it is genetics, and genetics is science. None of the results are by chance unless the process is random.
Pictures. I intend to take a lot of pictures. I want to identify tendencies. I want to see what I can cull for early. I want to hatch as many as I can, so I need to clean out as many as I can as soon as I can. I am guessing that after a couple years this will be a handy reference.
I want the pictures to be specific enough to include sections. Both type and color.
I am not suggesting these things. This is a bit more than keeping it simple. Just ideas that I have had. This is a project for me. I have an ideal in mind, and want to figure out how to get there.
So when we discuss records, these are some of the things that I am thinking of.