Indexes are useful because they make ongoing change legible. A finished gallery can look polished, but it often hides the relationships between projects, references, and working methods. An index keeps those relationships visible.
Indexes support growth
A working index can absorb small additions more gracefully than a heavily curated landing page. New projects, posts, references, and documents can enter the system without forcing a redesign every time the portfolio grows.
Indexes preserve context
They also make it easier to show how different pieces of work relate to one another. A project can connect to a note, a reading list can connect to a method, and a role history can sit beside the work it helped produce.