Next, let’s think about an interruptible design. It is important that the process can be interrupted. Many of us have multiple tasks concurrently. In the case, we can not concentrate on one task for a long time. The task is eventually interrupted.
In my case, I am a programmer and not a professional writer. I usually write on holidays and evening while doing another job. It takes about a year to write a book. During that time I can not concentrate on writing. So it is impossible to leave the pieces spreading on the desk.
The “to write all out” method is easy to interrupt. I carry a small note of pieces and write on it in a short time. I can save the pieces in a clear folder and a document box.
The spreading phase is more difficult to interrupt. The surface of the desk or whiteboard is a precious resource. If you spread pieces directly on a desk or a whiteboard, you need to clean up when you interrupt the phase. It takes time to spread and clean up. You may feel the interruption wasted your time.
As a countermeasure, I spread pieces on A4 papers. At first, I spread pieces on A4 paper tightly. Though I am using 50 mm × 38 mm pieces, I can paste 28 pieces on an A4 paper. The 100 pieces convert to four A4 papers. I call it “ICHIRAN” paper. The Japanese word “ICHIRAN” is related to the state that you can see the whole at a glance.
- (* “A4” is a size of paper defined in ISO 216. It is common all over the world except for United States America and some countries. In those countries, “US-Letter” is a similar size.)
After that, I use new papers in the phase of group organization. I look on the ICHIRAN papers and find a pair that seems to be related. And then, I peel off the two pieces and paste it on a new paper.
In the original KJ method, we paste pieces on a paper in the illustration(A) phase. However, because I paste pieces on papers from the beginning, I can draw the relationships at any time.
In this way, when you need to interrupt, you store A4 papers easily. Tools for storing A4 papers are inexpensive and easy to obtain — for example, clear folders and document boxes.
The A4 paper itself is easy to obtain. You can use the back of used printed material. You can use blank printer papers.
Papers are cheaper than your time. It is a waste of time if you do not have a paper when you need it. So it is a good idea to prepare enough paper.