Keep Back
Keep one part untouched; work the rest; read the two together at the end.
One dark rectangle left on a cleaned ceiling.
Seen in Main Concourse ceiling, Grand Central Terminal, New York, cleaned in the 1990s
Try it on your work
Before repainting a surface, mask one small square with tape. Paint the rest. When it is dry, peel the tape and look at both. Stop there; never paint the square.
Before editing a text, copy one paragraph to a separate page and leave it as it is. Edit the rest. When you finish, read the kept paragraph against its edited neighbour. Stop there.
A group reorganising a shared space leaves one shelf exactly as it was. When the rest is done, everyone looks at the shelf and the space together. Stop there; the shelf stays.
How it has been used
Before you start reworking something, set one part aside and leave it alone; when the work is done, put it back beside the rest and look: the corner of the old wall left unpainted, the first-draft paragraph kept as it was, the original swatch pinned to the board. The move forbids working the kept part, ever.
Where it leads
Grouped under Protect what still needs to work