Chunk Up — Category

MANUAL MODEL. The first of the three chunk-up questions, and the one that builds the hierarchy itself. It moves toward generalisation: Fiero → Pontiac → car → transportation. It answers 'a kind of what?' and gives you siblings for free, which is what makes lateral movement possible.

• There is a broader class this belongs to
• The class has other members
• The class carries the shared properties

A client talking only about one incident is standing on one specific floor. Category chunking gives the incident a name and a family, which is often the first moment they see it as a pattern rather than an event.

Ask the question literally, then check the answer is genuinely a class and not a part or a synonym.

• “What is this an example of?”
• “This is a kind of what?”
• “What category does that belong to?”

Practitioner judgement: challenge what is useful, not every pattern you can hear.

Use it to widen the field of view before you choose anything, and to reach the level where a parallel world becomes available for a metaphor.

Client autonomy first — offer language the client can verify and decline.

• Answering with a part ('a wheel') instead of a class ('a vehicle')
• Answering with a synonym, which is the same level, not up
• Jumping four levels in one move so the client loses the thread