Terminology
Two well-known concepts:
This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That…
That…
That lay in the house that Jack built.
— An English nursery rhyme
and
A jack is a connector that installs on the surface of a bulkhead or enclosure.
— Wikipedia
initially gave rise to the set of concepts and techniques now known as the Stackable Jacks Method.
At first glance, these references appear unrelated. One is a cumulative narrative; the other is a physical interface. What links them is a simple idea: complex meaning can be conveyed by combining simple, well-structured elements in a controlled way.
To understand how this idea translates into SJM, it is useful to examine the terminology in reverse order.
Method
A method is a clear and repeatable way of doing something for a purpose.
That is why the Stackable Jacks Method is not a framework, a methodology, or an approach in the conventional sense.
It is a cohesive and internally consistent set of techniques, built around a small number of core concepts. These techniques are designed to work together, rather than independently, to support structured reasoning about problem spaces, scope, and intent.
The “method” aspect reflects discipline and repeatability, not prescription. Individual techniques can be used on their own, but it is their cohesive use — including the reuse of outputs between techniques — that makes SJM a method.
Jacks
A Jack is an action statement.
Each Jack expresses one meaningful action in a consistent form, making it sufficient to be understood on its own.
At the same time, Jacks are designed to relate to other Jacks. They can be positioned, combined, and reused without changing the action they express.
What a Jack represents — such as a need, a decision, or a rule — depends on how it is placed and interpreted within a structure, not on its wording alone.
Stackable
Stackable describes the ability to arrange Jacks into a hierarchy to provide meaning through complexity and context.
The specific format of Jacks enables stackability, allowing a Jack’s position to define its role within the hierarchy and its relationship to adjacent Jacks.
In the Stackable Jacks Method, meaning is a central value. Structure is not used to impose order for its own sake, but to reveal understanding through position. Stackable ensures that meaning is derived from how actions relate to one another, rather than from rewriting, rephrasing, or adding explanatory narrative.
The Three Concepts of SJM
The Stackable Jacks Method is defined by three core concepts that remain invariant across contexts and applications.
A Jack captures an action.
Stackable gives that action meaning through position.
The Method applies this deliberately for a purpose.
Together, these concepts define a way of working in which actions are expressed clearly, meaning is derived structurally, and analysis is applied with intent.