Check indivisible preparation blocks before pooling capacity

Available capacity can be stranded in small pieces. Before promising that a preparation batch fits, check whether its uninterrupted blocks can actually be placed into the available sessions. Adding all free units is a useful first calculation, but it does not supply a valid allocation.

Declare what cannot be divided

Use a fictional planning exercise with three blocks, A, B, and C. Each needs four uninterrupted units. Two sessions are available, each with capacity six units. Every block is eligible for either session, and each session has the same capacity. There are no expertise exclusions or different priorities.

The units describe only this invented model. State that a block cannot span sessions and that two blocks in one session must fit within its six-unit allowance. If actual work can be divided without losing its purpose, it needs a different contract. Do not assume either divisibility or indivisibility from the word task alone.

Use the total as a necessary check

The three blocks require twelve units altogether. The two sessions also provide twelve units altogether. That equality rules out a simple shortage of aggregate capacity, but it does not show that the blocks fit.

Record both totals beside the individual block sizes and session limits. A statement such as twelve available for twelve required omits where those units reside. It also omits the condition that each four-unit block must stay together. The next step needs actual block identities assigned to particular sessions, not just a reassuring sum.

Attempt the complete placement

Put A into the first session. It occupies four units and leaves two. Neither B nor C fits into that remainder because each needs four. Put B into the second session; it also leaves two. C remains unassigned.

Trying another order does not change this fixture. Any pair of blocks needs eight units, which exceeds a session's capacity of six. Each session can therefore hold at most one block. Two sessions can hold at most two of the three blocks. That argument explains infeasibility without relying on one unsuccessful attempt or pretending the organizer chose the wrong names first.

Preserve the contract when considering a revision

Splitting C into two units in each session would use the remaining capacity, but it would violate the declared uninterrupted-block requirement. Label that as a proposed change, not a successful allocation under the original rule. Ask the responsible owner whether division would preserve the intended activity before exploring it further.

A separate fictional revision adds a third six-unit session. One block can now occupy each session. All three are assigned, with two unused units in each. The unused units remain genuine slack; they do not prove the plan is inefficient or that another session can be removed. Other revisions, such as a larger session, require their own complete placement check.

Account for every block and every session

Keep a packing register with the session, assigned block identities, occupied units, free units, and any unassigned blocks. Check each session's limit independently, then verify every original block appears exactly once. A correct total cannot compensate for a split, omission, or overloaded session.

Have another reader explain why two sessions fail despite equal aggregate demand and capacity. They should point to the eight-unit pair and six-unit limit. The finished record establishes placement or a specific obstruction for this fictional batch. It does not estimate real team capacity, automatically reserve a session, or decide which work the team should abandon.