The Half-Finished Things

Completing, keeping and clearing the tasks a relative left undone

A research poster from the School of Continuous Improvement walks through the homes of 64 bereaved adults and catalogues 287 tasks a partner, parent or sibling left part-way, from a jumper on its needles to a bed half dug. Most were kept as left or cleared; a task with someone waiting on it was completed in 61% of cases against 14% without, and handiwork and an open book went a median of four to five months before anyone touched them.

@misc{slop_8ivh18,
  author       = {Marit Osayande and Eivind Onwuka and Hedvig Anyanwu},
  title        = {The Half-Finished Things: Completing, keeping and clearing the tasks a relative left undone},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.8ivh18},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-the-half-finished-things-8ivh18/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}