DJRVST
master brummie
I can echo that experience. As it says above you can use clues and even if they are proven wrong it narrows your search down. On one issue it took me five years to find the correct pathway. I have in research put a great deal of work into analysing possible data, found what appeared to be the correct person only to buy certificates and find out I was precisely wrong!!!! It made the final positive outcome all the more joyous after what was a "rap on the knuckles". However remember you need to use Occam's Razor carefully in research. My view is that genealogical research, like all research, should be accurate or its limitations stated otherwise it's potentially a mix of fact and fiction."PostIts" is a great idea, I hadn't thought of that.
I must say this has knocked my confidence a few times as I have looked at other people's research and doubted my own research only to find that I was right.
If you write/type as you try using different coloured inks that remind to expand later, prepare an appendix or whatever.
It means a continuous edit but every month I refine the document.
Using a standard referencing system such as Harvard or inventing your own helps track data sources used in the text. I have only done this for the last three years after my eldest grandchildren proof read my work and suggested this technique as they both utilised it for their university work and as I hope to pass on my work via them and our younger Grandchildren I thought I had better comply!!! Role reversal in action.
Also I think of it as a letter to future generations, partly about me(!!) and enabling others to build upon it if they wish as more data becomes available.
I hope this helps - just stick at it.