Magna Carta - The Devil is in the Detail

As we all know the Magna Carta is a charter first issued by King John in 1215 that guaranteed the liberties and rights of his subjects and also placed the Crown under the authority of the law. Just as true today as it was then. I saw a news item about this on the BBC this week Harvard cut-price Magna Carta 'copy' now believed genuine. Apparently, a copy of the Magna Carta held in Harvard Law School bought for £7 (£339 now) in an auction in 1946 was thought to be a later copy from 1327. Very careful analysis has now established that it is in fact a rare and lost original. This research looked at the small details such as the handwriting, dimensions and text to come up with this astonishing conclusion. The Harvard version is now conservatively worth over £15 million. Everyone advises us to focus on the bigger picture which of course is sensible. But I suggest that like this research attention to details and getting the small things right in life and professional work is a critical skill that improves our capacity to take the bigger decisions and actions. In my professional practice area of the law attention to detail is a prerequisite as it is in many professions. If the small details are correct, then it often follows that the bigger picture will eventually turn out to be. 

As AI suggests “In professional life, attention to detail involves a thorough, accurate, and consistent approach to tasks, ensuring high-quality work and minimizing errors. It's a valuable skill that contributes to efficiency, productivity, and positive relationships with clients, vendors, and stakeholders.” This is a valuable skill that is easy to underestimate and neglect developing as we focus on “getting the big picture right”. See for example this article How to improve your attention to detail which suggests that “Employees who consistently produce error-free, high-quality work directly contribute to the success and profitability of a company.” It proposes ways to improve this skill such as limiting distractions, regular breaks and having an uncluttered work environment.

I also found this interesting article from the University of Southern California 12 Simple Ways to Be More Detail Oriented (and How It Will Change Your Life). It suggests this is not as simple as it sounds and that it requires someone who:

• Pays attention to the little things
• Is thorough with their work 
• Puts effort into presentation and aesthetic 
• Follows through with their duties
• Doesn’t require micro-management
• Checks their own work 
• Is organized and prepared 
• Has a good memory

It proposes that “being detail-oriented means you need to slow down, which leads us to the next skill: setting appropriate deadlines” and points out the dangers of multitasking and “tech distractions”. Interestingly it proposes using a notebook and pen – “writing things down by hand makes it easier to retain that information”and also advises:

• Check your work (not just using a spell checker!
• Take a second opinion
• Use Checklists (see my post Use a Checklist) and templates

While this PWC article Attention to detail matters suggests “Whether it’s nature or nurture, being a stickler on the minutiae is a quality that benefits employees.” It also indicates that attention to detail can be innate and hard to learn but is important citing Kim Perell, an entrepreneur in the technology sector. “And if you’re not meticulous on everything you do, that means you’re going to be sloppy somewhere else. I have zero tolerance for that. I’ll even tell people after a meeting if they forgot to the put the page number on a particular slide. I believe everyone’s trying to do a great job, but I think they need the feedback to remind them to be really professional.”

To some extent in this age of hyper quick business communication taking the time to get the detail right is often seen as an unnecessary luxury. In those now forgotten days of using the post for legal correspondence the more leisurely pace of communication allowed partners or senior lawyers to check the correspondence of more junior colleagues before it was sent. This is not something that really happens in our age of Teams chat. One of my personal bugbears in creating effective outsourcing contracts is the challenge of getting say technical architects or finance colleagues to use the defined terms you have carefully crafted in the agreement structure throughout the document. However, there is no excuse for sloppiness as in addition to following the various advice cited above, we now do have the advantages that technology brings from basic spellcheckers to AI tools that will, for example, conform the use of defined terms in legal documents and produce first drafts. Even then my experience with say litigation software is that it can power through immense volumes of documents and sift out relevant material, but this still needs to be checked for context by an actual lawyer.

Of course, being stuck too much in the details can mean losing sight of the bigger picture, but generally in my experience if we do not get the small things right in our professional working world the larger issues also fall apart. According to Wikipedia “The devil is in the detail" is an idiom that refers to a catch or mysterious element hidden in the details. It derives from "God is in the detail" attributed to German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). Earlier on Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) said "Le bon Dieu est dans le detail." Meaning that things seem simple at first but are more complex or require more time and effort than expected. The earlier idea is that details are important; whatever one does should be done thoroughly.”

And I am very much not alone in advocating this professional attribute.

"Details matter. It's worth waiting to get it right." Steve Jobs.

"If you place the emphasis on getting the little things right, and address the everyday problems that come up, you can encourage a culture of attention to detail." Richard Branson.
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"Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail." Leonardo Da Vinci. 

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