I confess to being very poor at the sort of quiz questions that ask how much earth is in a hole one metre by one metre. The answer of course is none because it’s hole, but it’s very easy to rush to the answer one square metre without thinking too much about the question, and I find I tend to do this.
To stop jumping to conclusions in this way when I am creating legal documents or advice I do a first draft, review it, maybe discuss it with somebody else and check everything at least twice and run a spellchecker – and then do another draft. When I send the results to a client I open attachments and make sure that they are the right versions and run a spell checker again on the email.
Pedantic maybe but it all goes to the quality of what you send out, and nothing looks as unprofessional to the recipient as receiving the wrong or an incorrect document or correspondence with spelling mistakes.
But does this really matter? Aren’t we living in an age where documents will autocorrect or at least show you a spelling mistake. The technology will cover our mistakes or make them irrelevant won’t it. This is an era of communication by texts and IM’s and emoji’s. Am I living in the past? 😐
I had to complete a compulsory driver assessment at work this week and in addition to sensible questions about how far I drove and if I made mobile calls, it asked how often I checked the cars fluid levels - daily or weekly. Really? These days most cars go for months without needing an oil check and if anything does run low a message comes up on the dashboard telling you. The only reason I tend to open the bonnet is to fill the washer fluid again when a warning light comes on. Years ago this was different and cars less reliable or communicative. Checking oil and water and brake fluid levels on a regular basis was essential.
I think though there is a difference even in this age of instant communication between cars being inherently more reliable and thus needing less checking, and the requirement for a professional to be thorough and careful and accurate. It is a measure of our ability and skill and the quality of the service we provide. I was very grateful for this care and attention when I visited the dentist this week.
I suggest that as professionals we can and should increasingly use technology to improve and to verify the accuracy of our work, like surgeons using robots to carry out less intrusive and more precise surgery, but at the end of the day we are responsible for exercising proper care and coming to the right answer. Jumping to conclusions or misspelling are symptoms of poor practice which can and should be avoided.
Xenophon the Greek philosopher, soldier and historian said “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.”
To stop jumping to conclusions in this way when I am creating legal documents or advice I do a first draft, review it, maybe discuss it with somebody else and check everything at least twice and run a spellchecker – and then do another draft. When I send the results to a client I open attachments and make sure that they are the right versions and run a spell checker again on the email.
Pedantic maybe but it all goes to the quality of what you send out, and nothing looks as unprofessional to the recipient as receiving the wrong or an incorrect document or correspondence with spelling mistakes.
But does this really matter? Aren’t we living in an age where documents will autocorrect or at least show you a spelling mistake. The technology will cover our mistakes or make them irrelevant won’t it. This is an era of communication by texts and IM’s and emoji’s. Am I living in the past? 😐
I had to complete a compulsory driver assessment at work this week and in addition to sensible questions about how far I drove and if I made mobile calls, it asked how often I checked the cars fluid levels - daily or weekly. Really? These days most cars go for months without needing an oil check and if anything does run low a message comes up on the dashboard telling you. The only reason I tend to open the bonnet is to fill the washer fluid again when a warning light comes on. Years ago this was different and cars less reliable or communicative. Checking oil and water and brake fluid levels on a regular basis was essential.
I think though there is a difference even in this age of instant communication between cars being inherently more reliable and thus needing less checking, and the requirement for a professional to be thorough and careful and accurate. It is a measure of our ability and skill and the quality of the service we provide. I was very grateful for this care and attention when I visited the dentist this week.
I suggest that as professionals we can and should increasingly use technology to improve and to verify the accuracy of our work, like surgeons using robots to carry out less intrusive and more precise surgery, but at the end of the day we are responsible for exercising proper care and coming to the right answer. Jumping to conclusions or misspelling are symptoms of poor practice which can and should be avoided.
Xenophon the Greek philosopher, soldier and historian said “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.”
RSS Feed
