Excellence Talks’ Post [Video]

Love it ! Years ago bought idiots guide to internet book as just got first computer. Followed instructions to get onto www but couldn't get any further than putting web address into the browser. In end called my internet service provider and explained difficulty and he asked: 'Have you pressed the enter key after putting in the web address?' I replied 'No' He said but everyone knows to press the enter key ! I said no everyone doesn't - I'm an idiot which is why I bought the book. Nowhere in that idiot's guide book did it say press the enter key. I felt I had been ripped off ! Idiot !🤣!

What a great illustration. However, when it comes to a job, certain things are common sense. And your experience and knowledge should be sufficient to help you figure things out unless you are being trained on a new system/software. In the past, I have been able to have minimum instructions and achieve the task without detailed step-by-step instructions.  as a contract specialist who does projects, flexibility is essential, and with the minimal training we receive, your success is based on your experience. The position of the butter knife in the peanut butter jar was not necessary. Often, people want their hands held, and the reality is micromanagement is so outdated. We should be able to execute without needing step-by-step instructions. 

Fantástico. Es discutible siempre hasta que nivel de especificaciones es necesario llegar, porque siempre es necesario un nivel de entendimiento por quien lo recibe, y es justo a ese punto al que debe llegarse para alcanzar el doble objetivo de que sea entendible sin margen a error, y no sobre-especificar, lo cual es contrario a la eficiencia y aumenta la probabilidad de errores. En cualquier caso, muy ilustrativo para no olvidar que las especificaciones deben ser claras y completas, y para pasar un rato muy divertido con el vídeo.

I have used a variation of this in interviews. I have what I call the “coffee cup” question where I ask this candidate to write down the instructions for making a cup of coffee. I also give them 5 minutes to do so and will give them the room for the duration. What they produce gives me a chance to assess attention to detail, hand writing, use of language, creativity and technical writing ability. the best answer ever included headers and footers, headings, bulleted and numbered lists, figures, table of contents and references! Now That’s specific! It also provided a chance to assess confidence as the person that gave this answer asked for more time as their instruction was 5 pages long. It actually built a considerable amount of rapport as individual demonstrated they got the escence of the question and showed they could have a bit of fun with it

Love this, I have done this as a team event to teach the diversity of communication and understanding

OK, this is very funny. However, I don't think the right lesson here is about the need to be more specific. In fact, instructions may need to vary in specificity depending on the preparation/knowledge and the goals of the audience. In this case, the audience has the mischievous goal of misunderstanding every possible instruction so as to mess with the instructor. That does happen sometimes in real-world contexts, but the fix isn't providing more and more specific instructions. It's to address the motive. If the dad in this video was so inclined he could have continued to "misunderstand" indefinitely, regardless of level of specificity in the written instructions.

This is an excellent way to show how bad instructions can be over looked in any process. Communication skills are important and understanding language barriers can change any great process on any level of skills. I had to write a procedure to purge a gas line for an micro chip plant line that if the line was shut down for more than a minute the plant would lose 100 million dollars every 10 seconds, at least that was what I was told. But that was not my concern at all, my main objective was that the safety of my crew was more important to me than any dollar amount. This process endangered two crewmembers who had to be in a confined space with a gas that could kill them. I know how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich procedure and not kill anything in the process after that experience. Oh and I found a way to do that process without shutting down the plant.

Interesante y muy clarificador el video. Pero, aplicado a la seguridad y salud, si te tengo que decir que te pongas el cinturón en la carretilla, y si no te específico que no lo puedes puentear, ni doblar, y que si no funciona, no está puesto para que sea correcto, mal vamos, igual que si te tengo que decir que para consignar metas el candado por el agujero después de girar el interruptor, y no dejes la llave puesta. Exigir que se especifiquen con tanto nivel de detalle cosas tan obvias y de perogrullo sólo fomenta crear una sociedad con cada vez menos gente autónoma, autosuficiente y resolutiva. Claro que, si en un manual de instrucciones de un microondas no se indica que no se pueden secar mascotas, y una señora lo hace y mata a su gato y demanda a la marca, y el juez le da la razón y obliga a que la indemnicen y a que se indique en los manuales, de qué me quejo....

Brie Rangel This is how I feel when creating SOPs 😂

There are two things that we can learn here: the instruction must be specific and the people who follow the instruction must have a certain level of expertise and experience. Instructions shouldn't have too many unnecessary details. A simple one will be better. It makes more sense to mention the required knowledge to follow the instructions, or seek people with that knowledge for guidance.