Details, details, details...

Have you noticed that many, if not the overwhelming majority of events or situations that become serious problems (I'm not talking about the petty grievances of daily life) result from someone not paying adequate attention to critical details? As work becomes more stuffed with stuff to do, we (I) measure the outcome of our day based on the number of tasks completed. I suggest many of the tasks we are scrambling to complete are a revisitation of a task we could have done right the first time if we had managed the details more diligently. It takes a bit more time to make sure the details are correct, but we're "too busy" and assume someone else will follow up. Remember the probe sent to Mars that missed the planet because the program had an error in units, like kilometers instead of miles, and nobody looked at that detail. Assumptions are fine if they are kept in context but they don't take the place of knowing. We have a local fast food place that has every tool in the book to get the order correct, yet they almost never get it right, regardless of the complexity. Why? Not enough emphasis by the management on this aspect of people doing their job properly. Result? Ticked off customer and bad reputation. Details are not the sexiest part of what we deal with every day, but we're loosing the ability as a culture to give them their due and respect the importance of this part of being competent. One suggestion; quit "multi-tasking" and do one thing at a time, giving it your full attention. Try it; it is amazing how your task list will shrink and you'll feel better about what you actually get done.