The Devil’s In The Details

A news story recently raised concerns because far too many students did poorly on a standardized test. Officials postulated that because the students didn't see the test's relevance, they simply didn't do their best. Adding test results to students' transcripts, they reasoned, should motivate them to do better. Perhaps so, but it's probably not that simple.

Just the other day a young person who loves to write expressed disgust with grammar and punctuation. Isn't "getting the message across" more important than a bunch of than highfalutin rules? Yes, if you're content with being average.

I could never recount the seemingly unimportant job-related details that unexpectedly erupted into significance. And years of judging science fairs continue to give convincing proof that how the details are handled often differentiate winners and losers.

I remember asking an engineer for some specifics on a particular calculation. He had no idea that such a detail would be important and was thoroughly unprepared. While he was more than happy to correct his sloppy work, the damage had been done.

In business, managers are often exhorted to be visionaries, "big picture" sort of folk who are empowered to delegate details to the "number crunchers" and "bean counters" condemned to handling such irksome evils. And to be marked as a "detail person" can be a career's kiss of death. While I certainly don't advocate micro-managing every nit, somewhere there must be a balance. It was attention to "the details" that first catapulted the quality of Japanese products to world-wide acclaim.

A friend who owns a business recently told me about two fellows that he had hired. The quality of their work was exceptional... when they were there. They simply didn't see the relevance of showing up on time every day. Just a minor detail to them, it seemed.

I'm ashamed to have to count myself among those who tend to gloss over things that don't seem to have any obvious import or immediate relevance. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to ignore those troublesome little details of life? What time and money could be saved if we only knew which ones would turn out to be critical!

Let's get closer to home. What are our children reading, watching, listening to? And just who are those friends? We're easily satisfied with broad-brush answers like, "Oh, it's just a book," or "It's only a song." But the details they sweep under the rug are so critical that parental success hinges upon knowing them. Too many parents have told me that had they paid closer attention, bad friends might not have have lured their children into serious troubles.

We need to put aside the notion that just because something appears to lack "relevance," it can be slighted. The devil's in the details, and one is certain to jump up and bite us if we don't learn to be thorough, even when we don't see the connection.

I better quit writing and subtract my checkbook.

Copyright 1999 James McAlister

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