ADHD and Details - How to make fewer detail errors, make your bosses happy and avoid bringing down the internet
On January 31, 2009, between 6:30 and 7:25 a.m. Pacific, a big chunk of the internet crashed. If anyone tried logging on to a website from Google, a Google message said "Warning! This site may harm your computer." Google's mistake happened when an engineer accidentally added "/ " to a list of harmful sites. Since every website includes a forward slash its URL, every website was considered harmful. A small detail led to big consequences.
Attention to detail is critical in many different types of jobs:
In 1870, German scientist Erich von Wolf, when measuring iron content in vegetables, accidentally reported 35 milligrams of iron per 100-gram serving of spinach, instead of 3.5 milligrams, simply by misplacing the decimal. It was not until 1937 that the error was corrected. During the interim period, Popeye came to fame a bit erroneously.
During the U.S.-supported invasion of Cuba’s Bay of Pigs in 1961, fighter jets from an aircraft carrier showed up an hour late to support B-26 bombers because somebody forgot about the hour time change from the base in Nicaragua where the B-26s took off to just offshore Cuba where the planes were to meet up.
Detail errors in your workplace may not cause the internet to crash, an invasion to fail, or a vegetable to be overrated but I bet they cause problems of all sizes and shapes.
Everybody makes mistakes
A client of mine recently showed me a review in which she was being castigated for making too many errors containing a sentence which read, “the the level of errors unacceptable.” So, yes to err is human. Everybody makes mistakes to some degree. But your job at work is to increase quality and minimize errors. Every year work becomes increasingly complex, time deadlines increase and it is tempting to think of lower quality as inevitable. But if you make producing high quality, error-free work a goal, you will stand out and people will want to work with you.
How to minimize errors
Realize this is how your brain works - People often underrate their propensity to make errors. It’s much better to accept the fact that your brain just struggles to see double words, check for details etc. Your brain is no doubt amazing at other things but if you can accept that you have an issue with errors, you can build in compensating mechanisms to pick up on your errors and correct them before they are too late.
Proofread, in small batches - Most people who are prone to errors (and even many who are not) have learned to proofread important emails or texts before they send them. But sometimes, your proofreading fails because you are trying to proofread too large of a document. Particularly if you have attention issues, break your proofreading into small batches, such as a paragraph at a time. Take some time and space between each batch so you can concentrate with laser-like focus to eradicate your mistakes.
Use Spell and Grammar check with all their flaws - Most document and email programs come with spell and grammar check built-in, a godsend for people who have issues with details, so by all means use them. But realize that spell checkers sometimes miss homonyms or recommend changes that are factually correct but stylistically awkward. So don’t turn your brain off when you are using spell and grammar check.
Employ Checklists - All medical students learn the Hippocratic wisdom,”first, do no harm.” Surgeons, in particular, must avoid errors and one such surgeon, Dr. Atul Gawande, wrote a bestselling non-fiction book called The Checklist Manifesto with a method to decrease errors. The idea is simple: break a process down into steps, write out each step and as you do the process, consult the checklist to make sure you haven’t missed any steps.
Set up Checks and Balances - A workplace that depends on minimizing errors should have checks and balances built in: Two members of an administrative team check each other's work. An attending physician double checks a medical resident at every step of the process. Two paralegals check each other’s work. If your workplace doesn’t have checks and balances built in, then create a check and balance process yourself.
Slow down - If you have been reading my articles, you will have seen this advice before in different contexts. If you have ADHD, you probably have a very quick brain. Fast brains are powerful but are much more prone to errors. Take deep breaths, meditate, time yourself, or have a “slow down” mantra. Do whatever it takes to slow down and make fewer errors.
Leave yourself time - If you are a student you have probably been hearing from teachers your whole life, “leave time at the end of the test to check your work.” And if you did it, you probably did it half-heartedly. But it’s good advice. Even if you know the material, if you have a brain that is prone to errors, you will find your mistakes - for example, if you are doing math, make sure you are answering the question that is being asked.
Measure yourself - It’s a common maxim of business that no metric improves without being measured. Once you start measuring your error rate, you can experiment to see which of these techniques work best for you.
It’s estimated that Google lost $2-$3mm in advertising revenue from that errant slash not to mention the hit to their reputation. You have to empathize with the engineer who made that mistake. Even though everybody makes mistakes, tiny mistakes can have big consequences. So own your abilities to avoid errors, strive for quality and shine in your workplace.