Friday, August 21, 2009

If it Ain't Written Down, it Don't Exist

I do business with a great number of people, from "Whose turn is it to buy ice-cream?" all the way to classroom training sessions and major upgrades to applications.

I was taught "If it ain't written down, it don't exist".

At the ice-cream level most of the arguments with Bill and Fred focus on a fight to PAY, we value each other's company so much.

At most other levels there are very few arguments, because each step is paved with a common and tangible device called "a sheet of paper"; and yes, I've heard about the paper-less office,

If business is the exchange of two pieces of paper, one of which must be a cheque, then the reason for doing business is most commonly an exchange of ideas, talents, skill sets or tangible devices based on those mental attributes.

In short, business depends on the exchange of information stored in two brains.

The trouble is, I can't be absolutely certain that I know what's on your mind, no matter how hard I try. The mind is an unfathomable depth of mystery, at least, mine is.

Writing down on paper lets BOTH our minds share a common agreeable object – the sheet of paper and the words it bears.

We don't believe that we've covered all the bases on a sheet of paper, but we can agree that we agree with what IS written down there.

The mantra for teaching FORTRAN holds true today: "If you can't write it down in English(1), what makes you think you can write it down in FORTRAN(2)?

It is true of project goals. If a client can't express, no matter how haltingly in English, their aspirations and desires, how on earth do they expect to be able to communicate them to the consultant, and hence, how can the consultant be expected to translate them into a product?

It is said that Good Fences Make Good Neighbors.

I would add that Good Documents Make Good Projects.

(1) Your mother-tongue here

(2) Your favorite archaic programming language here

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