In this piece, Seth Godin argues that understanding something is better than just memorising a process. Understanding is certainly key, but I think that misses something: there is value to in steps.
True, if you slavishly follow the steps, you can’t adapt. But if you don’t document the steps, it’s easy to miss one and get yourself into trouble. The challenge is knowing when to follow the steps and when to improvise.
My favourite example of where I do this is when preparing to deliver a training course. I’ve done it often enough that I know the process. But it’s so complicated that it’s easy to forget a step. By defining the steps, I can be sure to follow best practice1. It’s less stress for me and gives a better service to customers. As a side effect, it also looks more slick – people do notice and it, correctly, gives the impression both that you’ve done this before and you know what you’re doing.
In short, understanding is key, but don’t undervalue recording the steps.
I hate the phrase “best practice” because it’s never best. It’s a baseline level of quality. But that’s exactly what I’m trying to advocate here. Having the steps written means you to deviate from the norm safe in the knowledge that you’re not missing anything. ↩︎