Have you ever had the experience in daily life where someone provided you with instructions for a certain task, and upon trying to follow them, you found them to be incomplete and inaccurate? That’s not meant to be as rhetorical as it sounds, because I will add that when you pointed out to the provider where the instructions went awry, they ignored your helpful suggestions and continued to use the same inadequate instructions…
For example, my church offers CPR training to members who volunteer to be “first responders” on a rotating basis in our Sunday services. Twice I have attended this training, and both times the directions to the training location were confusing at best, incorrect at worst.
“Take elevator from garage to Plaza Level ‘P' under garage,
Go through double doors to Education Center.
Veer left behind double doors”
After my first experience with these directions, I complained that the map to parking in the hospital complex was vague, the elevator in the parking garage was not where the instructions indicated it would be, there was no “Plaza Level” or level “P,” and once I found the elevator and managed to get off at the right floor, there was no clear indication of where the classroom was…
After that ordeal, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to learn CPR. And I wasn’t the only one who had trouble finding the place. Surely, they would revise these instructions to be more accurate for the next time.
But when I signed up for the training again last year, I received the following directions:
“Parking is best in the Visitors Parking Garage located between Henderson (east) and Fifth Ave (west). At the north end of each floor is the elevator which will take you to Plaza Level on which the Education Center is located.”
Didn’t sound like much of an improvement to me. I was not hopeful that I’d have any better luck this time. A follow-up email from the organizer repeated those directions, and added, “There are directions to the classrooms. I will be there early and will help find lost sheep!!” So he knows the directions are inadequate, but rather than rewrite the directions to be useful, his response is to try to find people who become lost trying to follow them?
This time when I expressed the difficulty that I had with the directions, the response was a cheerful, “But you found it!” Another, more disgruntled attendee got a similar brush-off, “But you’re here now.”
As an editor, I often wonder why my freely given suggestions in a non-work setting are not accepted and acted upon. I’m offering my technical expertise for free! I don’t understand why it doesn’t occur to the recipients to use it to improve their product.
Is it because they didn’t ask to be edited in the first place and therefore were not receptive to such? Do they not understand that my comments imply that changes are needed? Is it because my suggestions are not provided to them in a useful format? Maybe it’s just not important to them?
I suppose if it’s that important to me, I should take the time to return to the hospital, trace the steps in the directions, and revise them to be accurate, considering that the hospital renamed the parking garage floors after animals some years ago! And there’s nothing to say that labels and signage and streets won’t change again. But without this kind of specific, useful input from someone who takes the time to implement the changes, what do you think are the chances that the directions will be any better next time?
My point is two-fold. A comment and a question.
- If you want to see changes implemented with the benefit of your expertise, especially in a non-work setting, you’ll probably need to be explicit to the point of doing it yourself. Make sure that you provide your input with a helpful attitude so that it’s received as such.
- Why do people perpetuate mistakes or inadequate information after they’ve been pointed out? I don’t get it. I’d like you know what you think.
I see this all the time, too. I suggest a documentation improvement but get no results. The response I get is, “It’s easier to just tell people than to write it down.” Your first point is correct. It is not enough to complain. You have to be willing to offer the improvement yourself. Like government politics, you will have difficulty impeaching a politician, if you do not have a better candidate to take that person’s place. People like known quantities and will put up with mediocrity until they see something better.