I work on different projects which require me to perform very small, small and medium sized tasks which comprise a monolithic project just as any IT project out there would be. So what’s the big deal then?
I have seen people who design their work on paper be it very small or large and those who get into action right away. I fall into the latter group. I consider this to be a feather in my hat. This habit or skill, when I look at it now, are attributes that have creped into my nature of work partly due to my supervising body which wants results Yesterday and not Now or Tomorrow.
Until recently, I started noticing one of my colleagues who would jolt down even the slightest details of the task to perform before getting into action. Then with one steady stroke, as that of a master painter, she would complete her activities with no room for error. Integrating these modules would be a piece of cake.
On the contrary, I would have partly completed my activity with its main pieces in place and the results would also be there, feeling so proud of what I have achieved. In an IT project a partly completed project is equivalent to an uncompleted one. Integrating with these modules would be a tight rope walk. Endless debugging would follow during this integration process.
No more is this a feather in my hat, rather a scar on my face. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of Designing to the smallest details on paper before you start to act on your task. I am now trying by best to unlearn this behaviour. Hope I succeed. You might get a noticeable advantage in the beginning, however in the long run it’s always the tortoise than wins the race and not the hare.
