quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
Everyone is different. No magic to it.

Just about everyone I've ever hired wants to move up higher and higher into management, but very few understand the simple sentence I typed above...everyone is different.

You can't manage a large group of people and be successful if you can't take what you're given (the people) and make it work.

Should a customer service person be detail oriented? Answer, depends. Do detailed people make better problem solvers? Answer, depends.

Sounds like you're a detailed person. I'm not. If you were my CS agent on a call, my guess is I'd be frustrated. You've gotta pair the tool to the task. You need a detailed CS agent, I'd rather pluck my eyeballs out than deal with one.

Once we realize we're not all the same and stop expecting people to do things the way we'd do them, life gets a lot easier.

IMO, that was your very best post of all 7260 of them (the many I've read, at least). No snark here... that's a solid life lesson, a great point about management, and a reality that's often forgotten or ignored. Truly.

I like details but if you’re getting that reaction, I may have a clue for you.

You tend to be overly verbose and redundant. I couldn’t get through all of your post as it’s too long and I already got the gist of what you’re saying after reading the first third.

I suggest distilling your narrative to the salient points of the matter.

I don’t mind talking to people but I become painfully aware of time passing when I’ve been talking to a person for 15 minutes and knowing it only needed 5 minutes to resolve.

Be complete but be succinct.

From a perspective of over 20 years in residential plumbing and electrical service work I don't know what is worse... Too many, often pure speculation, details or too few/missing details.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I like details but if you’re getting that reaction, I may have a clue for you.

You tend to be overly verbose and redundant. I couldn’t get through all of your post as it’s too long and I already got the gist of what you’re saying after reading the first third.

I suggest distilling your narrative to the salient points of the matter.

I don’t mind talking to people but I become painfully aware of time passing when I’ve been talking to a person for 15 minutes and knowing it only needed 5 minutes to resolve.

Be complete but be succinct.

^^ THIS ^^

If I ask some people what time it is, instead of answering succinctly (e.g. 11:49) they will try to tell me how to build a clock.

Some people have knowledge, but lack wisdom. Knowledge is knowing how to build a clock and wisdom is knowing when to tell them what time it is rather than explaining to someone against their will how to build a clock.

Adult ADHD can also be a reason for inability to focus on details

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I like details but if you’re getting that reaction, I may have a clue for you.

You tend to be overly verbose and redundant. I couldn’t get through all of your post as it’s too long and I already got the gist of what you’re saying after reading the first third.

I suggest distilling your narrative to the salient points of the matter.

I don’t mind talking to people but I become painfully aware of time passing when I’ve been talking to a person for 15 minutes and knowing it only needed 5 minutes to resolve.

Be complete but be succinct.

Yes I know that. I'm always editing to make my shit shorter before I hit the button. But I'm not that kind of person who talks your ear off either. And I have a job that requires that level of detail, so I'm always cognizant that my tendency to be precise is not always helpful, though accurate. Did you get all that ? Well, did ya ?

Being too detailed can result in trouble. For years I was a COBOL programmer for a large semiconductor company and worked on systems that were in use company-wide by other programmers. As a result I not only wrote programs, I was expected to field questions about using them. I always wrote very detailed responses to such questions, because I wanted to be clear and not have to have a lot of followups. (My coworkers and clients called my responses "Casteel messages" and everyone knew what they meant. They filed them for future use, too.) One day I had a question via e-mail from a programmer in Italy about one of my systems. I had no idea who the person was or anything about him/her (name not a help). I responded in my usual very complete instructive fashion. The next day I was called to HR -- the questioner was a young female who accused me of sexual harrassment because I had "denigrated her competence" by inferring she would not understand a simpler explanation. I was forced to write and send an apology to that female (which she accepted). I then told my boss that I would never again engage in any communication with that female, that if she needed help in the future she would have to get it from one of the ladies in our department. (Our ladies wanted to scratch the questioner's eyes out . . . .)

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I like details but if you’re getting that reaction, I may have a clue for you.

You tend to be overly verbose and redundant.

Be complete but be succinct.

Yes I know that. I'm always editing to make my shit shorter before I hit the button. But I'm not that kind of person who talks your ear off either. And I have a job that requires that level of detail, so I'm always cognizant that my tendency to be precise is not always helpful, though accurate. Did you get all that ? Well, did ya ?

I get it. But you can't go back and edit what you verbalize. So it takes quick mental planning to distill the essence of what you're saying.

My jobs have always required details as well but I learned to summarize for senior management.

For me to write a succinct email takes a lot of time. If i just write freely, I can finish the answer in 2 minutes. But to edit that down, it takes a total of 20 minutes. If pressed for time, I'll answer the question. Then insert spaces above my answer and label my answer as "Detailed Explanation." Then at the top I add a heading "Summary" and give a two or three sentence summary.

I've also worked in teams who had to do a deep dive with senior management every month. We would have 25 slides to cover but at the backend, we had at least 50 back up slides should any questions arise.

Hey Rey. Sigform members aren't in my senior management and don't all require require salient points distilled to two or three sentences. For me Sigforum is a place to talk to tons of high quality human beings way smarter than myself, and I could only wish I were smart enough to automatically divine the level of detail I normally seek about things that peak my interest. For me the joy is in the details of a thing, the big picture is the draw. When I write an email to a superior who doesn't want or need a level of detail, I just ask them to let me know if they want more detail. And I've never done 50 slides for any single project or presentation, so we may be more alike than we think.

I have always considered myself a detail person but I do try not to get all crazy about it.