Details

This wasn't supposed to be my first post but I have to rant here for a second about something very important that was bugging me at work: details.  Specifically this definition of it: "attention to or treatment of a subject in individual or minute parts".  Too many times we are looking for the quick and easy way around problems but not thinking about how the time we are saving now will most likely result in time spent later.  Instead of thinking about the consequences of our actions both short term and long, we only seek immediate results now.  This is wrong.

What is even worse is when our own short-sited actions result in someone else cleaning up after us later, sometimes literally.  Such as throwing litter on the street, or using shortcuts and the cheapest-possible materials for a home reno, or not flushing the toilet at the gym.  How many times have you been on the receiving end of correcting someone else's obviously poorly thought-out actions?  How did it make you feel?

Today at work I found myself looking at the code of an ambitious developer who implemented a complex solution for a problem that was anything but.  I spent hours trying to understand their code until I finally realized that it could have been done in a much simpler and easier to understand way.  The time we both spent on this could have been dramatically reduced if only they gave the solution a little more detailed look before implementing it.

The point is, if we all spent a little extra time paying close attention to the details and eventual consequences of an action we are about to take, then we have a good chance at reducing the amount of time and/or money spent correcting it in the future.  We usually don't enjoy fixing others' mistakes so how about we do our best to not be part of the problem?  After all, that is the definition of karma.