Sandy's post reminded me of my experience of working with a perfectionist / detail oriented person. I realised that I was looking in the mirror since I often spent an inordinate amount of time sorting out the details. As a result of working with him I found myself worrying less about details. I figured he hung on to the work long enough and if I did the same we'd never say we're finished. This taught me to look again at priorities.
I've always noticed that I look at the big picture first. Then I look after the details. After working with him I learnt to ask myself just how much detail do I really need put in to get the big picture.
I found myself asking myself questions like...What is the important point of this project. What does it take to get this point across. How much of this information/presentation are they going to see again in the future? How conscisely can I present this? Why are we doing this? Where do we expect this to lead? What is really important here? When does this need to be finished? Who are we doing this for? What is my aim? Is this project going to have a long afterlife or is it a one off event.
During the project I keep asking myself questions like... Have I met my goals yet? Have I got the point across? Have I checked for mistakes. What can overlook on projects like this? I sort of created a checklist in reverse. How much detail can I let go off and get the job done effectively.
Sandy's right it's OK not to be a detail oriented person and even detail oriented people need checklist to help keep them focus on what is really needed to complete the job. The person looking at the bigger picture often sees the project getting completed on time.
Alex
