God lies in details

Story of Sarath

Based on his experience, Sarath was involved to write a key research paper for the company. The stakeholders had faith in Sarath’s abilities and trusted him to prepare a flawless draft. There was pressure from the management and authors for an expedited publication. Sarath found out a way and ensured to meet all the requirements. The timeline was tight and there were multiple iterations, in fact an iteration was made just before the submission. However, everything fell in place and the paper was submitted to a reputed journal. The reviewers appreciated the company reporting this study outcomes and the paper was accepted by the journal.

Everyone appreciated Sarath and team members who were involved in the paper. However, the day the paper was published online, this appreciation turned into a series of questions. One of the authors pointed out to the study team that there was an error in the adverse events figure in the paper. According to him, the group names were swapped in the table below the figure.

Sarath was initially dismissive, convinced that he had performed all necessary checks and was sure that the data were accurate. However, a nagging doubt lingered, he recalled that there was a last-minute change in the figure. He decided to double-check the draft before it was edited. To his dismay, he discovered that the author was right. During making the necessary change, the graph was updated; however, the labels got swapped in the table below the figure. Due to tight timelines and pressure, he had missed out on checking the figure after it came back from the designer. None of the authors were aware of this change and it turned out to be an embarrassment for all involved in the manuscript.

Panicked, the team immediately contacted the journal editor and requested an amendment. Fortunately, the journal agreed to make the edits and a major damage was averted. However, the manuscript had been already downloaded by many people and although no major injury, there were some bruises. Sarath felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility. If he had noticed that small detail in the figure, all the drama could have been avoided. A tiny, seemingly insignificant mistake had impact on the reputation of Sarath and the team. Fortunately, any major blunder was prevented, however, it dented the trust stakeholders had in Sarath. Now his work was being scrutinized ensure that there are no deviations or errors. The team learned the lesson – God lies in details.

We are humans, we all make mistakes. However, there are measures in place to avoid them, if we follow the process diligently, these avoidable mistakes can be eliminated. Sarath and team learned from this experience, it turned out to be a one of incident.

Story of Sam

Sam had almost reach to the final stage of submitting her manuscript to a journal. However, just before hitting the "submit" button, she somehow felt an urge for a last-minute check. Although it was late, thinking that it won’t hurt, she decided to give her paper one more thorough read-through. She had read it countless times before, she had followed the process and her peers had approved the manuscript for submission, however, she wanted to make sure that there were no loose ends.

As she screened the paper, her eyes landed on a graph. At first glance, everything seemed fine, but something bothered her. She opened the figure and started checking it against the source data once more. She had been involved in this study for a long time and knew most of the data by heart. The numbers were right. However, she suddenly realized that the graph had the wrong labels on the axis, the labels for X-axis and Y-axis were swapped. A seemingly small oversight, but it would have a massive impact on the paper's credibility and comprehension.

Sam got the figure updated and checked that the axis were labelled appropriately. Sam spent the entire night rechecking all the figures and tables. She realized that due to this error, the interpretation in the text too was to be adjusted, she did that and made sure everything was aligned. Sam completed the revisions and submitted the corrected paper just minutes before the due date. Exhausted but relieved, she knew that the last-minute check had saved her from a potential disaster.

The paper was well received by the reviewers and with some changes, the manuscript was accepted for publication. Looking back, Sam couldn't help but be grateful for her diligence in that final, sleepless night. She realized that even the tiniest oversight could have put all her efforts in vain. Sam learned her lesson and shared the experience with her colleagues. She wrote a note on desk – “Sometimes, the most significant blunders could be averted through a few extra moments of careful scrutiny.”

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” – William Morris

We have heard it so many times – “God lies in details”. We all know the importance of paying attention to the smallest details. We know that it is essential for achieving excellence and success in various endeavors. This expression also emphasizes on being meticulous and thorough for achieving a high level of quality or perfection in any task or work.

When it comes to the writing activities and publications, here are some key points to consider:

Attention to detail: It may be numbers, text, grammatical aspects, or even the smaller details like going through the guidelines, it is important that we do it diligently without overlooking the finer aspects of the project. It’s not just the text, figures, or tables even the footnotes, references, symbols used need to be checked. Any and every component of the publication needs to be checked thoroughly to make it first time right.

Data accuracy: Data are the heart and soul of a publication. Accuracy of data is of paramount importance, a decimal here or there could have a significant impact on the publication, it could jeopardize not just the paper but entire study. It is important to understand the big picture and sense that inaccurate data or results could be detrimental to not just the study but also to the researchers and the company. Be careful when you are rounding off data, there is a good likelihood of introducing errors. When it comes to statistical aspects, if we do some averaging or rounding off, it should be verified by statistician.

Completeness: Looking at the minute aspects of the content can ensure completeness of the sentences. We should ensure that the data are complete, if there are any numbers that provide significance of the outcomes, they should be added appropriately. If there is a series, it should have logical end and should be complete. By addressing all the details, one can create a more comprehensive and well-rounded outcome.

Quality checks: When we go through the data numerous times, it is all likelihood that we might miss out on some of the minute details. A simple solution is to have quality checks in place, your peers can check the content for you. There is a need for processes to be in place to ensure quality checks and each one has to adhere to the process to avoid/eliminate errors.

Achieving greatness or excellence requires a commitment to excellence in the smaller aspects of a project. These small details collectively contribute to the overall quality of the final product.

In summary, "God lies in the details" underscores the importance of thoroughness, precision, and attention to detail in various aspects of life and work. It is also important to to keep in mind that focus on the smaller elements is necessary, we should not become overly fixated on perfection, it impacts efficiency and practicality.

Disclaimer: The blog content was published as a series on LinkedIn by the author.

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