Adequate vs. award-winning

When I accepted a job with my most recent corporate employer, I promised the company's three founders that I would deliver award-winning documentation for their products. Then I delivered - three awards so far, with another one possible this summer.

Thinking about this last night, I asked myself: What makes the difference between an adequate manual and an award-winning manual?

The answer is the same as it would be if we were talking about cars, houses, cleaning services, wedding cakes, shoes, massages, or anything else that people do or make for other people: attention to detail. Doing all those bothersome little things that take time and effort but don't individually make much difference - because in the aggregate, all those bothersome little things make a very noticeable difference. For example, it takes time - minutes or hours, depending on the material - to make sure all your chapter or book titles and section or topic headings are grammatically parallel; but when you've done that, the table of contents reads well. Still, it's a bothersome little task that people often skip. By itself, this won't vault your good manual into the winner's circle, but if you do it along with all the other "detailing" that's involved in polishing a document before publishing it, you'll end up with a much better document.

If you want to deliver a superior product, start with a good product and a list of all the bothersome little things that people often skip in the name of holding to the schedule or keeping costs down. Then nail every item on that list. That's how you go from good to great.