Application

Communication - including writing procedures, copy-writing, literacy, supervision

Materials

Handout : Check your understanding

Timing

Five minutes for activity

Debrief by referring back throughout the session

Procedure

  1. Explain that you are about to conduct an activity which demonstrates how people will often make mistakes when presented with written instructions.

  2. Distribute a copy of the handout "Check your understanding" to each participant.

  3. Allow five minutes for participants to complete the activity

  4. If participants finish early, ask for quiet so that the ones still doing the activity can get it absolutely right.

Throughout your instructions emphasize how easy it is to make an error reading seemingly clear instructions. Do not hint that the source of the error is often in the instructions not in the activity.

Debrief

  1. Read the fine print instructions clearly. Emphasize the instruction - answer only the first and last question.

  2. Discuss where written instructions are ignored - ranging from someone who has purchased a video player or a software package to the instructions on a cake mix packet or enclosed with medication. We assume that we already know it.

  3. Ask what can be done to make sure that people do follow instructions

  4. Possible solutions

  • A timing interlock on software so that the software cannot be loaded until the instructions have been scrolled through after a certain time has elapsed
  • A requirement that a code be punched in before the machine can be operated. The code word or phrase is included in the text of the instructions
  • Using visual as well as text instructions

Add your own ideas.

Review

Although the answers are not important to the activity - here they are:

  1. Write your first name in box 1
    Just Do It
  2. State your birthday, using the convention mm/dd
    That is also one that I don't know your answer to
  3. What was the first day of the twenty-first century?
    January 1, 2000, or was it 2001?
  4. How many of each animal is Noah believed to have taken with him on the ark?
    Two. Yes it was Noah. This will catch the puzzle freaks who are used to the question about Moses taking animals on the Ark. For those who aren't too sure about the accuracy of the story - is it believed implies by believers
  5. What is the volume of a box 1 metre by 1 metre by 1 metre?
    1 cubic metre.
  6. Find all of the spelling erorrs on this page
    What is an erorr? If you choose to read it as error, then no more, I hope. On the other hand, reading erorr as error is a reading error, not a spelling one.
  7. Which is correct: The yolk of eggs is white or The yolk of eggs are white?
    Neither - yolk are yellow
  8. Can a man in Canada marry his widow's sister?
    Only posthumously - if he has a widow, he is dead
  9. If a plane crashed on the border between Queensland and New South Wales, where would the survivors be buried?
    Wherever, though not immediately - survivors are not normally buried - the victims are
  10. What was the US president's name on January 3, 1980?
    The same as it is today, if he was alive then
  11. If a farmer with 97 sheep lost all but 9 in a flood, how many does he have now?
    97 according to instructions - a farmer with 97 sheep. I don't know when the flood was, but he has 88 more now then than after the flood.
  12. What color is the ceiling?
    I give in. you may have to look up
  13. Estimate the number of golf balls that you could fit in your shoe.
    Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect the answers will vary dramatically though.
  14. Read the first five questions again to check that you understand.
    OK
  15. Think of a word that contains your initials
    The answer is very personal
  16. Are you wearing your favorite color today?
    I am, are you?
  17. If you have got this far without a mistake, relax. They get easier from here on.
    please relax, like it says to
  18. How many months have 28 days?
    All of them have at least 28. three years out of four, February has only 28.
  19. Estimate the number of questions that you will get right.
    Go on
  20. Add five to the number that you wrote in box 19
    5, if you followed the instructions correctly - the only written answers required were 1 and 20. The instructions asked only that you read the other questions. Incidentally, no-one said anything about writing it in the box.

The tail

I was called into a mine site to audit an accident investigation that had been carried out.

An employee had been injured while working on a skid steer loader. There was a weight sensitive safety feature fitted that only allowed the control levers to be operated while the driver was sitting in the seat. This made the change from a bucket to a fork lift attachment a two person operation - one inside and one outside the machine.

The injured employee was working alone, and to defeat the safety mechanism placed a tool bag on the seat, then reached over the side of the loader from outside to manipulate the controls. Inevitably, the wrong control was touched and the loader moved in the wrong direction, injuring the employee.

To prevent a further accident of this type, the investigators arranged for a safety sign to be placed in the operators cab, instructing that the machine should only be operated from the seat.

When I did my audit, I noticed that the sign had indeed been fitted. It was now the seventeenth sign facing the operator of the cab when in the seat. Three of the fourteen signs already there gave instructions which the injured operator had not complied with.

Source

This activity was suggested by Cathy McKeown from Tasmania, Australia, who wrote:

I have a wonderful game that you might like to share with your readers.

I first came across this as a primary school student in Queensland, and have never seen it again, although I have used it in various training courses to reinforce the message that it is important to read and follow instructions.

Thanks Cathy and also to the teacher that showed it to you, and the original source wherever it may be.

Incidentally, Cathy provided the outline, I wrote most of the questions.

John