The value of documentation in our lives
As human beings we always trust our memory for everything. At best, we remember quite accurately, the birth days of our sons and daughters, and sometimes, parents. However, even here, there are quite a number of us who fail to accurately remember the days and confuse the month or the actual date itself.
In all other matters, we tend to trust our memory. We often try to recollect something with the grand recollection statement "if my memory serves right". Well, it doesn't. It newer does. If asked what we had for breakfast,today, most of us would not tell the correct answer, tomorrow morning.
It is quite natural that we tend to forget things. Our minds are totally lost in a maze of worries that keep bothering us at any point in time. Each and every worry is concerned with the way we think or act, or the choices we make in any given situation. The decisions that we need to take are also so often confined to some deadline or the other, in our personal lives. The office situation is even worse, as our accountability is often questioned.
All this brings us to the value of one most important aspect of our lives: the importance that we need to give to documentation, the kind of which we need to undertake almost as a routine.
Documentation is extremely important in our lives. It helps us to have a record of whatever we do, and serve as reference points for learning of a very serious kind. We can explain our position, at any given point in time, whenever we are asked an explanation, or we ourselves need to know the background of any action taken or decision put into operation, at any point in time.
We should remember that documentation has several facets to it.
Firstly, documentation does not simply mean noting down, whatever we do, or whatever concerns us. It will be wise to add notes on the "why' or 'how' of any action taken or decision made, particularly in the context of some complex issues involved. This is very much true of our office experiences.
For instance, in many companies, there is a big movement towards what is called Total Quality Management. This often involves an external consultant. We should not only note down every single point this consultant speaks at any point in time, but also the explanation that he would give for any question raised by any team member. More often than not, we tend to think that our memory will help us to trace the background of such answers.
This is exactly where we go wrong. Even a few words here and there, will help us make detailed notes at the end of the day. If we can store such notes in some secret file, with a password protection in our computer that we use at office or the laptop that we normally have, it will do us a world of good. It will give us a big record of whatever we are now supposed to do, in terms of follow up, fresh questions that come up in the context of implementation of some idea and so on. Secondly,documentation will also help in succession planning. When we are supposed to mentor someone, or develop someone, on the very same tasks that we normally get done, it is essential that his or her synchronize with ours to understand the competencies that we bring to bear in any given situation. It is here that documentation can help, particularly to trace the inter-departmental linkages, the networking imperatives and so on.
At homes, it is extremely important to maintain one dairy, which should contain all pin numbers of ATM cards, the net banking passwords, the investment details, including those pertaining to investment. However, this should be known only to the father and mother and not to children. It is not that the children will misuse such facilities,. but it is always wise to play safe in such matters.
As regards files and documents, it is always wise to keep a track of through some documentation. We often think that our memory will serve us perfectly okay in such matters.
It will not, and we will be searching for some important paper. For instance, we need to provide proof all investments made to claim exception under section 80 c of the Income Tax Act. It is not only desirable to store these investment documents in a very safe place ( like for example, a wooden cupboard), but also have photocopies ready and also take down small notes on when we had sent the photocopies and relevant documents to the auditors. This is extremely essential, as we need to at times answer the income tax authorities, and we need to have a really good record to enable us to make any record available at short notice.
It is commonly observed that lack of documentation leads to precious loss of time, always spent on searching some document or the other. Nowadays, since all of us have access to computers, we should have a very good record of our files, with numbers and details of papers stored in each one of them. This will help us to retrieve any record easily and avoid loss of time.
In several matters, we are also very lazy. It is so essential to document births and deaths in the family, meticulously, through the authentic Government records. Many people feel that this is a sheer waste of time, and always fear that the Government officials might make us run from pillar to post. These days, when there is so much of a computerization of Government records, it should be somewhat easy.
Even if we are put to some trouble, the time spent is worth the effort, and we can indeed be the winners. This is mainly because for all transactions, the birth certificate is so crucial. The death certificate will speak for itself, in matters related to claim of outstanding fixed deposits held in the husband's name for example, when the legal nominee, that is, the wife, approaches the bank.
It is always wise to understand the scope of importance of documentation in our lives. We can also learn from others, particularly relatives who would have access to computers. It is always a big cycle of learning at every stage of one's life.
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