Verbal vs. Written

Texas Slim writes his Notes From The Cube . . .

Nope, you don't want to write no nothin' down.

This is the lesson I have learned - LEARNED! - my friends, learned from one of the best: Gene the Lead.

Gene has understood the wisdom of the unwritten word. Y'see, some people say erroneously that you should write them memos to cover your ass.

BUT - as Gene the Lead has so wisely muttered under his breath: "You only need to cover your ass in writing if you have exposed it in writing in the first place."

THE SPOKEN WORD is the key. Tell that counterpart what you want. Speak to that underling. Discuss that matter with a colleague.

It's good People Skills, talking is. Good Management Practice, too, the personal touch. You are communicating directly with people -

AND

- you are cutting through the bureaucratic mountains of paperwork that Everyone Knows bog us down. You are efficient.

And you cannot be pinned down.

You cannot be made to answer for something that doesn't exist except in someone else's memory.

You have deniability: "I didn't say that, you must have misremembered."

You have obscurability: "Well, we all heard the same thing, but I guess we interpreted it differently."

And, finally, you have blame-ability, too: "Don't you remember I told you to do that? Now Production is on our tail and you didn't do what I told you to do last month."

So remember, friends, REMEMBER: Say it, don't write it.