In my view there are two ways for a working person to think about a routine task they have done countless times. One way is to become bored and careless. The other way is to use the repetitive nature of the work as a way to spot inconsistencies, even tiny things that are out of the ordinary, and use that insight to fix, and preferably prevent, problems. It’s the moment of thinking to yourself, “Hey, wait a second, that doesn’t look right.”
Unfortunately, many people take the former approach, which is why tasks that are based on a fixed routine, and are repeated every day, can and do go wrong. Like renewing my medical plan, for example. Will my coverage, with its $1234.25 monthly premium, be effective as of January 1, or will it be associated with the incorrect member ID that was assigned to me by mistake? I have been told there is no way to know until after a monthly database update has been completed on January 3, which means I’d better not need to see a doctor tomorrow or Thursday. Gee, I wonder if anything ever goes wrong with database updates for third-party billing systems?
A Neil Innes Bonzo tune will cheer me up.
