If the instructions say to write a paper that is 2-3 pages long and you turn in a paper that is 7 pages long, I think you should fail the assignment. The instructions were for brevity and you didn't deliver brevity. Am I wrong?
@divisionbyzero Only if you don't explicitly say that you want brevity, and that it should meet but not exceed.
Students aren't mind readers. You're lucky if they read their own.
@AskTheDevil @divisionbyzero I had a class in college that required weekly two-page papers, and the professors would return any additional pages detached and unread. I learned to be very concise.
@Notokay @AskTheDevil I just know if my boss asked for 2-3 pages on a topic and I gave him 7, he'd tell me I didn't read the instructions and I'd better find a way to trim it to 3 pages and resubmit it with all due haste.
@divisionbyzero @Notokay To begin with, the only time I've ever had a requirement for a specific number of pages is when it is for ad copy or a space-limited article.
Typically, people will be asked for a complete report on whatever subject, with supporting information.
It depends on the business needs and what you are working on, but being explicit and direct always saves time.
If you want something specific, you say that, and make sure it's understood.
But people don't.
...
@divisionbyzero @Notokay I learned early on to pry certain information out of the uncommunicative. To ask certain questions - when, how much, what goals, where it goes, who it's for - all the things passive-aggressive, distracted, poor communicators like to leave out and then go "gotcha".
Helping people learn when/what to ask for clarification is better than setting up gotchas.
@divisionbyzero @Notokay When people teach via trick questions and such, your students end up in _my_ workplace.
The people who accept bad communication, and accept fault for other people's bad communication and just accept that "there are gotchas from your boss and they're your problem, so learn to mind-read".
If you train your students to put up with crap, I have to teach them to ask questions, while I'm trying to work.
Glad I'm retired.
@divisionbyzero @Notokay Do understand also that young people are also likely to have heard that hustle matters, that going above and beyond and delivering more than asked is the new baseline. That if you are asked for something, you show you are a winner by exceeding expectations.
And the boss doesn't usually have to trim that 10 page 2-page report. Someone like me and other staff usually do.
@AskTheDevil @Notokay We usually work with page restrictions in my line of work. When they say a 1-page cheat sheet they definitely mean a 1-page document, not a sentence more. When they say 30 seconds of copy, they're not asking for 45. While we do have some things in the category of "just cover the topic well" most have constraints.