Countless job ads ask for applicants who are detail oriented. Because it’s used so much, in my opinion, “detail oriented” has become just another piece of resume word vomit.

Moreover, I don’t think it’s enough to be detail oriented. Sure it’s important to take the time to learn which details to look for, thus “orienting” yourself toward “detail” in the abstract, but I think the higher skill is the ability to make solid decisions from the details you see.

We often spend a lot of energy on the big picture decisions—which products to develop, which campaigns to create, but I think the sum of our little decisions can be just as important.

Here’s an example: You’ve made the big decision to develop an email campaign to a targeted list of customers. Now you’ve got a ton of seemingly small decisions to make: what day and time to send your emails, who’s going to do the creatives, who’s going to write it, the angle, the subject line, the offer, which landing page to use…

In the end, the success of your campaign is going to be based on not just one of those details, but how you put all of them together to make a whole.

I propose it’s useful to develop a heuristic framework for dealing detail decisions. I usually run through a series of questions in my head when I’m making these detail choices:

1. Is this detail important? Should I spend the time debating whether this color bar should be green or blue, or is it best to trust my designer make that call?
2. How does this decision affect other details? No decision is made in a vacuum. For example, should your email angle be different if you choose to send it on Monday than if you choose to send it on Thursday?
   
3. What historical data do I have to back up my decision? There are a few in the world people like Steve Jobs or Anna Wintour who have the power to see and create new trends. Statistically speaking, if you’re reading this, you’re most likely not one of these people. But that doesn’t mean you’re hopeless. It means that you need to rely on historical data to help you process your decisions. For example, if you get great open rates on Thursday and horrible open rates on Monday, then you have a pretty good case for when to send your email.
4. Am I enslaving myself to data? Sometimes when I’m processing data, I tend to limit myself to what’s already been done. Making detail decisions is sometimes about taking calculated risks.
5. How am I going to test the results of my decision? It’s tempting to look only at big picture campaign results and miss the sum of your details. In the email example, you could test dates, times, subject lines, and offers for open rates, click-through and conversion. Some things are easier to asses, but in any case, it’s necessary to develop a plan for assessment.

Sure, thinking through all of this sounds like it takes a lot of work. And it does. But I guess that’s another decision you have to make—am I going to sacrifice excellence because it takes more time and effort to think through all of these detail decisions?

How do you process detail decisions? Please share.

-Andrew

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