Check your work quickly and easily using a recorder

Today, I finished a rather large project that involved entering data into a spreadsheet from handwritten notes. Needless to say, when I completed typing everything, I still didn’t feel certain it was all correct. There was a lot of data, it was very repetitive, and typing from handwritten copy is tricky in even the best of situations. If my eyes had skipped over even one row, my finished product would be crap.

Mr. C needed a quick turnaround. But I didn’t want to hand the project in without checking it, and I was too busy to spend an hour poring over it with my eyes darting back and forth as if a tennis match were taking place on the surface of my desk. There’s always the buddy system for these kinds of things, but we’re all under the gun these days, and it always seems that no one has time to help at the precise moment you need them. Then, when they have time to go over it with you, you’re in the midst of a rush.

I didn’t even have time to go around asking people to help. But then I had a flash of brilliance.

I keep a handheld recorder for transcribing voice mails. I made a recording of the handwritten data, then stuck the tape into my Dictaphone and checked my work on-screen while listening to myself recite it. It worked like a charm, and I caught two errors. The entire process took about 15 minutes.

I hid in an empty office to make the recording. Didn’t want anyone to see me dictating and think I was having delusions of lawyer-deur!