In a message dated 98-04-05 00:42:50 EST, Ken writes:

> The problem is not one of intelligence or learning ability, the problem
>  I see is that they have had it beaten into them by peers and teachers
>  that they are incapable of recording their actions.

Or, more fundamentally, they are lead to believe that their actions are not
*worth* recording. When my Dad passed away in 1989 it became my duty to go
through his files. I had always thought that I started keeping detailed notes
on my own hands-on work right after I left home and my Dad's shop when I was
22 years old.

While going through my Dad's files I discovered some of my own files that I
had entirely forgotten about. By the time I was 10 my Dad had me setting up a
file for each project I did and documenting my own work. Make a new picket for
the neighbor's fence: a file folder with one page of notes, pine, sizes,
pattern for the top shape, primed with thined down white oil paint. Make a
foot stool for a customer: measured sketch with the walnut stain recipe
(walnut hulls in boiling water, steep overnight, etc.) Build an escape trunk:
(for my interest in magic) eight pages of a step by step proceedure with
written descriptions of its secret latches, sketches & 3-D "ghost views" of
mechanisms, references to 3 magic books from the library at the nearby high
school (I was using the high school library when I was 12?), etc. (mock ups of
two latches made, but never built the entire chest)

No wonder documentation has been a part of my adult work patterns. (And no
wonder I have the gumption to think that other people would value my work and
that other tradespeople would be interested in how I do it.)

As a full time carpenter I  always had a clipboard at my side. When I was
first getting started in New England I was often the finish woodworking sub on
larger projects. I noticed that people coming onto the site would always come
over to me to find out what was going on, where they should unload materials,
etc. After a year or two of this I realized it was the clipboard making me
look like I was in charge. Come to think of it, this must be why the other
trades usually left me alone, and generally out of worksite socializing. That
was alright, I usually worked straight through breaks and lunch anyway. (The
general would always be getting reports about how I worked so slow and
deliberate yet would be suprised that I was done ahead of schedule. Slow but
steady, that's still me.)

No one ever told me to get rid of the clipboard, but I do remember getting a
few sideways glares from engineer and architect types (who had their own
clipboards).

> If craftspeople are trapped and dissempowered as a result of the
> inhibitions of documentation, then I feel we have a responsibility to
> assist them to free themselves.

I have frequently shown tradespeople and contractors on my projects the power
of information by coaching them on time and cost tracking and unit costing
methods so they could give the projects more accurate proposals and
scheduling. Of course, the side benefit is that they can make more money too
(and sleep better at night, and thus do better work the next day).
Occasionally my clients wonder if this is in their best interest. It doesn't
usually take much to convince them.

Most of these tradespeople now carry clipboards and look like they know what
they are doing. You know what? They *do* know what they are doing.

Sometimes we get into the "self-documenting building." We leave notes and
drawings for future tradespeople stored right within the building itself. This
completely circumvents the owners and professionals, providing information
directly to the tradespeople who will be working on the building next. (next
week, next year or next century). Avery has a plastic "paper" that can be used
in a photocopier that makes quick water-proof, long-lasting copies of our
notes that we tack on top of girders or stuff into wall spaces and behind
cabinets.

John Leeke