What
I worked diligently for weeks gathering requirements with a highly respected litigation lawyer, who was patient and understanding of my experience. We defined the requirements together, refined them and then designed and documented the functional requirements for the computer program to crunch some data and output figures which would be used to assist define legal strategy in the case. They were highly technical and detailed requirements resulting in a lengthy document running to some 50 pages. I read, reviewed and refined the content, looking hard for opportunities to remove ambiguity and clarify meaning.
I was proud of our efforts, and elated that we’d finally got a draft ready for review and sign-off. I ran the spell checker, took some suggestions, printed and sent the document to the client for review.
So What
In my elation to have the document complete, I neglected to identify the spell checker changes that I had hit “Change All” on. This resulted in the 50 page document containing more that 100 instances of “Phallus Fox” where Phillips Fox should have been. My boss laughed until hearing from the client. The client was outraged, thinking the mistake was the deliberate actions of a juvenile graduate. I was mortified. My first client deliverable was an abject failure.
Now What
Somehow my boss salvaged the situation, but I now exercise extreme caution with “Change All” in spellcheck, I proofread before delivering to a client and I tell this story often to ensure others take this lesson on too.
Extrapolating this experience to recent projects, I use this lesson to urge care and caution with any automated process.