Four Eyes

I’m also a 28 box person

Growing up it was common to be called four eyes if you had glasses.   It was meant to be a mild insult but since it was so common to have glasses it didn’t have much of an impact to most kids.  I got four eyes in the seventh grade and haven’t looked back since and I am still able to “Turn Things On End To Achieve Results!” with the best of them.

Today’s topic isn’t about poor vision and the stigma of wearing glasses.  It is about the concept of having a second set of eyes look at something.  To put it another way, it is an independent, critical review for quality control purposes.  For small companies this can be difficult.  Many times the work product is done by the only person in the company with the technical skills and the rest of the company has other skills such as sales and administration.  Whether it is a making a tangible good by a tradesman, preparing a tax return according IRS regulations or writing the code for an app that tracks prescriptions for a 28 Box person it always makes sense to employ the four eye rule.

In some cases, small companies actually have to outsource this function to a service provider.  In other situations, it might be the owner of a company having a loved one review a letter he is writing to a member of his supply chain asking for a price decrease.  This can be a good use of your informal board of directors if it is practical.

Another advantage of the second set of eyes is that a person who is asked to do this will usually take a different perspective.  That can lead to discovering better ways to do things or finding a mistake that has long been overlooked.  This usually occurs because the person is thinking outside of the box.  They only do this because they ARE outside of the box – especially if they are not within the company.  They are not steeped in the company culture and bring a new paradigm when reviewing.  They also may be unsure of what they are being asked and they tend to question the routine which can lead to interesting results.

I hope you can implement the four eye rule at your company with positive results.  Maybe no fantastic revelations will occur but at least you will know you took a step forward in your quality control efforts.

Have a great week, four eyes.