more documentation woes

It's been a while since I complained about documentation (see here), so here goes...

Sometimes the form just doesn't contain everything you need to say, or you drop it in a puddle, or you've been poking at a clay-rich mud while logging a sample and you smear it across the paper as you write. So you put the other half of the data on the back of the logsheet, or squash it vertically down the edge of the page.

That's ok. Your critical information is there somewhere, right?

Well, what often happens is that the dirty page gets shuffled in with all the other paperwork bits associated with the project and handed off to an intern to scan and then everybody forgets about it and the originals get lost. And then six months or a year later, I'm writing the report and need that critical information and it's gone because the scanner didn't catch the far edge of the page or nobody noticed the writing on the back.

Take the two minutes out of your life before the paperwork leaves your control to check this stuff and make sure that everything is filled out and legible. Or make sure that it's scanned and that it's still legible. Or refrain from shredding the original paperwork until the project's done. Whatever. Just don't leave me out to dry here!