I’d like to be specific here: specificity is always good. And one should practice being as specific as possible. Whether it’s just a board game, or your job, or some dangerous work that you have to do, you want people to understand what your intentions are and how your going to go about them.

Let’s face it, none of us are evil masterminds or spies who would benefit from our intentions not being known. And we can still keep some things secret, but in everyday life, making your intentions known is helpful to others, and then they can be helpful to you. No one wants to bump into you, or to get in your way at the copier, or to turn your computer off for that update right as you were in the middle of that big project. This loses both of you time, you even more because of the time you spend yelling at them. It’s great when people know what you’re doing and can avoid getting in your way.

Okay, that’s not specificity, that’s openness. But the two usually go together, and you should never be nonspecific with a plan you are being open about. With that copier example, you want to tell someone that you’ll need “X” copies and then tell them which copier you’re going to get it from. You also don’t want someone chopping their arm off while doing work for you because you didn’t tell them what could go wrong or something like that.

Being specific is probably best if you’re working with someone, which you should be. In a cooperative board game it is one of the things that can save the game. If you’re working in an office it is best to tell every exactly what you are doing and what they should be doing so they can see how it all comes together.

To be concise, specificity is always good. Conciseness is always good too.

“You think they bought it?”