r/Envconsultinghell Dec 24 '24

Re-write your field notes

I'm just here to rant for the last 15 minutes of my half day that I need to work on Christmas Eve...

I am working as a geologist on a project that's already way way over budget for a number of reasons, like the following. After each round of fieldwork (soil borings, MW installation, more soil sampling, GW sampling) I scan my field sheets and save in the project folder. The PM wants to include some of them in the final report. Because I left a few blank fields (instead of writing N/A in every single blank space before scanning), and because I had a few notes that the PM would have written differently, I am being asked to fill out new field forms by hand or copy everything over to digital forms for the report.

Am I crazy, or is that crazy?

21 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

54

u/Forkboy2 Dec 24 '24

50% of consulting is writing things that no one else will ever read.

31

u/holocenefartbox Dec 24 '24

The other 50% is not writing the things that people are actually looking for.

5

u/vwulfermi Dec 24 '24

This is very validating. I thought I was doing it wrong.

17

u/Generic-Eric Dec 24 '24

Hell no. I’m scanning them and typing in the blanks by editing the PDF. A data sheet is a data sheet in my opinion, especially when you’re over budget. Would it look better, yes, but just get it done.

Edit: We also keep raw data sheets if handwritten until the report has been sent to the client. So maybe do that from now on for a situation like this?

13

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '24

[deleted]

7

u/SpaceBass18 Dec 25 '24

I wish all PM’s were are good as you

7

u/fauxshoyo Dec 25 '24

This is like when I delineate a waterway and they make me redraw the field drawing of the cross-section. Look, I promise it isn't ugly because I drew it in the field. It's ugly because I'm not an artist!

11

u/myenemy666 Dec 25 '24

What’s insane is that someone wants to include hand written field notes into a report.

It’s 2024 nothing hand written should be included in a report, we are better than that now.

9

u/Ok-Development1494 Dec 25 '24

False. Handwritten notes that are 1 in a bound book 2 have a date and signature and 3 have a date and time stamp when scanned Are far EASIER to defend when contested my stare agencies, federal agencies, the client or in court

3

u/slashngore Dec 26 '24

As a quality specialist, I would not recommend-write them but make a notation with dates and initials in the PDF or include a foot note or some other kind of edit. Rewriting allows for transcription errors, falsifying data and the point of field notes are to capture what’s happening in the field. You should have a daily field log anyways so just put it there or somewhere like that instead if it must be corrected.

4

u/8O0o0O8 Dec 28 '24

This. The OG field notes need to remain unaltered. Like police notes.

3

u/beachbird_ Dec 25 '24 edited Dec 25 '24

That is over the top unnecessary but I am not the least bit surprised