Underestimating the job – big mistake number two

Writing a Training Quality Standard (TQS) application takes time, but it is also a task that needs careful planning.

The second big mistake people make when writing their application is to underestimate the size, scope and scale of the job itself and as a result plan the application writing badly.

Ask a plumber, a carpenter or a removal man about estimating and how important a task it is. Any one of these people will tell you that if you get the estimate wrong the whole job goes awry.

You don’t have the right amount of resource. You don’t have the right number of people. You don’t allocate the right amount of time to the job. The result is a mess.

It’s the same with the TQS.

Mis-estimate the job and you might decide you don’t need to write an application from scratch. You might decide you can cut and paste bits from your most recent self-assessment report or from a tender you have produced.

Mis-estimate the job and you’re also likely to think that one person can research the application and write it up, possibly over a couple of days, or maybe over a weekend.

These are big mistakes.

In fact, writing a good TQS application requires a structured approach, a commitment to gather good evidence and a willingness to spend time on building a case about how you address the specific requirements of the different parts of the Standard.

Mis-estimate the job, or if we’re being honest, underestimate the job, and you’ll be making the best you can of things without the right tools and with the wrong allocation of resource.

To avoid this big mistake accept that your TQS application is a new document. It’s a document that will take time to research and to write, and it needs a team working on it.

To avoid this big mistake, take care with your estimates.