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"We Made It, but Nobody Reads It" — The Sad New Reality of Work Manuals

In on-site training at vertical farms, I often run into situations where “I thought I had taught it, but somehow it didn’t get through.”

The way is different

Once, while walking the floor at a vertical farm, a new hire came up to me and asked:

“The way you’re harvesting lettuce — that’s not how I was told to do it.”

They asked timidly. Not upset — just genuinely confused.

Even on the same lettuce harvest, the method shifts a little from worker to worker. How they lift the leaves, the angle of the scissors, when they set it down on the worktable. The workers themselves are just doing it “the usual way,” but from a new hire’s point of view, it looks as if the rules change every time.

I think this is a common story not just at vertical farms, but in many workplaces. The person teaching thinks “I already explained that.” The person being taught thinks “that’s different from what I just heard.” Neither side means any harm. And it’s precisely because no one means any harm that it gets harder to untangle.

Training easily turns into wishful thinking

After more than ten years supporting vertical farm operations and on-site training, I’ve come to a simple conclusion.

Most of what companies call “training” is closer to wishful thinking.

That may be a slightly strong way of putting it. But even when you put together flashy training slides and a thick manual, the probability that what was taught actually takes root on the floor is astonishingly low.

At one major vertical farm, a work manual that took three months to put together ended up at the back of a shelf within two weeks of being finished. A bit early to be gathering dust. Even now, I can picture those file spines lined up on the back shelf. Knowing how much effort the people who made it put in, it’s hard to laugh about it.

Of course, if there is a thoroughly designed curriculum that genuinely fits the people you are teaching, that is another matter. But how many companies today really have the resources for that kind of ideal training?

On the floor, the same conversation plays out, more or less.

“The new hires keep making the same mistakes. Train them properly.”

“There’s no time to teach them.”

I understand what the manager is saying. I understand what the floor leader is saying. When I’m standing there myself, I find myself crossing my arms in silence for a few seconds. In my head, training, time, manpower, deadlines, and today’s shipment volume all crowd in at once. All of them matter. None of them are enough. So what do you do?

What many companies end up choosing is “creating a work instruction document.”

Honestly, when client companies have asked me to “do something about training,” I’ve proposed it myself — “let’s start by putting together a work instruction document” — as a compromise when there’s no time to teach on the floor.

Instructions nobody reads

But step back for a moment, and it’s obvious.

Work instructions don’t really get read.

At one of the vertical farms I worked with, we once looked at the access history of a carefully written work manual. Only a small fraction of employees had actually opened it, and the number who read it through to the end was even smaller.

The moment I saw those numbers, I sat frozen in front of the screen for a moment. All I could think was how few there were. I couldn’t say anything for a while.

Even if it does get read, problems still remain.

Suppose you write, in text, “lift the leaf slightly with your left hand and cut with the scissors in your right.” How many people can actually reproduce that movement and rhythm just from reading those words?

Of course, this is not to say that text manuals are unnecessary. Recording procedures, aligning the criteria for judgment, preparing for audits — work instructions have their own role to play. But asking work instructions alone to carry the “becoming able to do it” of the floor is a bit too heavy a load.

What video got across

At one point, with leafy greens harvest work, new hires’ productivity just wasn’t picking up, and I was at a loss. We were explaining things. The work instructions existed. We were teaching them right at their side. Still, their hands stayed stiff.

So, as a test, I filmed a skilled worker for just three minutes on a smartphone and showed it to the new hires. No special editing, no explanatory captions. Just nimble, practiced hands on screen, the whole time.

The result came the next day.

The new hires’ work speed visibly went up.

It was almost anticlimactic — that simple. The “speed” and “rhythm” that hadn’t fully gotten through no matter how much we explained them in writing came across instantly through the video. Watching from the side, I was the one who fell silent for a moment. What was all that explaining for, then?

Especially in work that demands quick, deft handwork, “watching it on video” can get through overwhelmingly better than “reading it in text.” How the hand is placed, the absence of hesitation, the spacing between one motion and the next. When you try to put those things into writing, they suddenly fall flat.

The merits of video-based training material are simple.

1. With just a smartphone, you can start right away
2. The skilled worker’s “hand-knack that’s hard to put into words” comes across
3. Repeated viewing makes the hand movements and the rhythm of the work easier to absorb

Of course, for work that requires complex judgment or theory, video alone is not enough. For the why behind a judgment, and the criteria you’re working from, written text and face-to-face explanation are still necessary.

Even so, for work where you simply want to standardize how everyone moves first, video is quite strong.

For example, for transplanting seedlings, try bringing in a two-minute video. That alone — and the “rhythm” no amount of reading the manual could convey starts to settle in naturally through the footage.

If you want to try this tomorrow, it’s simple.

1. Find the person doing the work most efficiently
2. Film that work for two or three minutes on a smartphone
3. Skip the special editing — just have new hires watch it
4. Observe the effect

Text manuals and video aren’t an either-or. Using both is best. But if your time and resources are limited, video is worth trying first.

Before you put a work instruction document together and tuck it away on the shelf, try filming a skilled worker’s hands for just two minutes. You may be surprised how much that alone can shift what the floor takes for granted.