In every company, in every project or in every client, procedures vary. Some implement procedures to the dot, some are more forgiving but the bottom line, strict compliance is a must.
There is a grey area of compliance though as in a company, there are unwritten procedures known only to a few. Or the dissemination of the procedures were not really properly done.
Here comes a newbie, with no orientation of the procedures at all. would you think this newbie will be following procedures? Yes and no.
Engineering firms share almost the same practice, at least to the basics. As a newbie, applying these knowledge will get you started and moving forward the shortest possible time. The draw back comes when checking and verification comes. Engineers interpretation vary in some extent, just like this:
I put my values for a cable voltage drop as
mV/A/m
I was questioned as my verifier interpret it as
mV/A.m
Is there a difference of the two, my answer “NONE“. Why? Well I will prove it to you.
mV/A/m = 
if we divide it by 1, it will become
Applying the principles of fractions, this will become
So, what the difference of the two? If you are the verifier, will you question this very basic principle of Engineering?
In another case, an unwritten procedure requires “Methods” to be a header of a calculation document. I wrote it as “Basis of Calculation”, what’s the difference? When I changed it to methods, it was approved.
I know that documents should be consistent, diverting from the normal route may create some issues with the client however, if these procedures were laid out the first time, delays in changing documents will be prevented which which could lead to a faster delivery.