As part of the validation phase (or our detailing phase in this construction analogy) read the proposal for continuity. What’s that? It’s a term taken from the film industry, and it works like this. Movie scenes are not filmed in the same order as you view them in the final version. Due to actor availability, and other logistic considerations, individual scene aspects are filmed separately, then edited together to give the illusion that the scene was filmed at one time. This often leads to issues where, when watching the final version, you see background elements “change” when the scene changes camera angles. For example, a wine bottle can go from corked to uncorked, a drinking glass can go from empty to full, etc. To alleviate these embarrassing escapes, the film employs someone whose job it is to watch for “continuity” (if you sit through the endless credits, they’re listed).
In a proposal, continuity is essential for guiding the reader. Let’s say someplace there’s a statement, “…as shown in detail on Page 24”. The proposal goes through several drafts, and content is added, and eventually the diagram referenced earlier now lands on Page 28. Without correcting, the reviewer is going to be searching on Page 24, and getting frustrated.
Similarly, if using a numbering convention for figures, ensure that during the various rewrites, figures weren’t added or omitted, throwing the numbering off. Figure 2-3 needs to be between Figures 2-2 and 2-4.
These are relatively easy fixes for the final validation steps, but they’re essential.