• sanity check – n., broad review and critique obtained from a co-worker immediately before one finalizes a work deliverable; a second opinion.

Usage example: “Barbara, can you please do a sanity check on this e-mail before I send it to the CEO?” The implied question is: “would I be insane to send this email to the CEO, or is it safe to send it out as it is?”

Asking for a “sanity check” sends the signal that you want honest feedback. The phrase is mildly self-deprecating, with the humorous suggestion that you might be doing something less-than-sane. This sends the signal that it’s okay for the reviewer to be completely honest and candid in his or her review. In other words, you’d rather the reviewer tell you that your work product is a piece of junk than tell you that it’s okay to avoid hurting your feelings.

Compare:

“Hi Richard. My manager just told me that I should get your review and feedback on this Report before I submit it. I was planning on submitting it today. Can you please let me know if you have any comments? I’d appreciate it.”

versus

“Hi Richard. I have to file this Report today. Before I do, I’d really appreciate it if you could look it over and give it a sanity check”

By using the phrase “sanity check,” you’re sending the signal that you’re open for real criticism and comment.

The second signal you’re sending the reviewer is that you consider yourself nearly finished with the work product, and the critique should really be limited to “sanity” issues. Presumably, by the time you’ve asked for a sanity check, you’ve put in all the hours you expect and gotten all the detailed feedback from everyone you’d need to. The sanity check is just one last safety opinion — obtained from someone you trust — that is sought immediately before finalizing the deliverable. (I’ll define deliverable in a future post).

With a sanity check, you don’t need or expect the co-worker to spend enormous amounts of time and effort in his or her review. You are merely asking for someone’s broad review for “sanity,” rather than an in-depth second opinion. The kind of feedback you’d expect is: “Great job on your proposed email to the CEO. The one thing I would change is to remove the part of the e-mail where you tell the CEO that find him physically attractive. I’d stick to the main topic of your e-mail, which appears to be about fourth quarter sales estimates.” You wouldn’t expect a line-by-line edit of your work product, nor would you want feedback such as: “Do you really think Helvetica is the right font to send in an email to the CEO? I’m told he’s all about Courier.”

This lovely little piece of corporate jargon changes dramatically if it’s used vertically on the corporate hierarchy as opposed to horizontally between two colleagues at the same reporting level. There’s quite simply no point to asking your boss for a sanity check, since you really want to catch the insanity before it reaches the person who controls your annual review. Also, if your boss asks you for a sanity check, it puts you in an awkward position. When the king comes to you and says: “What do you think of my new clothes?,” it’s kind of hard to answer any way other than to compliment the garments. Same basic principle when the boss asks you if he’s insane: It’s probably a good idea to tell him he’s not.

Thanks to Mary for her sanity check of this blog post. According to Mary, I’m sane!