Defintion
Task Instruction is the Instruction found in the Task Description Field
written by the Task Creator
. Sometimes the images related to the Task Instruction will be pasted into the Task Comment, which consists of part of the Task Instruction.
The Task Instruction will be attached to SKUd# level, which means 1 SKUd# will only have 1 Task Instruction, and 1 Task Instruction will only attach to 1 SKUd#.
All the Task Specification (e.g. Start Date and End Date of a Task) which is modified by a particular button and is NOT modified inside the Task Description Field , is not regarded as part of the Task Instruction.
How is the Task Instruction and Task Specification looks like
What Problems a Task Instruction Framework Solves
Ambiguous Task Scope which make the Task not executable
Imagine if the Task Creator wrote an instruction in the Task Description and simply told you to make USD$10 million net profit in the upcoming 365 days. Anyone with common sense will realise that this is not a Task which can be executed by one person. Instead of naming it as a “Task”, it is better to name it as an “Objective” which should be broken down into hundreds of tasks and executed by a whole company.
The more ambiguous the Task Description , the higher authority the Task Creator should assign to the Task Executor to make a decision, and the higher requirement of the Task Executor.
In this sense, a Task Instruction Framework is going to provide a benchmark on how to define the Task Scope by writing the Task Description which makes the Task executable by the assigned Task Executor.
Ambiguous meaning of the Wording
While with different culture , employment and academic background, it is very likely that each person will use different wording or technical terms to describe the same phenomenon with a Task Instruction.
For example, when a client is asking you to place an ad on Facebook, he/she may probably refer to Meta where your ads are supposed to be shown in both Facebook, Instagram , Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp.
In this case, the wording “Facebook” has ambiguous meaning that it can be referred to a Company or a particular Social Media.
While the wording with ambiguous meaning occurs in the Task Instruction, whether or not that Task can be executed accurately will be by chance, which means additional communication cost and error fixing cost will be incurred.
Even worse, imagine if your superior provides you a word inside the Task instruction with ambiguous meaning which drives you to execute the Task wrongly, do you dare to stand up and request your superior to improve the skill of writing Task Instruction next time?
Most of the time people (if not you) will not give feedback to their superior because it will take risks of being blame. While they have learnt and transformed ,next time when they encounter another wording with ambiguous meaning in the Task instruction, to avoid being blame (which is always in a higher priority than making achievement) they will become bureaucratic and will simply passively pause the task and wait for the instruction from their superior and resume the Task after the wording is clearly defined, instead of proactively suggest the meaning of the wording which they think is approproate for the Task.
Their action makes the Task not wrong as the mistakes can be avoided , while at the same time it also they also did not make anything correct as the Task Task is paused. This “not wrong but also not right” phenomenon called Bureaucratic.
This poisoned bureaucratic culture will bring an organisation to shrink (if not die) gradually. All of these are starting from an ambiguous wording inside an Task Instruction.
By applying a Task Instruction Framework, we will make sure that the Task Instruction to be as crystal clear as it can be , which in turn makes the Task Instruction executable without any trap left to the Task Executor.
Time on writing duplicated Instruction
While most of the Task Instruction of the same SKUd is expected to have same Task Objective, Task Input and Output. Repeating writing the same instruction for same Task will be a waste of time.
Task Instruction in Teamwork.com is expected to modularize the Task Instruction so a particular Task Instruction can be repeatedly used in another project.
Lack of Feedback From the Assignee
While some of the research and development tasks which even the assignor him/herself did not execute the task before, it is unrealistic to expect the task instruction to be perfect and precise.
Most of the time the instructions found in the research and development task simply provide a direction , instead of step by step guideline , for the assignee to carry out the task.
In this case, a feedback mechanism is crucial for the assignee to feedback to the assignor every single decision making point during his/her execution, such that the assignor can fine tune the precision of the task instruction to make it more measurable , quantifiable and observable in the next task assignment.
With a Task Instruction Framework, the feedback from the assignee can be contributed to excel the Task Instruction.
Components of an Task Instruction
A quality Task Instruction is the prerequisite of the quality output of a Task. As an Assignor who places the task order, following components are required to be shown in the Task Instruction every time . The components of the Task Instruction will be denoted as “[]”.
Below are the Task components which will be sync with the SKUd Specification in Zoho Book. These Task components will be seen by the Clients. For comprehensive explanation regarding specification of SKUd, please refer to article SKUd Specification.
[Basic Service Scope]
Basic Service Scope describes the direction of standard services that will be rendered if no additional add-on is purchased. Each SKUd will have a different basic service scope.
[Excluded Service Scope]
It describes which service direction is not included (i.e. excluded) in the basic service scope. For example, In a Copywriting Translation SKUd, only Translation service will be included, while Installation service (e.g. installing the translated copywriting into the website) will be excluded.
[Prerequisite]
Prerequisite of a SKUd describes what should be provided , either by Client or 3rd Parties, before the SKUd can be rendered successfully.
For example, if the Client want to ask DDM Group to help them install the Google Analytics 4 into their website , the client should provide the Access Rights of Both the Google Analytics 4 account as well as the Access Rights of the Website.
[Specification]
The Specification component describes the quantified deliverables in terms of following aspects:
- Service Quantity
- Unit of Service Quantity
- Service Frequency
- Service Deliverable
- Optional Adds-on
Below are the Task components which will be accessed by ONLY DDM’s Group Teammate . i.e. Clients or Vendors cannot see this part.
[Background]
Task Background of a task is crucial but always be skipped by the Assignor or even by the Assignee him/herself.
The background of a task makes the Assignee know how to make decision based on the dynamically changing environment in real time.
To understand how important the background of a Task is , let’s demonstrate with the example below.
Assumed the assignor Anna assigned a task to Joanna with the Task Description in below:
- Please take Bus Route 55 and depart from office at 16:00 and arrive at the Church at 17:00 today.
Imagine in 15:45 , by checking in Google map, Joanna realized that there is a severe traffic jam of the main road which Bus Route 55 will pass, and if Anna is stuck into a meeting which she cannot read the question sent from Joanna, do you think Anna will expect Joanna will make a decision by herself on how to tackle the problem?
Of course Anna can write in the Task description to emphasise that if in case the Task instruction is not executable, please raise it before making any decision. However, most of the time it is very unlikely that the Assignor can predict and enumerate all the scenarios that the Task may derive.
Therefore, it is reasonable for Anna to expect Joanna to make decisions on her own in case there is any unexpected situation.
Following background of the task will drive Joanna to a totally different decision:
Task Background 1 – If Joanna can arrive at the Church at 17:00 today, the company can earn USD$1,000,000.
Task Background 2 – Anna wants Joanna to measure how much time she needs to spend on taking the Bus Route 55 as Anna would like to take the same Route in next day heading to the client’s meeting.
Under Task Background 1 , if there is a traffic jam in the road, Anna will expect Joanna to choose any other alternatives to arrive at the Church at 17:00 no matter the cost. Even if Joanna takes a drone taxi which costs her USD$1,000 , it will be acceptable compared to what the company is going to earn.
On the contrary, under Task Background 2 , even though there is a traffic jam in the road, Anna will still expect Joanna to take Bus Route 55 so that Anna can measure the worst scenario of the arriving time during a traffic jam.
Now you can realize how important the Task Background will affect the quality of the output if you expect the Assignee to make a decision on him/herself if the default task description is not 100% executable.
[Objective]
Task Objective is a quantifiable , observable and measurable statement which can be delivered by the Assignee given specific resources provided to the Assignee.
An quantifiable , observable and measurable objective is the prerequisite of an executable task. A task should be executable before it can be executed properly and correctly. It is the duty of the assignor to place an executable task for the assignee.
To understand what an executable task looks like, let’s start with the following objective:
Objective 1
To make profit in the business.
While making profit is a correct objective which every business is dreaming of , the statement “making profit” is definitely not a good objective statement due to the fact that it is not measurable, quantifiable and observable.
To refine the objective statement to make it executable , let’s see another version in below:
Objective 2
To make a profit of USD$1,200,000 in the year of 2025 which the profit should be generated from operation instead of selling of fixed assets. This profit should be reflected in the financial reports audited by the auditor.
Compared with Objective 1 , Objective 2 is much more measurable (operation instead of fixed assets selling), quantifiable (USD$1,200,000) and observable (shown in financial reports).
Nevertheless, it is still not a objective statemetn which is easy to execute in daily life. If the assignor want the task to be executable, he/she can further deintegrate the task into subtasks. The granularity of how small the task should be decoupled highly depends on the experience and capabilities of the assignee.
For example, when you assign a task to a Sales Director, most likely the granularity shown in Objective 2 will be good enough. On the contrary , if you want to assign the task to a Sales Manager, It is better to further break down the task in a deeper level as below:
- With the following Sales Matrix, hit the sales target of USD$100,000 per month in the whole year of 2025 as below:
- Sales Target assigned to each 4 Branches : USD25,000/mo
- Sales Target to each 5 salesperson in each branch : USD$5,000 / person / mo
- Sales Target of Hero Product [A] : USD$1,000 x 4
- Sales Target of Hook Product [B] : USD$100 x 10
So you can see that it is an optimisation process on how to find out the optimal point of the granularity of a task.
[Input]
Input of a task is referring to any material or information which is the prerequisite of carrying out a task. While there are quite a lots of types of input, there are some input type which is common in daily task:
Input Material / Information | Use Case |
---|---|
Access Rights of Meta Ads A/c | Place Ads on behalf of client |
Business Registration Certificate Softcopy | Domain registration on behalf of client |
Blank Order Registration Form | Pass to the client for order registration |
Cash | To purchase |
Step By Step Guideline | Guide the Task Assignee to carry out the task correctly and punctually. |
It is the responsibility of the assignee to provide the input information to the assignee inside the task instruction in order to carry out the task.
Meanwhile, as an assignee , you have to understand that there are 1,000+ predefined Task instructions within DDM Group, given the ever changing business environment, it is impossible for the assignor to keep the task instruction 100% updated. It is the assignee responsibility to give feedback to the assignor if you find any outdated / missing input information which is crucial for the task execution.
The assignor will modify the Task Instruction Framework after hearing the feedback from the assignee and hence the input of the Task Instruction will be punctual next time.
Please be reminded that most of the time , the output of your task will be the input of other tasks, which forms a system. For the detail on what is a system and how it perform, please refer to the article Build a Business Process Management System – System Index Concepts.
Specification of an Input
To make the input functional, following specification should be found in the details of the Input:
Source of Input
Source of input is referring to where you (as an assignee) get the details of the input.
For example, if the Input is the Login Password Credential of a Google Analytics Account, you may be suggested to get the Login Password Credential by either:
- Ask for client , OR
- Find in CRM in DDM’s Group, OR
- Find in the current Task Instruction , OR
If the Login Password Credential is already stored in the CRM in DDM’s Group, it will be a waste of time to ask for the client again. Besides, due to the data privacy, it is not a good practice to record the Login Password Credential directly in the task instruction.
While the source of the Input is dynamic to different clients and different scenarios. It is the duty of the assignor to provide the source of Input inside the Task Instruction.
Meanwhile, as an assignee , if you find it is happy for you to find the Login Password Credential easily through the CRM in DDM’s Group, this means someone had recorded the Login Password Credential at the time they got the information from the client. Therefore, as a virtuous teammate in DDM, please always proactively record the Login Password Credential in the CRM of DDM’s Group. In case there is no such option in the CRM to record the Login Password Credential of a specific application, please raise out loudly in the comment of the Task.
Trustworthiness of Input
Trustworthiness of an Input means to what extent the input can be trusted by the assignee. The degree of trustworthiness is an important parameter for the assignee to carry out a task, especially in the case where the assignor may expect the assignee to make a decision on his/her own.
Imagine a case where the client agreed to a daily ads budget of USD$100, while in the Task Instruction, it is suggested to set USD$1,000 as the daily budget in the Google Ads account. Any reasonable assignee who has paid attention to his/her work will raise out the potential problem that he/she may think of. In fact, if the assignee failed to raise this problem, he/she may probably not be in a working mood.
However, the assignor may not tell the assignee that there is a trick in Google Ads that we have to configure a much higher daily budget in order to make the ads running properly. Even though we have set a USD$1,000 daily budget, at the end of every day the ads budget will not be fully utilised due to the fierce ads bidding environment.
In the case above, it is necessary for the assignor to find a way to tell the assignee that simply trust the Task Instruction (i.e. USD$1,000) and execute accordingly. And therefore the trustworthiness of the input of the daily budget USD$1,000 will be categorized as Feasibility Proven (100%), which is expected to be executed by the assignee without any hesitation.
Like any of the political office environment in the world, it is make sense for the assignee to afraid of executing an exteriorly illogical task because it is probably the assignee who is going to bear the responsibility if the assignee failed to raise out the problem before they carry out the task.
You can sense that the assignee does not know what to ground on raising out the phenomenon that they perceive as a problem. To cater to this dilemma, it is the responsibility of the assignor to let the assignee know the trustworthiness of the input.
The rule of thumb is, as long as the input is classified by the assignor as 100% trustworthy, in case there is any failure due to that particular piece of input, the responsibility of the assignee will be waived.
On the contrary , if the trustworthiness of the input is scored under 100% or lower, it is the responsibility for the assignee to raise out the phenomenon which they may regard as a problem.
Please refer to the
Category of Trustworthiness | Degree of Trustworthiness | Definition |
---|---|---|
Authoritative Ground Fact | 100% | The Input is provided by an authoritative source which is based on a solid fact. |
Military Order | 100% | Military Order level which expects the assignee to simply follow and carry out the task with no doubt. Most likely the assignor acquired some knowledge in advance which is hard to share to the assignee at that moment. |
Feasibility Proven | 100% | The Input or task has many past successful reference cases. |
Claimed Ground Fact | 75% | Probably the claimed ground fact is provided by the Client who does not really know what he/she is talking about. |
Analysis | 50% | Instead of a fact, the input is more prone to an human analysis , which is not a ground fact and since it involves potential human bias. For example: Fact : A man is 190 cm in height. Analysis : A man is very tall. |
Trial and Error Instruction | 50% | The assignor has no idea whether the input is correct or not. The assignee is expected to feedback his/her opinion or experience to the assignor in order to optimise the quality of the Task Instruction in the future |
For Your Reference Only | 10% | Can be regarded as facilitating the brainstorm instead of a solid instruction. |
Hypothesis | 10% | It’s just an assumption which no body know the answer (or even the question) in this moment. |
Task# Reference
Task# reference means any previous same or similar tasks which are carried out by other teammates.
While sometimes Task Reference (i.e. in the form of Task#) will be provided in the Task Instruction, as an assignee, you can also find out the Task Reference by your own by means of:
- Search the SKUd# in the Teammate.com interface
- Search the SKUd# in bGraph
It will be the assignor duty to keep an updated and hygiene bGraph such that it can be performed as a Knowledge Library for all the teammate to take reference when carrying out tasks new to him/her.
[Output]
Output is the observable material deliverable that you are going to deliver after the assignee has completed the task. It is crucial for the assignor to define the specification and expectation of the output such that the assignee can carry out the task accordingly.
Please be noted that 50% of the failed task is due to the fact that the expectation is not clearly explained to the assignee.
Output Specification
Below is the specification of the output that you will be expected to be found in the Task Instruction.
Deliverable Presence
Following is the some of Deliverable Presence example that can be found in a Task Instruction
- Report
- Document
- Installation of an application
- Production of a snippet of source code
It is crucial for the assignor to define the Deliverable Presence in the task. For example, if you request the assignee to write you an article titled 2025 Digital Marketing Outlook, you can expect different levels of Deliverable Presence
- Plain Text in Task Comment
- Proofreading by assignor
- Text with Typesetting in Task Comment
- Text with Typesetting installed in WordPress Blog
You can see that in fact there are 3 processes to produce the deliverable:
- Copywriting
- Proofreading
- Typesetting
- Installation
Do NOT expect the assignee to guess which level you want. It will be the duty of the assignor to clearly state which processes are needed.
Deliverable File Format
In case the deliverable of the Task is a document, the file format should be clearly stated. Examples of file formats are as below:
- .docx
- .gsheet
- .esd
- .xlsx
- .eml
Again, it is the duty of the assignor to define the file format of the deliverable for the assignee.
For example, as an assignor , if you want to have a 2025 Marketing Budget Plan from the assignee, instead of a .pdf file which you cannot further edit the content , you may want to have the Budget Plan with .xlsx file format (i.e. Microsoft Excel) for modification.
However, in another case while you need to send the Budget Plan to the client with an authorized company chop, then it is better for the assigned to save the file as .pdf format such that the content inside the budget plan cannot be modified any further.
On top of that , if you even want to share to your teammate to comment and review before you can send to your client, it is better for the deliverable to be in .gsheet format (i.e. Google Spreadsheet).
As an assignor , while you spend a little extra time and effort to define the deliverable file format in advance before the task execution, it will help the assignee to save a lots of time to convert their file format after they completed the task.
Delivery Destination
There are few examples of what a Deliverable Destination should look like:
- DDM’s Group Company Google Drive
- Record in DDM’s CRM
- Task Attachment
- Task Comment
With no surprise, it is also the duty of the assignor to define the Deliverable Destination for the assignee.
As an assignor , imagine if the assignee completed a task and sent the .xlsx deliverable file to you via your personal WhatsApp account. In fact , there is literally nothing wrong for the assignee to do that if you do not define the Deliverable Destination in the Task Instruction in advance.
The cost of not spending time to clearly define the Deliverable Destination is that you have to use your Mobile Phone to open the .xlsx file, which assumes you have the MS Excel viewer installed in your Mobile Phone. And if you want to read it in your desktop due to a bigger screen, you either have to upload the file to your Company’s Google Drive, or you (as a assignor) will utilise your authority to ask the assignee to upload the .xlsx file to the Company Google Drive and send you the URL via email.
No matter which way you are using, you can see lots of extra and meaningless workloads are wasted.
[Caution]
Caution is anything that you need to pay attention to before or after you carry out the task. While there is infinite number of caution to pay attention, there are some comment points that we can address:
Time vs Quality Oriented
Time Oriented Task
For example, in an hourly based project where we charge our client USD$10 for an hour ‘s production, it makes sense for us to produce the output within 1 hour. In this case, the task will be regarded as Time-oriented , which means you (as an assignee) cannot modify hundreds of times to pursue perfection of your deliverable.
Another scenario is Research & Development (R&D) tasks in nature. Imagine if you , as an assignee , are required to write a Italy Market Entry Plan for a product, you cannot afford a 1,000 days effort to conduct the market research due to the fact that there will be an infinite amount of information that you can research for. If you do not set a time limit for the task, the task will never be completed.
Quality Oriented Task
On the contrary, in a scenario that the web server of a VIP client’s website is down and you have been assigned a task to bring the web server alive, then we have to figure out the root cause and bring back the web server no matter the cost it takes.
Hybrid Task
Due to the fact that it is impossible for the assignee to figure out whether the task is a time-oriented or quality-oriented task, it is crucial for the assignor to define clearly to the assignee.
But in reality, sometimes it will rather an optimisation problem instead of a binary problem (i.e. either Time-Oriented OR Quality-Oriented)
For example, in a Research & Development Task in nature, if the assignor wants to write a task instruction on installing the Meta Conversion API to the client’s website. Due to the fact that there are no such case ever been carried out in the company, the assignor may assign the task as below in sequence
Tasks:
- Assignee read article on internet and write step by step guideline on how to install Meta Conversion API in website (Max 2 Hours)
- Assignor reviewed the output of Task#1 and further define the subtask as below:
- Client assign the Access Rights of Meta Business Suite to DDM Group
- Client assign the Access Rights of Website to DDM Group
- Assignee install the Meta Conversion API into the website (Max 2 hours)
- Assignee feedback the obstacles or difficulties to the assignor.
- Assignor further assign the subtask to the assignee as below:
- Raise question in Github or Stackoverflow
- Keep reading related articles in internet (Max 4 hours)
- Outsource an 3rd party Meta verified partner to complete the task.
We can see that in the Meta Conversion API installation task, there is a mixture of time-oriented and quality-oriented sub tasks to be carried out before the task can be completed. This is what we called Optimisation (i.e. opposite to Management) Task.
In an Optimisation Task, the assignor is unable to provide a 100% clear and executable task instruction in advance due to the fact that even he/herself does not know what he/she is seeking for. We called this problem as (R009) You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know.
To handle the Optimisation Task, it is the skill for the assignor to further break down the task into subtask based on the feedback of the previous subtasks carried out by the assignee to decide what to do next.
The rule of thumb is , the more criteria are met , the higher chance the task will be a Management Task. On the contrary, the more criteria is met , the higher chance the task to be an Optimisation Task.
Criteria
- The Task come with a SKUd#
- The Task is found in Task Template List
- Task# Reference can be found in the Task Instruction.
Reminder to the Assignee
Although it is the duty of the assignor to define the task instruction to facilitate you to carry out the task, for some reasons it is not always feasible for the assignor to define 100% clear in the task instruction. As a virtuous teammate, therefore:
Read and Comprehen Every Single Word in the Task Instruction
Always read through all the content of the Task Instructions, as well as any supplementary information in the Task comment before you carry out the task. This means if there are 5 inputs and 7 outputs in the task, you need to study all those 5 inputs and 7 outputs one by one, instead of reading 1 input and immediately do another 1 output.
Raise Out Question before you carry out the Task
Before you carry out the task, raise it if you think there is any input or output specification missing in the Task Instruction. Remember it will be for your own good because once you raise out and give feedback to the assignor, the assignor will update the Task Instruction Template hence the Task Specification will be more comprehensive in next time. For example, in a Google Analytics 4 Account (GA4) Creation task, after you have created the GA4 ID, you may also have the login and password information on your hand. In case there no output requirement for you to record in the DDM’s Group CRM, then it will be a good practice for you to raise out in the comment.
Read Task Instruction More Than 1 Time
DO NOT only read the Task Instruction ONCE. Imagine that there are 5 inputs and 7 outputs in the task, which you (as an assignee) cannot complete all the 7 outputs within 1 day. While you have only completed 3 outputs and leave the remaining 4 outputs after the 2-day weekend holiday. On Monday when you resume the tasks, while in fact you have almost forgotten what the Task Instruction is talking about, you still keep starting the task in the Task Instruction of 4th output. Due to the fact that some important information is mentioned in the 2nd input which you have already forgotten, you may fail to carry out the 4th to 7th output correctly. Statistics tell us this is one of the most common reasons why an assignee makes a mistake. And therefore, please always READ the Task Instruction:
- BEFORE carrying out the Task
- WHEN resuming the Task
- AFTER Completed a Output
- BEFORE submitting the Output
Handling Management Task
When you (as an assignee) are assigned a Management Task, it will have a definite right or wrong benchmark of the deliverable. It is likely that the requirement of the deliverable is clearly defined in the Task Instruction. If you think of a new way to carry out the task, or if you think it has a more efficient way to carry out the task, please RAISE OUT in the comment before you carry out. Please always remember that there are many angles and stakeholders that should be taken into consideration during carrying out a task. Sometimes what you (as an assignee) can see may not reflect the whole picture. On the contrary, it is also not appropriate for the assignor to prohibit the creative idea from the assignee. It is an art more than a science to assign a task. And hence communication is as important as production.
Handling Optimisation Task
When you (as an assignee) are assigned a Optimisation Task, there may be little case for you to reference to , it is your show time to demonstrate your problem solving skills. Please always keep in mind that you should always set a time limit to this kind of task. Task without any time limit is simply a money burner. Besides, please do not expect any feasible and comprehensive task instruction to be provided to you as the assignor may need your output to determine the next step of the Task. (And that’s reason why it called Optimisation)
Communication is as important as Production.
- If you don’t understand the task, or you think that there is ambiguous meaning in some words in the task, please feel free (i.e. don’t be shy) to RAISE OUT. Remember if you have a chance to understand a Task Instruction, your teammate in the future may face the same problem. It is the duty of the assignor to clearly define the Task Instruction in order to let the assignee carry out the task seamlessly.
- When you raise a question, RAISE OUT LOUDLY. Due to the fact that while you (as an assignee) may only need to read the task instructions from 1 (or max 2) assignor, on the contrary, your assignor may need to read the feedback from 10+ teammates and clients in one day. It is normal for you to wait for 1 or 2 days before you can get any feedback. If you think the point you raised is a prerequisite for you to complete the task, please raise it out loud by sending WhatsApp to your assignee. Please do not hallucinate that you have raised a stupid question or your assignor doesn’t like you so that he/she does not reply to your comment. As an assignor, it is trained to define the task instruction as clearly as possible. So don’t be shy to ask. For the manner of writing comments, please refer to the article How to Comment in Teamwork.com.
- When you have banned or rejected something, please always suggest another solution at the same time. Your assignor already fully understands how difficult the world is. Therefore ,instead of ending your comment on “Why NOT” , please always end your comment with “How To”.
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