Here’s a cake about one of the legal consequences of knowing a lot.
As important as cake is to Wrap-Ups and company development, as important is candy and music to our liability.
If we don’t know the whole recipe of the block buster product, the process specifics or how the business is challenged, we will not be able to perform at our best. Thus, we are trusted with highly valued confidential information. Consequently, we need to be very diligent in our way of handling it. Towards the end of a project, when working on the Wrap-Up (and deciding on the cake), documents and samples are taken due care of. It is part of the process, but we all know that processes are not fault free.
To reduce the risks with secret information, we have learned to have a regular Archive and Shred Bonanza. It is a day where we ensure we do not possess anything we don’t need or couldn’t get again. Music is playing. Candy is readily available in the corridors as are shredders and confidentiality bins. Anna is in the Fika-room (a.k.a. Semlan, see Cake p.8) ready to respond to questions about specific agreements and samples. The clean-up includes digital versions, to comply with agreements and reduce digital pollution (Cake p.38). It is difficult since many clients appreciate that we have their old data, often we find it faster in our system than they can in their own.
Sending material to destruction hurts because it is waste. Pouring samples in the drain hurts because scientists want to see how they develop. Deleting raw data hurts because you never know … But with candy, music and colleagues it can and must be done.