I'm crap at remembering details.
Unless they are integral to a pattern.
Then I remember them.

A lot of times though I'll remember the pattern but not recall all the details I once knew that went into the building of it. Doesn't mean the details wouldn't support the pattern though. And I usually find out the important details by developing a working hypothesis based on the patterns I see initially and refining it when the details get in the way of it. But I don't treat the hypothesis like a conclusion, since it is supposed to change, more of a plan, a thesis, something to give context to the details so I can remember them. They won't just sit in my brain on their own.

I'm only concerned with details when it helps me get to a conclusion/big picture. I dismiss all other details if it serves no function or point because it's deemed useless, pointless and or futile to me.

I am somewhat detail-oriented, but I am mostly interested in the big picture. I tend to be conscious of details related to my interests and ignore everything else. For instance, I only read part of your post.

I hate details. I always seem to overlook smaller ones in my eagerness to reach a conclusion.

I have to look over something several times to remember all the details. I only do that if I have to. It's so monotonous, it brings me to tears.

Details that help me get an idea of the big picture are satisfying though.

I only read part of your post properly in order to conclude what you were talking about, and skimmed over everything else.

I had an INTJ boyfriend and I remember he said many times he couldnt remember details. And that many of the things he had to learn by heart at school where forgotten after a little time. That is why he didnt like to study things by heart.

I prefer to remember number range instead of particular numbers. For example, I'm a big hockey fan and I tend to remember what kind of offensive output most players in the NHL are capable of but I wont remember exactly. It's the same for historical date, I might be able to guess close to the date or in a particular era but dont ask me to remember dates.

I tend to read a lot of article and I like to remember data but it's pretty much the same pattern. I always "oh, it was something like [approximation]". As long as I remember the general idea behind the data, I'm fine with it.

I do not remember details at all, I only remember what I got from them. Especially when learning something. This is a problem when somebody asks me to support my theories because I never remember how I came to the conclusion. This is a J thing I think because we understand a subject just enough for it to be useful.

We look at details only with the plans we've come up with. We're not called the masters of contingency planning for nothing. We will ensure that there is nothing that can come up or pose as a problem later.

But our detailed thinking is not the same kind of thought your thinking of. Even I don't know how to explain the details of INTJ detailed thoughts. These happen when making plans only though.

Details schmetails....I can give details if I am required to....most of the time no-one is interested enough to hear them. The concept as a whole is understood and can be explained quite easily. When looking at someone's work I can see their details very well. I simply have trouble remembering them for my own work. (I tend to forget things that don't seem to fit with my idea of a plan...apparently that is common for our type)

INTPs shift between over attention to details and rambling in portraying concepts to having huge gaping holes in their arguments. They shift between their brilliance and their forgot to put their undies on mode as far as I can tell (I have two of these lovelies in my family).

I am pleased to see I am not the only one. Pretty much what everyone else has said, I forget/overlook all details that are irrelevant to my constructing the big picture and because my intuitive powers are so strong I often reach the conclusion without then being able to recreate it for others to use.

For the most part my sentiments are a reflection of all the rest on here, but I have a few points and a question based on your statement there:

Are you sure she was an INTJ?
What you've described could easily be either an INTP, as bethdeth was suggesting (I think, she didn't really specify), or an INFJ. Despite the F, INFJs can come across as incredibly intelligent, my boss is an INFJ and your description would fit her rather well. She does very well at running the logistical side of the business, and is often seen as a very logical person, but is very quick to jump to conclusions based on little information. Most frustrating is her near religious fervor once she has made a decision unless you can present her with ten-times the information she made her original judgment on showing that she was incorrect.

An INTJ may not remember the details later, but at the time a decision/conclusion was actually made the mind was consumed with every relevant piece of information and all possible ramifications of that decision. I may not focus on it, or make it known generally, but in such instances how other people are affected is also a key component of my decision making process. Details are also kept on a subconscious level, so even though I may not be able to consciously recall, the information is still there. It's amazing the level of information that can come seemingly out of thin air when I actually need it.

The INTJ mind is more akin to a Thesaurus than a Dictionary. I may not have all the facts at hand to describe things properly (thus irritating the S types to no end) but my level of associative reasoning is equally unfathomable. Its a memory paradox, if all those details stayed near the surface, our intuition wouldn't have room to operate.

Because of the subconscious nature of those details, making a decision or coming to a conclusion is like mixing fluids of similar density, there can be fifteen or twenty bits of information and all of them will coalesce at the same time, those which don't fit properly, or have an incorrect density, are immediately discarded, while the rest form a cohesive conclusion, all in a single brainspan. Once that idea has formed the individual fluids/details are no longer necessary and return to the subconscious.

Changing an INTJs mind is actually easier than it seems, as our minds are rarely ever truly made up. If I have made my decision on six details, you need only show me seven details in contradiction and I will immediately reform my opinion, that may only go so far as for me to find two more details reinforcing my original assessment, but I will reform my opinion if the scales are tipped even lightly in your favor.

The difficulty with that is: I rarely form any kind of serious opinion/decision on less than a significant amount of information. More so than anyone near me at the time may realize.

kittychris07 said:

I'm just wondering. I had an INTJ boss who was often terrible at picking up on details, and I think that this caused her to jump to conclusions a lot, unless someone gave her indisputable facts. It irritated me that she was so unobservant. I know she was pretty smart and could be detail-oriented because she made excellent grades at school and got into a good grad school program, but I don't think she picked up on details that didn't affect her very much. I didn't like how she made judgments without getting the facts straight.

Click to expand...

I'm not good at remembering details unless it's really important.

I am pleased to join the flock: i can remember a lot of details (personal or from work) - after I have a pattern where I can insert them As, astrology theory works very well for remembering birthdays XD, and it was so simpler to learn tau-lu than alone correct walkings...
And no, i can't remember anything learned by heart for more than one week; only exception: songs; but i feel the rithm as a strange kind of external pattern oO

Yeah...

I am detail-oriented, though usually relating to things outside of myself, possibly the result of a developed Se function. Thus, I notice my environment and things coming in through my senses to some extent and can at times test as an ISTJ because I can get lost in the details sometimes. In times of stress, I go into super-alert suck in all data and store it away never know what I may need to recall later. I also focus on details in my interests as well.

If I don't see any point in focusing on some details, then it does tend to drift away eventually. However, it is common for silly trivia to stick with me for months if not years after something happened.

NTJs may get into details more than NTPs especially in terms of sticking to rules and being orderly, I'd think. The difference between the planner that always wants things to follow a sequence rather than randomly shifting as things change over time.

I'm also like most of our INTJ brethren/sisterhood: details shmetails, unless they are somehow important.