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The Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection:
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Posted by Dr Andus
Sep 5, 2020 at 12:57 PM
My take on “The Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection”:
Experiment and get your hands dirty with lots of tools - from tools that have been around for a long time (classics) to the latest innovations.
Then you’ll know a lot about tools and be more likely to choose the right tool for the right task in pursuit of whatever ideals or just to get the job done.
Posted by Ken
Sep 5, 2020 at 06:12 PM
This is an interesting thread, and I really like the responses. I kind of find these statements a bit one dimensional, and appreciate all of the follow up posts that reflect the subtleties and complexities of how we think and behave.
—Ken
Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 6, 2020 at 08:37 AM
… and of course Dr Andus’s reply totally justifies the CRIMPing approach ;-)
So I’m with you, doc!
Posted by Listerene
Sep 6, 2020 at 01:54 PM
I think that if you need some sort of higher guidance on how to choose a tool—whether it’s a hammer or a word processing app—you’re spending waaay too much time seeking higher guidance.
If you don’t know when something is appropriate for your use, when you use it, studying the “happiness” you feel when using that hammer won’t get you too far. I’m all for the touchy-feely kinda things but, at some point, you have to get on with your life and do what needs to be done without a whole lot of circumspection.
More to the point, it’s a form of risk avoidance: If you don’t have to take the risk of doing something because you’re busy studying how to do it, you’re just avoiding the risk of doing it.
“If you’re happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you’ll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years.” – David Rubenstein
Posted by washere
Sep 6, 2020 at 07:08 PM
Good post by Listerene. I’ve always said the most expensive asset invested is time.
Identifying most urgent needs and then most effective tools for those tasks can easily be neglected.
Also the 80/20 rule might not be exactly correct in terms of numbers, but it’s an apt metaphor overall.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
Of course playing around with new tools can be a hobby too. But should be differentiated from identifying crucial tasks and the best tools for them.