When you only have a hammer...

Date: 20-10-2010 12:59 | Author: Derek Glen | Category: Process improvement | Tags: change, process, improvement, tools

We're having some work done on the house at the moment - stripping walls, ripping out fireplaces, that kind of thing. The latest challenge we face involves a couple of pipes and a few bricks from an old fireplace that stick out beyond the line of a wall that we'd like to make flat.

Last week, we had a joiner in doing some other work and my wife asked his opinion about what we should do. He explained that we needed to put a false wall in, bringing the whole surface out by a few inches, which would hide the obstacles. He even offered to do the work for us - all eighteen feet of new wall!

Needless to say we declined, but this was a striking example of how different people will come up with solutions to problems based on what they know and what they are comfortable with (echoing the adage that if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem will look like a nail). The joiner's solution was hopelessly over-engineered - had we asked a plumber, the answer would have likely been to simply move the pipes back a few inches.

If you're faced with changing the way an organisation works, it's worth getting a range of opinions about how to solve the problem. There are always lots of possibilities, and some will be more appropriate than others.

After all, you don't want to build a whole new wall if moving some of the obstructions would be a cheaper, quicker and ultimately more effective solution.