A Hammer in Search of a Nail

Are we all familiar with this metaphor? Abraham Maslow ("Hierarchy of Human Needs") is said to have originated this, but it hardly matters. The concept rings so true that it has probably been known since the first tool.

I have lately participated in some discussions on LinkedIn with the result that I now believe that the vast majority of workers in information technology are in possession of a tool that they are seeking to apply to every problem that they encounter. The really dangerous ones are creating problems to use their tool on. Oh, wait, there's a name for that--it's called marketing.

Notice, too that I said "in possession of" a tool. It is apparently no longer necessary (if it ever was necessary) to actually be skilled in the application of your favorite tool.

I once worked with a guy--a programmer in this case, but I'm not looking to single out programmers--who said something rather like, "We don't support the business. We are the business." The business was rail transportation and it is true that if all of the applications used by this particular company were to suddenly disappear, those "left behind" would no doubt have had to cease operations until they could be reorganized.

That's not the bad part though. the bad part is that this is a really good example of just how far the notion of "where's the next nail?" can take us. When I believe that the world as I know it is held together by this tool that I hold in my hand, I am in the midst of a dissociative process. I don't go home and act this out. When I'm not at work for example, I'm just the guy next door. When I do get to work, though, I'm still the guy next door--it's just a different door. We--most, if not all--live in two separate realities. About the only thing that keeps us from being diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder (DID) is that we (usually) remember what happened in the other world.

I could go on at length but the bottom line is that, not only is our work life a separate reality from our real life, but there is a completely different reality in the executive suite than there is on the floor, and (for me) most importantly, a separate one for I.T. Leave aside for a moment, the variety of realities we might encounter as we go from networks to servers to DBA, to data architecture, to development to QA--it is absolutely amazing that we get anything at all accomplished.

The poor data architect finds himself stepping into and out of a dozen distinct realities every day. It is certainly a defense mechanism to take refuge in a favorite tool--the "data model." This is the talisman used to shield against the swarm of alternative realities. Unfortunately, the tool was designed for a different purpose, to capture and integrate all the different realities. Nails come in many forms, too.

Tools and Products

Very briefly, I have been seeing many instances of confusion about tools and products. If you're going to make chisels or scissors, you really have to keep the eventual product firmly in mind.

A tool maker who loses track of the application for his tool runs the risk of producing something that has no utility. Something that has no utility or whose utility can't be easily recognized is not a tool. It may be an art object or it may just be a poorly designed piece of junk. It may also simply become so costly that the product can no longer afford it.

How good does it have to be? Good enough is the right answer. As with so many things in life, the right answer isn't nearly as satisfying as we might have hoped.