Bikeshedding, Yak Shaving, and Beyond

Give me an indefinite amount of time to chop down a tree, and I will spend the rest of my days sharpening axes. - Nobody

I have a thing for tools. Finding the best tool for the job, improving tools, fiddling with tools. Digital or not. Borderline obsessive to tell you the truth.

Mostly, this is a harmless condition. Sometimes even useful. In some cases, though, it’s a strategy to avoid doing things that need to get done.

Problem is, it looks and feels pretty productive.

Tool vs. tool - some sort of allegory

Exactly what defines a tool is a hairy matter, but a minimal definition could look like:

A tool is *something* you make use of to leverage your attempts to change the world.

Lofty, I know. I’ll get back to that in a later post.

Picking the appropriate tool for a task is important. If you ever had to fasten a screw with a hammer you know it’s not a pretty proces. But if a hammer is all you got and the zombies are closing in fast then you buckle up and go ka-pow.

Driving, say, a Phillips screw with a regular flat-bladed screwdriver is a real step up from using a hammer.

Not easy and not fun, but definitely doable.

Now, driving the same screw with a Phillips screwdriver of the right size is a whole other ball game. This is how things should be.

You are in control.

Productive.

Efficient.

At this point you don’t need to spend more time looking for a better tool

Some people, though, will look with disgust at the cheap-ass screwdriver you got when you first moved in on your own. “Flimsy!”, “No thought put into this handle!”, “NOT built to last!”

Their journey has led them from american-made to the renowned German tool producers. They spend hours on Youtube looking at reviews and have quite the collection of spreadsheets with ultra-detailed comparisons. Their dreams are shrouded in the colors of Wera and Wiha.

Next up: Japanese tools. Expensive, yes. Worth it? Also yes. Screwdrivers for life. And not just your life. When the Great Pyramids of Egypt are long gone these screwdrivers will persist.

Having a hobby is fine. But if your goal is to actually build something agonizing endlessly over the process and the tools involved is not. On the other hand you don’t want to risk tarnishing the goal by half-assing things.

You need to know when to stop and pick the best option available.

Then - and this is the hard part - you need to quiet the voice at the back of your mind whispering “What if…?”