The poor man always buys twice
That was a quote I’ve not heard before but I knew exactly what was meant when my colleague said it today. He mentioned it in the context of tools and workmanship that we were observing, and its outcome.
I have lived it myself multiple times when I couldn’t afford to buy better quality tools in the moment I needed them, bought what I could afford, which promptly either broke or last one use. Either the job did not get done (FAIL) or I had to buy better tools (which I still couldn’t afford but needed to get the job done). I’m probably doing that without thinking about it so often too (worthy of self-examination for sure).
I don’t think it’s a deliberate, malicious intent of organisations to starve the people they employ of the tools and training and incentives to do the job well. I witnessed the effects of small decisions ostensibly to processes efficient led to a situation that seems “complex” or “chaotic”, as referred to by the Cynefin framework.
My colleague said something else about the leadership that prompted the memory of a quote by Upton Sinclain:
it’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
I took this photo on the trip
