A thought from a thread that Al S. started.
A craftsman knows how to use the right tool applied to the appropriate task. My grandfather was a master carpenter. He built hundreds of homes and also furniture and renovations. He possessed a garage full of all kinds of tools and hardware. Even many of a class of tools. Different types of hammers and saws and glue and nails and screws. His customers did not purchase his garage nor his tools. They were buying a finished product. A house. A table. A newly remodeled bathroom or kitchen. The product of, the intersection of the craftsman and tools, is where the value is captured and delivered.
I use my skills along with the best tools industry has to offer to build and/or grow/transform organizations. Not so much difference from the carpenter, eh?
Perhaps only an illusion of metamorphosis in what we do from what we did if anything.
I think we spend too much time talking about tools and not enough time studying the results of our experiments.
The context of tools and their application should be in terms of how they help us think and observe (OODA) and act. Plus, the intersection of PDCA and OODA in a business context. Not applied as a prescription where the patient waits to be fixed.
Something I learned
Customers do not care about your tools. Only perhaps other craftsmen. Even then, your competitors are only looking at your tools to determine if it gives you a competitive edge or not.
A good friend has pointed this out regarding this writer’s blog. What is its purpose? Is the target audience the customer or the craftsman? Admittedly my intent was a mashup of both audiences.
Ultimately the point is that what sells is the results of our endeavors, not the tools. Agile is dying because her practitioners spend too much effort focusing on the wrong things.
blogagility.com 