2 ms·

I find a recurring theme in these kind of comments where people seem to blame their laziness on the tool. The problem is not that the tools are imperfect, it’s

by Aeolun 2y ago

I find a recurring theme in these kind of comments where people seem to blame their laziness on the tool. The problem is not that the tools are imperfect, it’s that you apparently use them in situations where you expect perfection. Does a carpenter blame their hammer when it fails to drive in a screw?

er4hn 2y ago
I'd argue that a closer analogy is I bought a laser based measuring device. I point it a distant point and it tells me the distance from the tip of the device to that point. Many people are excited that this tool will replace rulers and measuring tapes because of the ease of use. However this laser measuring tool is accurate within a range. There's a lot of factors that affect it's accuracy like time of day, how you hold it, the material you point it at, etc. Sometimes these accuracy errors are minimal, sometimes they are pretty big. You end up getting a lot of measurements that seem "close enough". but you still need to ask if each one is correct. "Measure Twice, Cut Once" begins to require one measurement with the laser tool and once with the conventional tool when accuracy matters. One could have a convoluted analogy where the carpenter has an electric hammer that for some reason has a rounded head that does cause some number of nails to not go in cleanly, but I like my analogy better :)
johnnyanmac 2y ago
>Does a carpenter blame their hammer when it fails to drive in a screw? That's the exact problem. I have plenty of screwdrivers but there's so much pressure from people not in carpentry telling me to use this shiny new army Swiss knife contraption. Will it work? Probably, if I'm just screwing in a few screws. Would I readily abandon my set of precision built, magnetic tip, etc. Screwdriver set for it? Definitely not. I'm sure it's great for non-carpenters to have so many tools in so small a space. But I developed skills and tools already. My job isn't just to screw in a few screws a day and call it quits. People wanting to replace me for a quarter the cost for this Swiss army carpenter will quickly see a quality difference and realize why it's not a solution to everything. Or in the software sense, maybe they are fine with unlevel shelves and hanging nails in carpet. It's certainly not work I'd find acceptable.

by Aeolun 2y ago

er4hn 2y ago

I'd argue that a closer analogy is I bought a laser based measuring device. I point it a distant point and it tells me the distance from the tip of the device to that point. Many people are excited that this tool will replace rulers and measuring tapes because of the ease of use. However this laser measuring tool is accurate within a range. There's a lot of factors that affect it's accuracy like time of day, how you hold it, the material you point it at, etc. Sometimes these accuracy errors are minimal, sometimes they are pretty big. You end up getting a lot of measurements that seem "close enough". but you still need to ask if each one is correct. "Measure Twice, Cut Once" begins to require one measurement with the laser tool and once with the conventional tool when accuracy matters. One could have a convoluted analogy where the carpenter has an electric hammer that for some reason has a rounded head that does cause some number of nails to not go in cleanly, but I like my analogy better :)

johnnyanmac 2y ago

>Does a carpenter blame their hammer when it fails to drive in a screw? That's the exact problem. I have plenty of screwdrivers but there's so much pressure from people not in carpentry telling me to use this shiny new army Swiss knife contraption. Will it work? Probably, if I'm just screwing in a few screws. Would I readily abandon my set of precision built, magnetic tip, etc. Screwdriver set for it? Definitely not. I'm sure it's great for non-carpenters to have so many tools in so small a space. But I developed skills and tools already. My job isn't just to screw in a few screws a day and call it quits. People wanting to replace me for a quarter the cost for this Swiss army carpenter will quickly see a quality difference and realize why it's not a solution to everything. Or in the software sense, maybe they are fine with unlevel shelves and hanging nails in carpet. It's certainly not work I'd find acceptable.