Stop! Do We Really need to Build This?

Starting from scratch may be the most impressive approach, but it’s not always necessary.

- Liam king

A fishmonger puts a new sign up outside his shop. The sign says: Fresh fish sold here. A customer comes up to the fishmonger and tells him his new sign is a waste of money. When the fishmonger asks him why, he responds: “Well, I know you have fish, because your shop window is full of them. And I assume you are selling them and not giving them away for free. And I would certainly hope your fish are fresh. And if not here then where?”

That redundant shop sign has stuck in my head for years, and as I look around the web I’ve noticed it is littered with ‘Fresh fish sold here’ websites, apps and services; those that seemed like a good idea but weren’t really needed.

STARTING OVER

So why do we build stuff we don’t really need? It’s usually down to a combination of factors. Often, it feels easier to start over than deal with the root cause of a problem, and we can assume that new tech will automatically improve the situation. It’s easy to fall in love with solutions and get too attached to them, and once momentum picks up, it can be difficult to stop the process.

There can also be external factors. Maybe it seems like everyone else is building cool new stuff and we don’t want to get left behind, or we might be encouraged to build something new by people that can profit from it. Building something new is also a way to prove to our peers, bosses and clients we can take big, bold steps, rather than ‘fiddling at the edges’.

TAKE A STEP BACK