I have a new major frustration – people finding inventive ways to screw up trying to find new solutions to problems that have been solved and understood for years. This happens a lot at work, as the technical nature of my job allows for correct, efficient answers be developed and deployed time and again. Yet people keep trying to reinvent the wheel. For example: deploying networked home directories is a solved problem. Yet we’re going through round and round of stupid, technical problems. I suspect it’s because we’ve purchased the wrong product – but we keep going.

This is not to say that people shouldn’t look at new ways to fix things, or alternative ways to get tasks done. The problem is people need to look at the new solution and answer the question: does this truly solve the problem better than the old solution? Does it give them something no other solution gives them, and does that new thing outweigh everything else? They need to be honest and take a hard look at it. Yes, they’ve spent time and (likely) money coming up with a new solution. However, it does them and their team a disservice if they then adopt an inferior solution, just because it’s new and it’s theirs.