Abstract

Using tools is an integeral part of accomplishing tasks, and an important part of using tools is selecting the right tool for the job. This article is going to go over the importance of selecting tools to use for particlar projects both when working alone and working as a team.

Have a wide variety of tools

The tool that you pick for completing a task can shape the direction and/or outcome of a particular project; which is why having a wide variety of tools for a wide variety of problems is essential.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

This is a common saying, at least in the US, that outlines how easy it is to become single minded when only knowing one tool. While a hammer is a fine tool, it doesn’t work in all situations; which is why it is beneficial to be able to use other types of tools for other problems.

Be flexible with your tools

In addition to using other types of tools for other types of problems, it is also good to try to generalize the problems that tools are trying to solve, and be familiar with the various ways that tools attempt to solve that problem. For example, a hammer and nail try to solve the problem of holding two pieces of wood together by driving a nail through both of them. Another tool that can do this is a screw using similar principles.

This works extremely well in the tech world, because being knowledgeable about a problem and the generalized solution means that it will be easier to pick up an unfamiliar tool and solve that problem. Because of this, it will be easier to integrate into a team that uses tools that you may or may not have experience with. It also means that you can bring new ideas to a team because you are not stuck within the limitations of their tools.

Pick the best tools for your team

The last major thing is selecting a tool that works well for the team. This one is particularly difficult for people with less experience or extremely passionate people. Sometimes the tool that you like or works really well for you, may not be the right tool for the team. Even if it fits the prompt perfectly, it may not be the right tool for the team. This has to do more so with the team’s expertise, skill, time, and willingness to learn. For example, I like using org-roam and org-roam-ui for my personal knowledge-base; however, it would be a terrible tool to use for my team. This isn’t because either of those tools are bad, nor does it mean that my team is bad. It just isn’t the right fit. They don’t have any experience using Emacs, additionally, we would have to have a way to manage changes (Git probably), and they don’t have much experience with that either. A browser based tool that uses a more simplified markup language works much better for my team, because it fits our needs well enough without getting in our way.

Closing thoughts

This was just a short though on things to keep in mind when picking tools to use and use within a team. I find myself sometimes wanting to use different and ‘better’ tools, but then I remember that those tools don’t really make sense for the goals I am trying to accomplish, and they would tend to get in my team’s way more than they would save time/money/effort.