The fallacy of “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”

Any software consultant worth their weight in requirement specs will have no doubt come across a client or system user who drops the line “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. In Australia we are blessed with a large serving of cynicism and fear of change (in my opinion) and while in many cases this is great when it comes to Business processes and system implementations it can be a hurdle that is hard to overcome.

See the problem with the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” ideology is that it doesn’t take into consideration factors like changing business requirements, innovation or the ever increasing workload of the Australia employee. While it is obviously dangerous to jump head first in with the newest hottest trend/fad, it is ‘AS’ dangerous to maintain the status quo on the grounds that it has worked fine in the past. While I might be slightly biased due to the nature of my vocation, the value in understanding the potential negative and positive impacts of a new approach, system or methodology on a business or process should be apparent.

Businesses and individuals should leverage the critical way in which Australians approach change. If you or your employer are fortunate enough to be at the crossroads and there is a chance to review what you do and how you do it, ask the important questions:

• Why and what do we do?
• How do we achieve this?
• Is there are better way to carry this process?
• What are the positive and negatives of investing in innovation?

Tying back to the title of this post, I think the phrase should be amended to “if it’s not broke don’t fix it, but if there is a better way to do it, IT’S BROKEN!”

1 comments:

Closer to Zero said...

well, all "if it ain't broke ..." says is you don't know the system in place.

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