Occam’s (Bigger) Razor
February 29th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
This article in the Dallas Morning News about how to solve the problem of the morning commute by adjusting stoplight timing cracked us up. The story invokes Occam’s Razor (all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best) and then offers technical as opposed to adaptive change.So we’re busting out Occam’s Bigger Razor on this one: why have a commute at all?
In a ROWE, people have the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want as long as the work gets done. Which means that people work from home. Or in coffee shops. Or wherever they want. People grocery shop on a Tuesday morning or take in a movie on a Thursday afternoon. If people can change their attitudes and beliefs about face time and core hours, then you fix the problem of commuting by eliminating the commute. (The EPA has this issue on their radar. Here’s hoping they do more).
Even with ROWE, we don’t envision a world without offices. At the same time, the nature of the office might change. Companies might opt for smaller facilities. Or there may be more workshare spaces like the Hat Factory. Who knows? The workplace of the future might look like something we can’t even imagine now.
Of course, we can always just keep things the way they are and time the stoplights better.
We can better align the chairs on the deck of the Titanic…
[...] we noted in a previous post, this kind of solution, while well-meaning, can only have a limited impact on the problem of [...]