On Not Solving Things You’ve Already Solved

We re-solve problems a lot.

And it’s a bad habit.

See, we’ve solved a lot of problems already. Things like what email or creative tool to use, or how to communicate with a team.

These don’t need solving over and over again. Yet new developments often tend to introduce as much re-learning as they do progress.

For fun, I tried to work out when I started using a handful of solutions…

…Here’s what I found:

• Made websites for 24 years.
• Used Photoshop for graphics for 20 years.
• Ran on macOS for 17 years.
• Managed assets with Bridge for 17 years.
• Communicated on Skype for 17 years.
• Edited photos with Lightroom for 16 years
• Drawn digitally with Wacom tablets for 15 years.
• Stored photos with Flickr for 15 years.
• Shot on Canon cameras for 15 years.
• Managed email with Gmail for 14 years.
• Socialised on Twitter for 14 years.
• Browsed with Chrome for 13 years.

There’s absolutely a time and a place for learning and exploring new tools.

I love innovation, and I when real meaningful innovations are discovered.

For the rest, consider not solving things you’ve already solved.