On Instructions

There is a particular type of confidence required to follow instructions that are clearly wrong.

Most people develop this skill in flatpack furniture assembly. You get to step four, the diagram shows a piece that doesn’t exist in your box, and you have two options: stop and reassess, or commit. The instructions assume you have a part called “Dowel C.” You do not have Dowel C. You have something that might be Dowel C if you squint, and something else that is definitely not Dowel C but is approximately the right size.

You use the second thing.

It works. Not perfectly, but it works. The shelf stands. It holds books. You do not think about Dowel C again for six months, at which point the shelf lists slightly to the left and you understand, finally, what Dowel C was for.

This is also how most organizations are run.