When I’m camping or cycling and need to pack light and fix things on the go, a multi-tool is a great choice.
One small tool that I can tuck into the side pocket of my pack or under my saddle can get most jobs that might pop up done, for the most part, in a pinch.
But when I’m home with access to my toolbox, I seldom use a multi-tool.
When I need to get a job done, I reach for the specialized tool best designed for the job. For example, when I need to cut something there’s no contest: I’m reaching for a pair of full-size shears over the tiny multi-tool ones that I have to tediously pry back open after each puny snip.
Whatever the specialized tool, it beats a multi-tool at the specific job any day and I’m much less frustrated when I’m using it.
When something is designed to do too many things, it can’t excel at any of those one things. This applies to tools, products, and services. It also applies to organizational operations like meetings, annual performance reviews, internal memos, employee surveys, and more.
Some things simply aren’t good at anything because they’ve been co-opted to do all things.
Multi-tools have their use cases, but just because they can do many things doesn’t mean they’re the best option for most things.
When given the choice, would your customers select a multi-tool or a specialized tool for the job? When it comes to the organizational operations that support you and your team, where do multi-tools make sense and where would the better choice be to reach for more specialized ones?
Whether you’re seeking to serve your customers or to support you and your team as innovators, get clear about the use case so you can design or select the best tool for the job and be intentional about the trade-offs.
