Workarounds vs. Structured Methods

Yesterday, I was talking to Kunal Mishra about methods of integrating a payment gateway in a website. We presented our views about different methods that could get our work done. At one point during our conversation, it shifted to a debate about workarounds and structured methodologies when solving a problem.

That made me think about the differentiation between workarounds (or Jugaad) and structured methods.

Structured methods seem to be the standard with which people are expected to operate with. They're the norm, the predictable, the typical, the convention.

Due to the heightened predictability, as compared to workarounds, they become credible ways. It's a good if it's already proven way out. The boundaries set by these standards become the safe zone.

On the other hand, workarounds are unpredictable. We use them when we think there's no other way out. We resort to the unpredictable and that's what we call a work-around.

The nature of unpredictability creates a scope of randomness and random is what we may not always be ready for.

While talking about a specific work-around with integrating a payment gateway in an app, Kunal asked me "What's wrong with this?"

You may question some workarounds in a very similar way too. As I said, we proceed with workarounds when there's no other choice (or that's what we think). If those workarounds work for you, great. There's no problem with using a work-around to solve tasks but this idea of mine dictates how it should be with the expectations of randomness.

Workarounds are unpredictable and random - make sure you keep that in mind while solving problems. If it's not generating problems right now, that doesn't mean they're solid solutions to your problems.

What makes work-around a work-around is the fact that they're not specifically built for the purpose we are trying to use it for. There's a mismatch of purpose. They may work right now but this mismatch of purpose may lead to chaos later on.

Use an ice cream cone as a pencil stand, it may work for you in the present but as it's not built for the purpose you're using it for, it will create problems later on. Try dropping the pencil in there too hard.