I realized one of the tires on our car was running out of pressure quickly. After some testing, it became clear there was a problem. And it turned out today that the problem was a nail.
All of this involved some hassle in the past few days – realizing there was a problem, testing, getting it sorted, etc.
Not a lot of hassle. But definitely some inconvenience.
And yet there was nothing I could do about it. I have no idea where it happened. It just did. Random chance. No retrospective required or needed.
I think this is analogous to other situations we face in our work and in our lives. From time to time, we find ourselves facing the equivalent of a nail in the tire. There isn’t much we could have to prevent it. Sometimes, the solution to such a situation is straightforward. Sometimes, it isn’t. Sometimes, it is a cheap fix. And in other times, it is expensive.
All we can do is build some spare capacity to deal with problems like this as they arise.
Because they will.
