To play with something is to build or rebuild through a process, also known by the French word diy. Tinkering involves tinkering with something in an attempt to fix, amend, or improve it, especially in an experimental or uninstructed way.

Most business schools like to turn the art of management into a science. But management theory is just that, even though it is often based on rigorous research. When a startup is faced with getting the product out the door or getting the cash out, it’s more likely that it’s personal skills, rather than management skills, that count.

Seemingly random and ill-ordered behavior can produce results. The entrepreneur who figures out how to be effective experimentally may not be able to explain how to get there. To the viewer, the behavior may seem chaotic.

chaos seeks order

Although chaos is often thought of as referring to randomness and lack of order, it is more accurate to think of it as apparent randomness resulting from complex systems and interactions between systems.

Entrepreneurs always wonder what works, rather than review what the manual says. Their pragmatism is often what makes them agile when faced with difficult situations. That is not to say that they operate without principles, or that managerial learning is not useful. It’s just that getting the wash out is how they survive.

New entrepreneurs are impatient for results. Procrastination tends not to be in their vocabulary. Trial and error helps them learn fast.

playing is positive

The term ‘fiddle’ is generally applied in a negative sense and implies manipulating something without skill. When you’re in a startup mode, it’s often the only way to go, no matter how much good advice and training you’ve received. You are forced to make artistic use of what you have at hand.

The interesting thing about retouching is that the results often come out that way. In the French language, diy It also used to be an unflattering term. More recently it has acquired a much more positive interpretation. French business schools are happy to teach the subject, now a somewhat revered process.

Fuzzy systems reveal what works

This is not surprising because systems scientists now clearly believe that “confused and messy continuous exploration systems bent on figuring out what works are far more practical and successful than our attempts at efficiency.” (note 1) This is like messy human thinking that is full of redundancy or playful and messy ventures.

The interesting thing about tinkerers is that while they have skills, they generally lack a formal plan. We have all learned how important a business plan is supposed to be for the entrepreneur. A business plan is what most new businesses aim to produce, but there is little evidence that extensive planning is the key to success. Amar Bhidé, a professor of entrepreneurship at Columbia University, found that 41% of Inc. magazine’s 1989 list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies had no business plans. When I started my own business in 1982, we had a plan, full of graphs and charts and full of good intentions. Eighteen months after launch, the situation looked very different.

However, a sense of direction coupled with the ability to find utility in unusual places can get you there faster. This sense of direction or intention is what makes the difference. Tinkerers generally work with intentional passion, and since they don’t have all the answers, they are happy to ask questions about themselves and others.

Questioning is a natural habit of tinkerers.

Why do manipulators learn so quickly? The lack of a plan produces a way of working that is not based on assumptions and is full of questions about why things are the way they are. Propositional thinking is about keeping an open mind and being comfortable with sometimes conflicting information. More naturally, we use what is known as personal construction theory, which is about making good predictions based on prior knowledge or experience about what someone will do when faced with new situations. Prejudice, in other words.

Ori and Rom Brafman in their book Sway (note 2) say: “It can be as simple as proposing a kind of self-imposed ‘waiting period’ before making a diagnostic judgement.” If someone is playing that role with you, then “the dissenter, of course, is just as likely to be wrong as anyone else, but discussion of the points made by the dissenter may add to the debate.”

A circular way to learn what works

Chris Argyris, the business theorist, says that when we tackle a problem, we start with real data and experience, the kind that would be captured by a movie camera. Then we choose a set of schosen data and experience that we pay attention. We havefixed what does t meanthat ischosen data and experiencedevelop assumptionscome hereconclusionsand finally develop beliefs. beliefs then form the basis of our abehaviour which create additional re-data and experience.

Argyris also developed the concept of Double Loop Learning-we learn about learning; in other words, we play. It is a matter of not taking anything for granted. Entrepreneurs do that naturally and that is why they are so often labeled disruptive and not doing things by the rules.

Strategic retouching is sequential and iterative

To be successful, retouching is not a random activity, but one with a natural sequence. Almost paradoxically, businessmen use it strategically. The first step is diagnosis; What is the problem? The second step is to develop guiding policies; what is the direction? And the third step is a set of coherent actions; It makes sense?

These three steps are how Richard Rumelt (note 3) describes the strategy. But it is not a once-and-for-all process. We have to keep repeating the exercise. To survive, we must adapt. Adapting means changing. But don’t change for the sake of change. Rather, it’s about being open to how things work and reviewing the plan to keep things moving toward the intended outcome.

1. Margaret J Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers in A Simpler Way, Berrett-Koehler, 1996

2. Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman, Sway: the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, Doubleday, 2008

3. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, Richard Rumelt, Crown, 2011