| One of the best lessons I learned early in my career came from my father. He designed Navy fighter planes for Grumman Aerospace, including models that landed on aircraft carriers like the F-14 Tomcat featured in the movie “Top Gun”. He used to say, “You never want to design a plane with all new parts.”
Why? Four reasons.
- First, new parts are untested, which makes them risky. Reusing proven landing gear or tires means fewer failures.
- Second, every aircraft carrier has limited storage space—so the more common the parts, the fewer spares you need to keep on board.
- Third, maintenance crews already know how to repair what’s familiar. Reuse saves time, reduces training, and increases safety.
- And fourth, reusing parts lowers costs: fewer spares, less inventory, and less wasted effort all add up to savings.
I carried that wisdom into my own career in technology. When building new systems for the stock market, I always asked: How am I growing my library of reusable components? If a piece of code worked reliably in one application, I saved it for the next. Over time, I built a toolbox—like a box of Lego bricks—that let me deliver projects faster, cheaper, and with fewer defects.
The mindset is simple but powerful: never build 100% new. Always pause and ask: What can I reuse? What’s already tested, known, and trusted? Over time, your toolbox becomes an advantage.
As managers, the lesson applies beyond airplanes and software. Processes, templates, even meeting formats can become “reusable parts.” When you inherit a project, don’t discard what’s already working. Adapt it, improve it, and add it to your own growing library of parts. The best systems—and the best managers—are built piece by piece, with anticipated reuse at the core.
This is also what I mean when I talk about standing on the shoulders of others. We don’t start from zero. We build on what came before us, reusing and improving the best parts for what comes next. |