The Whyer

“Why” is possibly the greatest word in the English language; a word that should be used at least once every day. So many problems can be solved by simply asking “Why are you doing that?”, “Why is that the way to do it?”, or any number of whys. I always loved the story that director Robert Rodriguez tells when talking about how long it takes people to question tradition.

The story goes that a young woman was preparing a dinner when her husband asks her “Why do you cut the ends off the ham before you bake it? It seems wasteful.”

To which his wife replies “I don’t know. That’s just what my mother always did.”

So they decide to go and speak to the wife’s mother and ask why she cut the ends off the ham before she baked it.

“I don’t know” said the mother “That’s just what your grandmother always used to do”

So they went to speak to the grandmother and asked the same question, to which the grandmother replied “Because that was the only way I could get it to fit into the pan I had back then."

The obvious “hero” in this story is the husband who thought to question the action, but to me, the remarkable person here is the wife. This story isn’t a true story as, far as I know, but the biggest giveaway for me is the fact that, when questioned about her food preparation, the wife doesn’t reply “because I’m the one cooking the bloody dinner!” The thing is that whilst there is an obvious shortage of people questioning the usual routine, I’ve found the biggest obstacle is getting people to accept that something needs to be questioned. I think it’s a behaviour that’s learned very early on, in childhood. Many people are familiar with the argument that ends with “Because I said so!” What kind of reasoning is that teaching people? If there’s a valid reason for something, say so. I’m not totally naïve as to assume that reason will be even remotely effective against a teenager, but I do think you can sow seeds early in a child’s life that would make this much easier. I’m not a parent, and so I’m not going to go into my thoughts on how to foster reasoning in a child, but suffices to say that to ask “why?” is right and only natural; to fail to face the question, and deny a satisfactory answer, is stubborn, lazy, and just plain wrong.

I was definitely raised as a “whyer”; someone who always wants to question things. Bear in mind that I’m not talking about questioning everything, just the things that don’t make sense. Needless to say I can really irritate the shit out of people with my need to question things, but one thing I really respect is another person’s ability to reason. I have a friend, Paul, who I’d say I disagree with more often than anyone else I know, but I love his ability to give reasons for everything he believes. If someone can give me a reason for something they think, I’m happy. I don’t have to agree with that person, as long as I can see where they’re coming from, that’s great. This often leads to me changing my mind about things because asking someone to justify their own ideas is also about challenging your own ideas. If someone can give you a reason for why they do something, it’s your turn to justify your point of view. It’s like tennis. Ultimately you could come away thinking very differently to how you did before.

This way of thinking often runs into trouble with the “Let’s just agree to disagree” people. These are the people who don’t have the power to say “because I said so”, but are just as irritating. That’s not to say that you can never say “Let’s just agree to disagree”, but I hear this escape pod eject far too often, before the matter has been properly discussed, and this is a terrible shame. People will often use this as a way out when they simply don’t want to see the truth, for whatever reason. This is the reason that so many terrible films are made, or processes, or systems, or anything. I would be happy to bet that most things that are poorly designed in this world came about due to someone’s intolerance to the question “why”

Just as important as the whys is the why nots. I’ve found over the years that “why not” can be a crucial part of the work process. Take for example my new website. I’ve been promising a new website for longer than I can remember until I asked myself a very important “why not”. I asked myself why I hadn’t created a new website. Answers included things like “I don’t know how to write HTML or anything, and I don’t have time to learn” and “I don’t have enough work to fill a website”, but I was able to go a step further and ask “Why do I need to learn HTML? Can’t I do it an easier way?” and “Why do I need to fill it with piles of work straight away? Why not put up some great starter pieces and just make it easy to add more?” With answers to these questions, I was able to look at ways I could remove these problems from the equation. The result was the site I have now. The simple answer was to use a content management system that made building and updating my website as simple as setting up a blog and adding posts. No need for extensive HTML knowledge. I did get help from my brother in setting the site up, but in one night over some pizza and a couple of beers, I had a new, albeit empty, website. Over the next couple of days, with a few calls and emails back and forth, the site looked good enough for me to start showing it off. The site isn’t finished, and it never will be, because the big problem for me was wanting a fully formed, shiny new website to pop up in one big update, but it’s better to build a frame and just let the whole thing grow in tiny updates as you go. By asking myself why I honestly wasn’t getting the site done, I was able to simply find a way around the issues. My problems came from my preconceptions of what a professional website should be and how it should look. The site I have now isn’t perfect but it looks clean, professional, and functional; and it will only get better with time.

I think “Why” and “why not” are a crucial part of the process of continuous improvement in both business and daily life. To ignore them is to shun reality in favour of your own preconceived notions and biases; a risky business strategy. It can be scary to question yourself all the time and I should make it clear that this isn’t about second guessing yourself; it’s about knowing exactly why you are or aren’t doing something, and having a strong resolve in everything you do.

I’ll leave you with one final brilliant example of where “why” can bring reason and resolve to even the silliest of situations. You may or may not be aware of the recent controversy around Ricky Gervais’s performance at this year’s Golden Globes. It all revolves around the fact that some people have taken offence, whilst Ricky has simply replied with “why?” Here are links to the three parts of his interview, with Piers Morgan, following the awards.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3