Ryan McLean

February 19, 2022

Chesterton's Fence

This week I either first learned of, or was reminded of, Chesterton's Fence.

Being, as it were, a fable, there's some room for interpretation, but the general concept at play here is:
1- Things are often more complicated than they seem.
2- One person's "arcane" may be another person's deliberate intent.
3- Therefore, consider trying to understand the (seemingly) arcane before changing it.

This can apply to many things - policy, process, etc.

I like this idea because it fits well with the central tenants of human centered design. Rather than assume you know a better way -- go work with your customers and try to understand what they think first (during, and after).

In some cases, disregarding a "Chesterton's Fence" would cause a mere annoyance, but in other cases the result can be quite serious - such as the recent case of a Washington state Metallurgist who was recently sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for faking tests on sub parts: She suggested that in some cases she changed the tests to passing grades because she thought it was “stupid” that the Navy required the tests to be conducted at negative-100 degrees Fahrenheit (negative-73.3 degrees Celsius).

Read more:
Chesterton’s Fence: A Lesson in Second Order Thinking