I was passing a ‘little’ one the other day and noticed that his shirt was on inside out. I mentioned this in passing, and the little boy stopped.

He looked at his shirt, then back at me, and said simply and somewhat incredulously: “It still works.”

And promptly toddled off to whatever important affairs of state he had to attend to.

I smiled that smile you smile when you think “That’s cute, you silly silly ignorant thing you…” and walked on.

Only to stop dead in my tracks a few steps on. Ding. Light bulb on. Wheels turning.

Here it is simply put, as I don’t want to hyperbolize something so wonderfully simple.

The kid was right.

“Obviously!” you say.

“Obviously.” I say in honest agreement.

I pause, and then ask you: “About what?”

You look at me blankly, in a manner suggesting that not only do I have my shirt on inside out but its one of those ‘hug myself all day’ only comes in white variety.

• Yes the kid was right, but he was right not only about the fact the simple T-shirt works even when its inside out.
• He was also right about the fact that products need to keep that kind of ‘misuse’ in mind, during the design phase.
• That products should keep in mind the varying perspectives that their product may encounter.
• He was also right about the nonchalant manner in which common definitions on what is right and wrong don’t really matter if the end goal is still reached (the obvious caveat is implied there, obviously)
• That there are different ways one can achieve the same goal and that some of these can fly in the face of a rational perspective so huffed up on its own self-importance.
• ‘Wrong’ can in fact be ‘right’

So think like a kid the next time you are designing something, the next time you are outlining the way something should work. The next time you are prescriptive with the way things must be, or what is the ‘correct’ way to do things. Stop mid sentence should you be uttering the fateful words: “Its my way or the highway!”

‘Your way’ may only be ‘one way’, and ‘right’ can be a far more fluid concept depending on the freedom you allow yourself, or your employees.