Tools

Twitter is the worst offender of ’tools before results’, but there are many, many others.

I had a new kitchen fitted a few weeks ago.

The kitchen fitter is an enormously experienced bloke, and created a kitchen that is a testament to his skill and polish.

Like all seasoned professionals, he brought a serious collection of tools. Professional grade, faultless, and stored in stackable containers, battered from frequent use. I’d never heard of the brand, but when I looked them up, they are an order of magnitude more expensive than the Ryobi occasional tools I have stashed in my shed.

The fitter has a presence on Instagram (and tiktok - not quite what I expected).

He has many, many posts on both platforms, and none of them feature the tools he used.

Every single post shows how he works, and the end result - not the tools he used to create his masterpieces.

Twitter could learn a lot from him.

Despite my many attempts to delete it and never open it again, I keep dragging myself back to Twitter.

One of the most common posts I see is the pile of equipment in use; or the questions about the ideal spec of MacBook Pro for creating content of any type - be it apps, code, videos - whatever.

The people who build and show their results rarely if ever show their tools.

The people who build nothing but empty posts for social media show nothing but their tools.

One of the people I follow always commented on the empty posts with the killer words ’link to your app’. They would never get an answer.

I hired this kitchen fitter because I saw his results in a friends house - and that friend recommended him to me without question.

His work shows his value, and I am delighted with the skill he showed in the most important room of our home.

And if I didn’t ask him what tools he used, he would have never showed me.

In my opinion, that’s how you find a true craftsman.

The craft and work comes first.

The tools are merely an extension of the art.