Everyone knows what you are talking about when you use the phrase, “rule of thumb.” It is a rough measure, a general policy and universal guideline.

But if you look hard enough, you will likely find an argument on the origins of that phrase. A commonly repeated story harkens back to English common law and determines the diameter of the stick allowed in wife beating: “If a stick were used, it should not be thicker than a man’s thumb.”

English Judge Francis Buller made a public statement to that effect in 1782, resulting in public outcry, satirical newspaper cartoons and his legacy forever being attached to the statement biographically.

Thumbs, in fact, were used to gauge a lot of things. Tailors once thought, “Twice around the thumb is once around the wrist.” People held up their thumbs to measure distance on the horizon, and as a personal favorite, brew masters stuck a thumb in the batch to determine temperature and readiness.

Where’s this leading?

As I’m deeply immersed in the installation of new accounting software at my newspaper, I find myself evaluating a number of “rules of thumb” and pondering the origin of the phrase as it relates to conversions and process installations.

 

New rules

Here are some of mine.

*Rule No. 1: Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

There is nothing wrong with recreating something from scratch, changing the model and starting over, but doing it all at once can kill you. I recommend taking it apart and putting it back together in stages.

If you are going to switch from Macs to PCs, consolidate and move your ad-building team to a centralized plant, retrain your sales staff to go from manual hand-written run sheets to automated input, as well as alter your PDF workflow, it’s best if you consider breaking all those steps into edible, time-phased bites or run the risk of choking on the process.

*Rule No. 2: Try to make everyone involved understand what is going to happen before it actually happens.

This is particularly difficult if you are trying to create a better process and you are unsure how all the pieces will ultimately fit together in the end. But you must attempt it. Fear of the unknown stress-charges the workplace more than any other factor.

*Rule No. 3: Expect the unexpected.

Murphy, of course, was an optimist.  Not only will things go wrong but they will at absolutely the worst time. Plan for it, try to avoid or minimize it, but brace yourself. And live with it.

*Rule No. 4: Remember for whom you are working.

The customer does not think he or she should necessarily have to share in your pain. If they have been giving you PDF files a certain way for years and you suddenly inform them they have to change, they will fight, and you will lose, unless you demonstrate a benefit.

*Rule No. 5: You now have new “rules of thumb.” And like all rules of thumb, they will be subject to individual interpretation. And, like all rules of thumb, in a few years’ time, nobody will agree on the rules’ origin or how they developed in the first place.