I’ve always been drawn to DIY in both work and personal life. I like the self reliance that comes with learning a skill, even to just a novice level, and solving a problem myself.
But at some point, especially in my career, I started seeing DIY as a negative trait. As if my roles should instead revolve around hiring the work out to outside agencies and consultants rather than tackling it within my team. As if DIY was holding me back. The reasoning was time, efficiency, and leveraging existing expertise rather than building it internally.
I used to do habitat for humanity every summer in high school. I learned how to do all sorts of home construction work, including drywall installation. Even now, years later, I roughly remember how to install and mud dry wall. And I never want to do it again. It’s so tedious. If I ever need drywall work done, you can bet I’ll hire that work out.
I could take this same attitude with any home improvement project, but as I’ve tried it myself first, I know, for instance, that I really like to paint. I like small woodworking projects. I like yard and garden work. If I hadn’t first done it myself, I’d have never known these truths.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with contracting out the work. Sometimes you need it done quick, you need it done to a certain level that your team isn’t currently equipped to reach, or the work is not meaningful enough to distract you from other projects.
But I think this becomes a problem when it’s our default approach. When we’re too quick to take the shortcut solution rather than first learning a bit about it ourselves. When you go DIY, it informs your later decisions . After all, if you know how it’s done, you can decide if you want to do it yourself again next time.