This might be controversial.

In the picture there’s a tea bag in the coffee pot.

But I don’t want to talk about that until the end of the post. What I want to say is…

I reckon there is a case for handing over innovation to clever, lazy people.

The reason? They are smart enough to work out how to do things better or differently, (innovation) and they are (highly) motivated by self interest. The benefit of making their own lives easier is a significant motivator – laziness in some people’s books.

But, but, laziness isn’t one of our organisational values. This isn’t making a virtue of laziness. I can see the apoplectic faces if this was put on the agenda of an HR ‘ values’ meeting. Maybe it’s about re-defining and re-thinking how people do things left up to their own initiative.

If you look at it from another perspective, laziness is more than just ‘the easy way to do something’. It could also be a ‘judicious use of resources’. Using wise and sensible judgement to make the most of the resources you have.

Work smarter not harder is a mantra that’s often used. But, I bet there’s plenty of people who will have been labelled as ‘lazy’ or disruptive because their (better) approach didn’t follow a prescribed process.

We’ve been labelling people as lazy for ages.

There’s a long history of people linked to the quote, “if you’ve got a tough job to do, give it to a lazy person. They will find the easiest way to do it”

A recent high profile person in the chain is Bill Gates, that also includes Walter Chrysler (founder of Chrysler Motors) and Frank Galbraith who studied workplace practices in the 1920s. This article in Quote Investigator gives an explanation of who might have said what. A mostly American view on the subject.

Hello Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke (the Elder).

Personally I’m keen to look back into European history to see what we’ve got going on.

And I’m delighted to say the Prussian Army were all over this stuff in the 1850s onwards. Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke was known for changing military strategy and introduced ideas like decentralised command structures that are still used today.

Numerous versions of the matrix below circulate which describe how Officers would be considered for different positions in the Prussian Army.

The point that Lazy & Smart people have highly beneficial attributes was not lost on von Moltke and one version on the matrix has them as ‘Commanders’ one needs to ‘discover’.

Interestingly, the Busy & Not Bright are identified as people to ‘eliminate’ from the Officer group. They can cause more problems than they solve through their ‘wrong’ busyness.

I wonder how many of these people will have been promoted rather than ‘eliminated’ in some organisations – ‘promote the problem to someone else’s department’?

So, what’s this got to do with a coffee pot?

This post started with me reading about The Trojan Room Coffee Pot Webcam. The first ever Internet webcam. I kid you not.

The Trojan Room was part of the University of Cambridge Computing Department and in 1991 was where the coffee pot lived.

To save people the hassle of walking to get a coffee and then find the pot was empty, two people installed a webcam linked to everyone’s desktop computer.

It was the first webcam and became a bit of an Internet icon until it was retired in 2001.

The people who work at Cambridge University Computer Department are undoubtedly smart.

I’m wondering if this clever solution of avoiding an unnecessary walk with empty coffee cup in hand ( by looking at a webcam) would meet the definition of lazy?

Or is it just being smart and judicious, making sensible use of your resources?

Would Field Marshal von Moltke approve?

The coffee pot in the picture is one I was using. I was staying in an apartment and couldn’t find a Tea Pot and as I’m not a coffee drinker I just used the coffee pot.

It worked ok. I think on this occasion though me being lazy outweighed clever.

One final thought.

I’ve been browsing Reddit on this subject. There are dozens of examples of people who have done this sort of clever, lazy thing.

I’m wondering, for my next ‘innovation challenge’, should I just ask Reddit; someone will know the answer. Or is that just really lazy?

So, what’s the PONT?

• The idea that lazy, clever people get hard jobs done easier has been around for ages; it works.
• Busy & Not Bright People can cause more problems than you need. Don’t ’promote the problem’ to someone else’s department.
• But, there is a stigma attached to the word lazy. Better to say ‘careful and judicious with use of personal resources’?