Code to code. Build to build.

A sage mentor once told me, “Write code to write code.”

The most valuable part is not the outcome of the code itself. The biggest effort multiplier is the process that allows the code to be made by many others in an error-proofed way. Writing code to write code not only accomplishes what you originally set out to do, but trains many how to do the same years into the future.

Learn one. Do one. Teach one.

So when I tell the lab that we need more workspaces, I’m not telling them to build a workbench, testbench, designbench, or studybench. I’m telling them “build to build” — build an error proofed process so that any of them can teach and train new lab members to build the same far into the future. And yes, we’ll have a few more workspaces as a result.

This learn one, do one, teach one process where we learn to learn, code to code, build to build not only seems very Lean Manufacturing inspired, but it seems like the point of a University.

So why don’t we teach it this way?