Over the past few months at SSL, I’ve been reminded of something I’ve seen in every environment I’ve worked in:
Quick fixes feel efficient in the moment, but they quietly create long‑term drag.
Here’s an example: The new guy starts Monday. Run down to Best Buy and grab them a PC – whatever is on sale or a great deal.
It worked for a while and we always got a deal, but the hidden costs eventually caught up with us.
Over time, those one‑off purchases created a fleet of mismatched devices with different ports, incompatible power adapters, and different support needs. Some machines had VGA, some HDMI, some DisplayPort. Some played nicely with our tools, others didn’t. Every ticket took longer because every device was a snowflake.
It happened because the fast decision became the default decision.
Over the last few months, we stepped back and looked at the bigger picture.
We standardized on a single vendor.
We selected a small set of consistent models.
We aligned them to our device management strategy.
And we automated enrollment into our device management system.
The result?
Consistency, predictability, and a smoother experience for both IT and end users.
The lesson for me was simple:
In the moment a quick fix makes sense. Let’s just get this done and we will get a standardized and consistent process later. But the quick fixes tend to create problems that then sap your ability to do the high level thinking required to create the permanent fix. It’s the difference between being reactive and being proactive.
And believe me, the reactive is so much easier. You just address whatever is in front of you. But eventually you wear yourself and your team out. I’m reminding myself that it’s easy to lose sight of the important in the chase of the urgent.