This is my third set of axioms, the first being here and the second here.

“Instead of playing a game you can’t win, change the game.”
– Corbett Barr in Unique Selling Propositions and
– Captain Kirk on the Kobayashi Maru Test.

We are raised to think that the rules have been the rules forever and they cannot change. Well, some rules are eternal, but the vast majority are not. Most rules are set up by gatekeepers to keep you out…keep you out of their inner circle…keep you out of their rice bowl.

Examples are Apple with the Mac changing the computer design rules and iTunes and iPod changing the music industry; Amazon changing the publishing industry; Google building off search to change everything from maps to automated cars to phones. Eventually, they all become gatekeepers of their own.

My prior axiom on unfixable problems is probably a corollary of this axiom.

“Put some chalk on it and get back on the bar.”
– Alex Pearson (Crossfit coach and gymnast)

Quit your bellyaching. Stop whining like a jet engine. Get back to work.

See also 1 Corinthians 10:10.

“Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”
– Douglas Hofstadter in Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Don’t you just love recursion?

The corollary is the Ninety Ten rule for software development: The first 90% of software takes 90% of the planned time. The next 10% also takes 90% of the planned time.

“Plan your work and work your plan.”
-Vince Lombardi

I see this violated nearly every day. People make a plan, a good plan, and then get impatient or even panic, even though everything is going according to plan. They start to make unnecessary changes to speed things up or to reduce perceived risk. Then the whole plan falls apart.

Just work the plan.

“All things being equal, you lose.”
– Todd’s First Law

This is a corollary of Murphy’s Law. It sounds negative, but it comes from my economics background. In perfect (or pure, I have forgotten which) competition, marginal cost equals marginal revenue and there is no profit. Our goal is to gain an unfair advantage.  This causes us to strive to innovate, to develop new products, to cut costs and prices, to find new procedures, to become more effective, to get to market sooner.