https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-does-tool-do-drew-hill

What does that tool do?
I remember when I was a child being out in the garage with my Dad while he was doing some weekend warrior project or another, he must have had every tool known to man. While he worked on whatever it was, he would shout to me to bring him the this or the that, like "hand me the 9/16 socket or the 1/4" Allen wrench" and I slowly became educated about exactly what each tool was and what it did. My garage lessons evolved from wrenches, screw drivers, and the simple things to more complex tools like tap and die sets, flex head ratchets or timing lights. As I got older and began my own projects, God help me if Dad suddenly couldn't find one of his tools, because I had put it in the wrong spot or even worse, hadn't returned it at all.
For those of you that are my fellow automobile industry associates, we are all familiar with those enormous and very expensive tool sets that our technicians house in the service department, some have rather simple sets and others incredibly complex and diverse. I guarantee you that those techs that are your best techs know when they are missing even one of their tools and exactly where in their box it is missing from. Those tools are their surgical instruments, their livelihood.
So where am I headed with this? I have a fun test for any of you in your roles. I want you to list out every tool you have in your tool box and what it does exactly. Start with the simple, and most often used, probably your smart phone. Then work your way out and be as thorough as you possibly can. You might even keep this a running task for yourself over the course of a few days and add the new ones that you had forgotten you even had (and there will be some, and a lot, for others of you). If you manage others, you should be doing this exact same exercise for your organization or department(s).
Do you know what every tool is, how it works and do you use it effectively? I find when taking over a new challenge that one of the first things that…