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Hinges

Written by: Noah Learner Tags: critical thinking

Published: May 3, 2025

Last Saturday was large item trash removal day in Broomfield and it was a happy feeding frenzy for trash pickers.

On my way home I saw two doors on the side of the road and became super excited because we had two doors that needed to be replaced.

My wife, Lori, and I sprung into action.

We quickly installed one of them.

We got tired and waited til Monday to install the second door.

We became frustrated when the hinges didn't match our door frame.

The problem got even worse when we remembered that we'd thrown away the old door away on Saturday.

So now we needed a new door.

We measured the opening and went online to find a replacement.

We saw that a door cost $70 and a "door with hinges" that cost $180.

Lori didn't want to pay the extra $110 so she bought the first one.

When she got the door home we had unforeseen problems: there were no cutouts for the hinges.

Lori took the door back and came home with the "door with hinges" which also included the door casing (or frame) too.

My mom was coming to visit on Thursday and this problem had to be solved quickly; it became clear we needed an expert.

We called a handyman and $600 later we have a lovely new door installed.

And my mom approves.

What does this have to do with SEO?

Doors are a perfect illustration of the problems we face daily that need to solved.

Each of these problems come with constraints and path dependencies. Path dependencies are things like, "Where do the hinges have to sit on the door?" and, "Where does the hole for the door knob have to go?"

These constraints serve as the frame for our solution.

Our solution is like the door that fits inside the frame. It needs to be the right size for the problem and it has to smoothly operate over years of time.

Questions serve as the hinges that connect our solution to it's frame.

Assuming that a door is going to just fit the frame is happy path problem solving.

Lori and I were lucky with the first door. It just fit. Don't all doors just fit? What could possibly go wrong?

In work we come up with plans based on assumptions, often without asking enough questions about our assumptions.

We just assume that things will just work out.

We could have defined the problem much better by asking questions like:

• How big is the door frame?

• What way does the door need to swing?

• Where are the hinges located on the door?

• Where is the door handle located above the ground?

• How big (exactly) is the door?

• Do doors come with hinges cut out?

• Do doors come with knobs cut out?

• How do you cut out the hinges, handles and knobs?

• Do I have the needed tools?

• Do I have the needed expertise?

• Do I have the time, energy, and money to acquire these?

• Should I just call the handyman?

These questions were lengthy though not exhaustive.

They also illustrate the difference between the happy path and a process that is likely to lead to success.

We don't all need to be experts: we just need to learn to get comfortable enough with a problem to ask the right questions that will help us get to a solution.

This is where it really pays to be a generalist in SEO. You learn the contours for a lot of different problems and learn who on your team or in the industry can help you solve them.

Arnout Hellemans does this better than almost anyone I know.

Takeaways:

• Don't take the happy path.

• Ask questions to understand the true nature of a problem. - Only then will you understand what a solution needs to look like. You'll learn what can go wrong, break, and how you'll need to handle those errors.

• Gain enough expertise to know, "Can I solve this or do I need an expert."

• Questions save money + time.

• Reflecting on outcomes saves money + time.

• These savings compound over time.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's partner at Berkshire Hathaway:

"It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent".

Noah

Photo by J.M Read on Unsplash