[mysticllama]

i really enjoy this motto, personally; especially since i have taken up the hobby of handtool woodworking for the last few years. i decided that i would invest time in learning to sharpen and maintain tools before i did much work with wood and for me that has paid huge dividends. working with keen tools vs. dull ones is night and day. but i was working on my own time : )

all that said, i completely agree with you that this is not a good motto for a novice at work -- if you are capable at handling an axe, having it razor sharp is going to markedly improve your results, but if it's your first go at swinging an axe, i really hope you don't spend 80% of your time fiddling with a sharpening stone…

[marcosdumay]

That's where the metaphor breaks down (while the intended idea stands perfectly fine), the reason you don't want to waste time making your axe perfectly sharp is that you must learn how to use it first, not because you should just forget about it and go chopping trees.

It has some parallels to most skills, as most times you will only discover your deficiencies by doing it. But it doesn't mean you shouldn't train, it only means that training without ever practicing won't lead you anywhere.

[drjasonharrison]

Well, taking a regular break to sharpen your axe, every half hour or after every tree, then you only spend a minute to save five minutes.[1] This is like running tests, or asking questions about what you have done recently to maintain focus on the bigger picture. Or to prevent a commit from getting too big. Or refactoring.

And sharpening a dull axe can take an hour to half a day. [2]

1. http://rockymountainbushcraft.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-sharp... 2. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/recreational_trails/pub...

[kilobaud]

Sorry for the off-topic comment here but I cant help but tell you that your username reminds me of a user who posted on a couple gaming forums I used to frequent in the early 2000s.