One of the things I learned as an IT project manager was how much work goes into just keeping software going (as opposed to building or changing it): maintenance is a much more important part of the daily work of IT people than most IT users realize. And that - and the number of things that have been breaking in my house lately - got me thinking about maintenance in other areas of life. So far, I have come up with four main (but not 100% mutually exclusive) categories, each with a different purpose and a different focus or target:
"Classical" maintenance - repairing stuff (clothes, furniture, toys, etc.), and preventive maintenance (shining shoes, painting walls) - is aimed at making sure you can continue to use something, so in a sense, you could argue that the main purpose is economical and/or logistic. This is even true if you include less tangible targets here, like updating information, which you maintain by using it every once in a while, just like you take antique cars out for a spin. And it also applies to relationships (more on that in another entry).
The main purpose of washing and cleaning (your body, clothes, plates, floors, toilets*, etc.) is preventive, in that a certain level of hygiene is necessary to avoid disease, and the main purpose of maintaining order (the house, the paperwork) is efficiency: it is easier to get stuff done if your desk is not too cluttered with paper, or the floor is not covered in toys.
But - as Mrs. Bouquet of Keeping Up Appearances knows very well - all types of maintenance also have a social purpose or aspect, because people judge and classify each other people on the basis of what their garden looks like (well-kept vs. weed central, with or without broken cars, shopping trolleys, etc.), or their house, or their car, etc.
I have always tried to ignore this aspect of maintenance, because I prefer to avoid judging books by their covers, but it is not really possible to separate the social from the economical (or even the hygienic) aspects. Every maintenance choice you make is basically a balancing act between the social, economic and hygienic.
Forty years ago, the length of your hair or whether you shined your shoes was just as important for your future as your skills or diplomas. Luckily, there are still people who continue to think (or at least sing) about these sorts of things (have a listen to the 2005 recording of "Almost cut my hair" by CSN).
Personal note: I need to cut my hair, but I am putting it off because of the look I know I will get from my barber, who thinks I should come by every 2 months, at least. I know his motives are mostly economical, but still ...
*according to a recent article, our toilet seats are a lot cleaner than the rags we use to wipe up the kitchen counter ... looks like we need to fine-tune a bit in this department.
Type
|
Tangibles
|
Relations
|
Knowledge
|
Prevent- ive
|
personal grooming (cutting hair and nails), shining shoes, greasing gears
|
learning how to behave
|
going to school, doing your homework, keeping up-to-date
|
Repair
|
mending clothes, furniture, bikes, cars, etc.
|
apologizing, making amends
|
dispelling falsehoods or incorrect ideas
|
Cleaning
|
clothes, house, car etc.
|
getting rid of false and/or fair weather friends
|
avoiding certain clichés and stereotypes, testing hypothesis (and rejecting the ones that don't fit the data)
|
Order
|
house, office, administration
|
clarifying roles
|
clarifying thoughts and ideas and making them more easily accessible
|
"Classical" maintenance - repairing stuff (clothes, furniture, toys, etc.), and preventive maintenance (shining shoes, painting walls) - is aimed at making sure you can continue to use something, so in a sense, you could argue that the main purpose is economical and/or logistic. This is even true if you include less tangible targets here, like updating information, which you maintain by using it every once in a while, just like you take antique cars out for a spin. And it also applies to relationships (more on that in another entry).
The main purpose of washing and cleaning (your body, clothes, plates, floors, toilets*, etc.) is preventive, in that a certain level of hygiene is necessary to avoid disease, and the main purpose of maintaining order (the house, the paperwork) is efficiency: it is easier to get stuff done if your desk is not too cluttered with paper, or the floor is not covered in toys.
But - as Mrs. Bouquet of Keeping Up Appearances knows very well - all types of maintenance also have a social purpose or aspect, because people judge and classify each other people on the basis of what their garden looks like (well-kept vs. weed central, with or without broken cars, shopping trolleys, etc.), or their house, or their car, etc.
I have always tried to ignore this aspect of maintenance, because I prefer to avoid judging books by their covers, but it is not really possible to separate the social from the economical (or even the hygienic) aspects. Every maintenance choice you make is basically a balancing act between the social, economic and hygienic.
Forty years ago, the length of your hair or whether you shined your shoes was just as important for your future as your skills or diplomas. Luckily, there are still people who continue to think (or at least sing) about these sorts of things (have a listen to the 2005 recording of "Almost cut my hair" by CSN).
Personal note: I need to cut my hair, but I am putting it off because of the look I know I will get from my barber, who thinks I should come by every 2 months, at least. I know his motives are mostly economical, but still ...
*according to a recent article, our toilet seats are a lot cleaner than the rags we use to wipe up the kitchen counter ... looks like we need to fine-tune a bit in this department.
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