CJ Eller

The thing I love about a cliché is how it can apply to a variety of contexts.

Just today I was reminded of measuring twice and cutting once when wrestling through a support ticket for work — an issue regarding permissions to access certain AWS resources. At first I thought the problem was getting the person access, so I tried figuring that out. The more approaches I took, the more I got frustrated.

Then I realized I was solving the wrong problem. Sure, I read the support ticket, but I didn't actually read the support ticket. The person already had permissions to the resources. They were just having trouble switching their role, basically “logging in” to to access their resources. It finally clicked. The true issue presented itself and I helped them find the correct role needed to access their resources.

Clichés are humbling. The moment you don't think they apply to you they apply to you.