When, what, where and who can help?

It's tricky to know when you'll need help. What form should this assistance take, and where to go (or who to ask).

How might rings, swings, and rope ladders help me (and maybe you) better decide? How also might it give us greater insight (and empathy) into the challenges that our (potential) clients/stakeholders face?

Swings and roundabout ways of problem-solving

It's winter, and the hobbits (kids) don't share my enthusiasm for digging, chopping, and burning stuff outside. I get it. But I want them to stay active. In Singapore, my daughter's room (in the loft) had a massive steel girder running across the centre of the space. When she was five or six, I hung a couple of gymnastic rings, and it was the best gift that kept giving. She got more confident, strong, and, yes, tired. We got an active kid and occasional peace.

Our son is six—time to do the same for him (and our teenage daughter). The only problem is that we live in a converted bungalow with no exposed girders.

Lesson 1: You need help when the old methods or tactics won't (or might not) work.

Trust in tech

I have a stud finder scanner. Before you wonder if that's a new dating app or if I've gone all equestrian since moving out to the sticks, it's much more mundane. It's a gizmo that scans the walls for pipes and wires. Since moving to this place (this time last year), I've done much drilling. Nature has thrown enough flooding risk, and I'm keen to avoid electrocution, so it's been helpful.

But I hit the boundaries of my trust in it when scanning ceilings for supporting beams. As the gadget (alarmingly cheap; another lesson) suggested something vaguely solid above, my knuckles rapping on the plasterboard did not convince my ears and brain. I was keen to avoid a child pulling the ceiling down on a pull-up bar, or more likely: Dad showing them how it's done as he craters his son's room just in time for Christmas.

Lesson 2: We can't always rely on tech, especially without guidance (instruction manuals, human interaction, support interpreting results, etc.).

Where next?

Naturally, like all aspirant DIYers, I took to YouTube. There are dangers in relying on techniques gleaned from videos. For example, this buzzfeed demonstrated the perils. But no DIY fail is complete without this dog haircut:

As I went down the video rabbit hole, it made me question the premise of the exercise. Would a ceiling-mounted set-up be best in the long term? Our ceilings aren't high (235cm). As the kids grow, might something more versatile be helpful?

Lesson 3: The odd risk calibration setback can be a good thing. If we reframe the problem to consider our objective.

So what's next?

Rings worked in a room with a steel beam. But there are many gymnastics and climbing options around. Two walls in my son's room aren't drywall (they're masonry). What if I could erect a wall ladder setup with climbing wall holds or something similar?

Lesson 4: Risk mitigation (avoidance, resistance, management) can (ideally) provide better options and outcomes than in the initial strategy.

Putting these ideas into practice

For your/our stakeholders (especially clients), it's essential to be available as people need during these four stages.

1. Demystify new issues, risks, or challenges.
2. Use tech as intended - to speed up, simplify, or triage - with human analysis or follow-up.
3. Help people step back from potential obstacles and see if there's a better strategic outcome. Focus on the goal.

These steps are often like a pyramid (more resources in step 1, flexibility in step 2, to allow laser-focused problem-solving in step 3). The analytics data from my Linktree bear this out. The whitepaper is most downloaded, then the assessment quiz, followed by scheduling a call. The ratio is around 50%, 30%, 20%.

Does these steps resonate?