Maslow's Maxim / Maslow's Hammer

When all you have is a hammer...

Maslow's Maxim, or as some people know it,  Maslow's Hammer, has been stated and paraphrased many times over throughout his works.  It has become so widely accepted that the concept has become almost fabled - discussed, but it originator seemingly unknown.

You may have heard one or more of the following:

• "When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail."
• "He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail."
• "He that is good with a hammer thinks everything is a nail."
• "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."
• "If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."
• "To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail."
• "When all you own is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail."
• "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you are likely to perceive every problem as a nail"

The concept is thus: individuals who are incomplete in their knowledge or training of solutions propose the same type of solution to every problem they encounter.   They opt for the more familiar solution to one that may be more effective yet with which they are unskilled.

In software development circles the term "Golden Hammer" has been coined to mean this same concept - unfortunately paying no homage to the concept's true creator, Abraham Maslow.

The golden hammer, then, is the tool, technology, or paradigm whose acolytes enthusiastically sing its praises, assuring all that it will solve nearly every problem, including some obviously far less than appropriate, when the true rationale for this decision or perspective is a lack of repertoire which would enable a broader selection of perhaps better alternatives.

Simliarly, this maxim is referred to as a "silver bullet".  However, in this context, the maxim generally applies to the neophiliac tendency to try some new and generally unproven tool or method as an attempt to resolve all existing, yet unresolved, problems.  The root cause of the problem isn't a lack of tools, in this case.  But that the nice, shiny, new hammer is more fun to play with than, perhaps, the "right tool for the job".  This frequently happens to managers when they come back from a management conference, or to software developers when a new framework is announced.

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