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It Is What It Is—Until We Begin to Think Differently

We need to change something about our collective software

Steven Ouellette
Thu, 02/09/2012 - 16:24
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Body

“It is what it is.” I’m hearing that a lot now. I’m OK with it if someone is using it as a shortcut to mean something like the Serenity Prayer. But more and more, I’m hearing people use it in a way that sounds like an expression of helplessness and futility.

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As “it is what it is” permeates into casual speech, it molds our thoughts into a state of pliable acceptance, rather than an eagerness to undertake and overcome challenges. It’s the language of a fading colonial power realizing that the “winds of change” beyond its control will blow it about like a floppy rag doll. It’s not the language of innovation and fortitude we have come to expect from modern societies creating and experiencing the best human conditions in history.

What does that have to do with quality? I think the history of quality offers an interesting parallel, and maybe a way through this paradigmatic funk.

 …

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Comments

Submitted by Dan Altenloh on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 10:26

It is what it is

I have never heard of this phrase meaning the way you heard it.  However, when it was used it was a statement about we are where we are -- ignore the past because we cannot change one thing that has already happened and so, let's move from here.  So the phrase in my experience has always been used as forward thinking, meaning let's not dwell on the past, we need to dig out from here: because "It is [the stiuation, no matter what path we took] what it is."

 

 

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Submitted by Steven Ouellette on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 10:40

In reply to It is what it is by Dan Altenloh

I hope so!

Hey Dan, That is good to hear. That sounds more like the "Serenity Prayer" version of it, which I have heard too. (Or maybe you are congenitally optimistic like me!) . But recently, I hear it more like this: . "Did you hear? We lost $ 2 million in supplier quality problems." . "Oh well, it is what it is." *shuffle shuffle* . I'm not sure what it comes from. Maybe a lack of stirring speeches or something. ;-)
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Submitted by Ed Johnson on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 11:08

Re: It Is What It Is...

Yep, let’s just move on from here. Let’s not try to learn from the past, the lessons it has to teach. After all, the past cannot possibly repeat itself, right?

“A statement, if it contains knowledge, makes a prediction, with the chance of being wrong, and fits every observation of the past,” I believe is what W. Edwards Deming said.

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Submitted by Steven Ouellette on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 13:44

In reply to Re: It Is What It Is... by Ed Johnson

Heh, yes exactly Ed. Or even

Heh, yes exactly Ed. Or even more fundamentally, "Why learn from history if problems are inevitable anyway?" Or, more subtley... "Does experience help? NO! Not if we are doing the wrong things. Experience teaches nothing..." -W.E. Deming
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