Minutia

*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc/*

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My sister somehow seems to find all of the most anal-retentive specialists in
the world.  Her dentist makes her brush her teeth for three minutes (with a
timer), and her auto-mechanic has her change her oil every 3,000 kilometers
instead of the more usual 5,000 kilometers. 

My sister's optometrist is also in on the act by telling my sister that her
glasses will last much longer if she takes them off (and puts them on) with
two hands rather than the more usual one.  I did an admittedly unscientific
survey, but I could find no one who had their glasses "wear-out" due to
unnecessary wear from taking their glasses off and on by using only one
hand.  What happens to most people is that their glasses go out of style,
their prescription change and with it they change the style of glasses they
wear, or most commonly they drop or sit on their glasses and break them.  No
one I talked to wore out their glasses.

I am quite sure that if I had an IKEA type robot that continually took off
and put on glasses 24 / 7 that I would find that after a while the robot that
used "one-hand" would wear the glasses out faster than the robot that
used "two-hands".  That is not the point though.  The point is that we
often focus on the minutia (whether you put glasses on and off with one hand
or two) and ignore the much bigger issue such as how you can avoid the much
more common and detrimental sitting on your glasses and crushing them
forever.  Risk management might be in the minutia, but it does not mean that
we should remain there.


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