Oven windows aren’t brown.
You just forgot to clean them.
The Pattern You Didn’t Notice
Schleichende Verschlechterung—gradual degradation you adapt to without noticing.
Oven glass gets brown slowly. You look through it every day. The warm light inside makes it feel natural. Brown becomes normal.
Then you clean it: “Wait, it’s actually transparent?”
I spent an hour cleaning my oven today. Not perfect—still some dirt visible. Making it blitzeblank would take another two hours.
But massive improvement. Sauber genug beats perfect.
That hour taught me something about recognizing craftsmanship.
Three Types of Craftspeople
Show me how someone maintains their toolbox, and I’ll tell you who they are.
1. Job Doers
Tools don’t matter.
- Get work done
- Can use tools
- No connection to toolbox
- Produces work, not craft
2. Craftspeople
Tools are cared for.
- Good toolbox maintenance
- Customized for their workflow
- Knows their trade
- Attention to detail
- Produces good work
3. Tool Lovers
Only work on toolbox.
- Perfect tool setup
- Constantly tweaking
- Little actual production
- Great tools, no output
Coding/Sales/Docs = Handwerk
We say “handwerklich gut” for bread, furniture, construction.
But sales, coding, documentation—these are crafts too when done well.
Each has “Tools of the Trade.”
Your IDE setup tells me about your coding. Your CRM hygiene tells me about your sales. Your Obsidian vault tells me about your thinking.
The Recruiting Signal
How do you judge someone’s skills?
Look at their tools:
- How do they maintain them?
- How do they customize them?
- Do they care about their toolbox?
- Do they only work ON tools (not WITH tools)?
Pattern recognition:
- Neglected tools → Job doer
- Well-maintained, customized → Craftsperson
- Obsessively perfect → Tool collector
Win-Win
My oven is happy now. Clean enough, not perfect.
Using the first Jungfernfahrt after cleanup to re-season my cast-iron pans. (Oven smells like cleaning supplies anyway.)
Next tool maintained.