Client's grandma taught me more about cable management than any guide

I was rerunning CAT6 in this old house near Detroit last month and the lady's 80 year old grandma kept watching me. She finally said "you're fighting the walls instead of working with them" and walked off. Made me stop and think about how I was trying to force stiff cables into tight corners instead of planning the route better. Changed my whole approach now I look at the path first before pulling anything. Anyone else get handed wisdom from unexpected sources? I figure it's like trimming trees you don't fight the branch you go with the grain lol.

2 comments

2 Comments

wrenstone20d ago

...and that tree trimming thing you said, that actually made me think of my old man. He was a carpenter for 40 years, never owned a computer in his life, but he always said the same thing about wood grain. You don't push against it, you follow where it wants to go. Last summer I was wrestling with this coax run in a crawlspace, getting all twisted up and frustrated, and I remembered him saying that about wood. I stopped, looked at the path the walls were suggesting, and it slid right through like butter. Weird how wisdom from totally different trades lines up like that. What's the most surprising bit of advice you've gotten from a non-tech person?

barbara39920d ago

I had an old plumber tell me something similar back when I was doing some runs in a house near Flint. He said pipes and wires both hate sharp turns. @wrenstone that comparison to wood grain is spot on. I used to just assume cable pulling was this straightforward thing where you just yank and pray, but now I see you really do have to read the bones of the house first. That tree trimming analogy really stuck with me because I used to think you could force anything through if you pulled hard enough. It's humbling when some random person who has never touched a patch panel gives you the one piece of advice that actually changes how you work for the better.