Some solutions are implemented simply because they save money or time, decrease maintenance, or increase efficiencies. In the case of my wife’s new hairdo, the solution actually requires additional recurring costs in both time and money. This particular hairdo requires more frequent visits to the salon to keep the hair short, recurring costs in hair styling product (something she never had to worry about before), and also more attention at home. Her hair, which used to be wash-and-go, now has to be styled. It also has to be tended to more often. For instance, before, if Louanna got caught in a rain shower, she simply combed it out and kept going. Now, such a situation requires a full once-over. And actions such as changing a pullover hoodie or sweater, driving with the window down, or putting on a baseball cap now require touch ups.

While seemingly counter-intuitive, many solutions in business also require increased maintenance costs. For instance, social media marketing often requires hours of time for someone to implement and maintain, while old marketing efforts such as throwing an ad in a paper or magazine or on television were relatively quick in comparison. Or entire IT teams may be devoted to the constant upkeep of enterprise software solutions and to keep their servers, PCs and networks up-to-date. These efforts, while costly in money and time, are made because of the potentially high payoff.

For my wife, the hope is that the benefits she receives from the new hairstyle will be enough to outweigh the amount of time it takes her to maintain her hair, especially as she gets more proficient at making the hairdo work. For us, we need to make sure that solutions that will cost us more than we currently spend in time and money will pay off in other ways. Otherwise, rethink implementing them.