Jig and Fixture Thinking

A jig holds a workpiece and guides a tool to produce repeatable, accurate results. A fixture holds the workpiece without guiding the tool. Together they represent a powerful concept: investing upfront effort to build a device that makes the actual task faster, more accurate, and more consistent. A table saw crosscut sled takes an hour to build but saves thousands of hours while producing better cuts. A mortising jig ensures every mortise is identical without individual layout. The key insight: craftspeople don't just make things—they make things that help them make things. This meta-level thinking is the difference between artisan and industrial approaches. The best craftspeople invest heavily in jigs before cutting any 'real' material.

When to use it

When you find yourself performing the same operation repeatedly and relying on skill and attention to maintain quality. When consistency matters more than speed on any individual operation. When designing production systems and deciding where to invest in tooling versus relying on operator skill.

How it can help

Jig thinking is enormously powerful outside the trades. Templates, checklists, standard operating procedures, code libraries, and email templates are all knowledge-work jigs—upfront investments that make repeated tasks faster and more consistent. The model teaches practitioners to identify repetitive operations and invest in jig-building rather than relying on skill and attention for each instance. It also teaches the economic calculation: how many repetitions justify building a jig? A jig used twice may not be worth it; one used two hundred times almost certainly is. The principle that 'the jig is the real product' transforms how practitioners think about process investment.