---
id: 2026-05-14T17:57:07-0400
title: 2026-05-14 17:57:07
tags: []
daily: "[[2026-05-14]]"
---
# 2026-05-14 17:57:07

In my years of using [[accubid|Accubid]] nearly every work day
I've always longed for good analogies
for using the wrong [[tools|tool]] for the job.
I found one that could almost be said to be in common use:
"Hitting a nail with the handle of the hammer"
But the phrase is not ideal for my purpose.
It suggests that the tool _can_ be used to achieve the objective,
but that it is being used suboptimally.
"Driving a screw with a hammer"
which I came up with, though surely not for the first time,
is more appropriate for Accubid and its use in [[construction-estimating]].
It suggests the tool _can not_ be used to achieve the objective,
but that it may be possible to use it to _mimic_ success.
If you manage to drive a screw with a hammer
you have still failed to use it as a fastener.

Despite its name,
Accubid is clearly not meant for bidding.
Bidding requires an appreciation of uncertainty and risk
that naive [[decrease-in-sigma|zero-sigma]] "estimating"
does nothing to assist.
Estimators have to do that part, _the important part_, in their head.

It ought to be glaringly obvious to Trimble
that their software is not being used as intended.
The use of items to be budgetary of other items
which are not known, or are not present in the database
is perhaps universal,
even though this false specificity is detrimental
to both estimating and operations.
Briefly sheathing [[hanlons-razor|Hanlon's razor]],
I believe Trimble may be _deliberately avoiding_ respect for uncertainty, despite demand,
because to support price uncertainty would call into question
the utility of their biggest earners and up-sells.
Tra-Ser is the industry gold standard you can't live without,
but what good is a single price,
which isn't even guaranteed for purchase _today_,
compared to a range estimated for the lifetime of the project?
If you believe we live in Trimble's fantasy world
where you can buy out a bid BOM as-is
then they can sell you a subscription for Spectrum, their ERP software.

To really beat this analogy to death,
Trimble is has a monopoly on hammers
so they'd rather convince us we need a hammer
than sell us the screwdriver we _do_ need.
