vault backup: 2025-10-21 22:02:46

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@@ -36,3 +36,28 @@ title: Favorite Quotes
 > [!cite] Goodhart's Law
 > When a measure becomes a target,
 > it ceases to be a good measure.
+
+## About Process Optimization
+
+### "Sharpen the Axe"
+
+Frequently misattributed to Abraham Lincoln is some variation of:
+
+> [!quote]
+> Give me six hours to chop down a tree
+> and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
+
+For the legitimate origin of the quote see [[reverend-william-h-alexander]].
+
+I think when people use some version of the quote in real life
+it's usually to justify second definition [yak shaving](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving)
+(at least that's usually when I use it).
+
+> [!quote] Ecclesiastes 10:10 King James Version
+> If the iron be blunt,
+> and he do not whet the edge,    
+> then must he put to more strength:
+> but wisdom _is_ profitable to direct.
+
+I like the story because it's well known
+and easily interpreted as an [optimization problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimization_problem).