Translated from the French word for ‘tinker, cobble, or furnish with ingenuity,’ this tool reminds anyone doing anything uncertain that they can and might as well get started now. More realistic than waiting for a perfectly fulfilled supply list, scrappiness, making do, and “MacGyvering” is the truth about how a lot of things really get done.

 

From the wind industry to NASA, bricolage has played a dynamic role in the day-to-day successes that have pushed beyond limitation towards innovation. We don’t want to promise that all straw can be turned into gold, but when you have a vision that is intense, bricolage is a brilliant strategy even when the most critical supplies are missing.