056 Think Like a Weaver
Hey Weaver, you hang your house from the thinnest branch you can find, and you put the only door at the bottom of a long tube.
Who thinks that hard about who must not get in?
How hard do you think about who must not get in?
Over a village well, a thorny tree hangs heavy with woven nests, like green lanterns swinging in the wind.
Each one hangs from the very tip of a thin branch, and each one has its door at the bottom of a long tube.
What really happens
The baya weaver weaves its nest from strips of grass and hangs it from a thin branch, often over water.
The entrance is a long tube pointing down. Snakes and other egg thieves find it very hard to reach the eggs.
How we know: Baya weaver nests have been studied by Indian ornithologists since Salim Ali.
The turn
We plan carefully for what we want to let in. We rarely plan as carefully for what must stay out.
The weaver designs the door with the danger in mind.
Three takeaways
- Good design thinks about threats, not just comfort.
- Where you put the door matters.
- Protect what matters most by making it hard to reach.
Hang it high. Put the door low.
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him.