On importance of little things

In 1993 there were 1,927 murders in New York City. In 1998 there were 629. In 1993 there were over 85,892 robberies registered, in 1998 the number was 39,003.

Despite all criticism and opposition, William Bratton – the new police commissioner of New York City appointed in 1994, did not throw all resources on heavy crime. On the contrary, he focused on small crime and fought it with a fanatic discipline.

In the early 1990s, fare evasion was rampant in New York City’s subway system. Thousands of people were jumping turnstiles every day, resulting in some revenue loss, but more importantly contributing to a sense of disorder and lawlessness. Bratton went full force on the subway fare evasion crime. The perpetrators were consistently stopped and sanctioned. Police officers arrested fare evaders and conducted background checks. This approach often led to the discovery of outstanding warrants and the apprehension of individuals wanted for more serious crimes.

In 2007-2008, the University of Groningen in the Netherlands conducted research to find out whether the effect of visible disorder increased other more serious crimes. In each experiment, there was a “disorder” condition such as graffiti and littering created in one location, while another “control” location with no violations of norms was used as a comparison. The conclusion of the study was that there is a correlation between minor disorder and more serious crime.

It’s about small actions #

If a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired, all other windows in that building will soon be broken too. This is the essence of the Broken windows theory.

The theory originates from criminology. For me it’s way more interesting elsewhere – in software development, managing projects, or personal life. The spirit is always the same – do little things right to be able to do big things right. Admiral William H. McRaven beautifully articulates this in his “Make your bed” speech.

Moral of the story, small things are important. ■