Admit it. You have played around with Lego, if only even once, when you were growing up. It’s something I have done more than I dare to admit. Some would say that Lego is considered to be a plaything for children. I couldn’t disagree more. Lego is easy to understand, adaptively challenging, and scratches a creative itch that you didn’t know you had before. If you’ve ever gotten into contact with Lego then you’ll probably have had a period in your life that you’ve forgotten all about the Legos stashed in the garage or attic. Next time when you encounter a problem and you don’t know how to solve it, ask yourself if you can fix it with Lego!

Meet Elwin, my programmer in law. Elwin has a very clumsy and wonky polystyrene monitor stand which made him very sad. That monitor setup was bound to give out one day. Then, Elwin got inspired by a friend that fixed a problem using Lego. Elwin’s drive and inspiration was suddenly as plentiful and overflowing as the Lego crate he dragged in the next morning. Of course, he wasn’t allowed to touch the Lego before his chores were done.

Contrary to most of his work, finishing the Lego monitor and cellphone stand was done in minutes. Playing with Lego at older ages obviously comes with swag of its own and so sunglasses appeared out of nowhere once he was done. It also goes without saying that we don’t use the NERF gun in the picture on unproductive employees.

Seeing this Lego solution to a problem got me curious about what other solutions may be out there. So far, I’ve come across plenty of inventive chargers for devices of one sort or another. Some have different uses such as a Raspberry Pi case or a cutlery holder. Perhaps I’ll join in too to create a useful laptop stand or a replacement for my broken headset. Automating manual labour is also an option. Who needs a employed stress testers when there is Lego to do this for you?

Probably the most awesome workplace improvement I’ve come across is one that uses Lego as a calendar system. Here is a tangible and clear Lego calendar that keeps track of several projects which accommodates for several people both online and offline. Whether this works that well in practise is yet to be seen although the idea sounds great.

There are several other life hacks we are using in and around the office which make life much easier. If you have any sweet contraptions or elegant solutions to common problems then we would love to hear from you through Twitter or Facebook. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to close Pandora’s (Lego) box otherwise Elwin’s is pretty much a lost case.