Scattered Tools

Sometimes it's easier to make a point using an imaginary parallel.
For example – tools can work like an orchestra, or like a room full of soloists. To illustrate the idea of scattered tools, imagine the following.

You walk into a kitchen. The lighting is warm and inviting. In the middle of the room, there’s a shiny smart stove on a stack of pallets. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi, AI support, cloud connectivity – everything you'd need to fry eggs and cook stews. A bit of a learning curve is needed to work with the stove, but fortunately the quick-start guide can be taped to the cooker hood.

You continue the tour. Through a door, fifteen steps up a staircase and to the left – nothing too complicated. This is where you'll find the refrigerator. It's also the latest in technology. It tracks how often the door is opened, uses AI to analyse what you put inside and when, calculates your environmental footprint, and displays everything conveniently on your smartphone. If you're taking eggs and stuff back downstairs, there's a handy shelf by the staircase where you can put things down for a moment.

Back downstairs – if you've cracked the eggs into the pan and need to wash your hands, that’s been taken care of as well. Just a few quick steps across the hallway and into the next room. Be careful not to trip over the hose though. Currently the hose runs across the floor to drain the water outside, but this is easy to fix – just have someone make a hole in the wall.

The current owner is satisfied. Everything works. Water comes from the tap. The stove cooks. The refrigerator makes ice cubes. The latest technology is everywhere.
What more could you want?

You thank them for the tour, say you'll think about it and get back to them.
But in your mind you've already decided this is not the place you want to commit to, and you continue looking for better options.

Company toolsets often resemble that kitchen – everything is there, including the latest technology.

Most of us probably can't afford the perfect kitchen filled with the latest and most advanced equipment. And let's be honest: even if we could, we probably don’t need it.

A simpler kitchen works perfectly well, as long as everything is in the same room and arranged sanely. The refrigerator, stove, sink and worktop are positioned so moving between them feels natural. That's really all there is to it. You don't need more than a functioning set, without having to think about it every day. That's how we see Tarkma: not as a showroom full of technology, but as a working whole. A kitchen that serves its purpose and doesn't demand attention. You walk in, do what you need to do and move on.

We believe employees should be able to focus on their actual work, not on using software. Our measure of success is simple: the less time an employee needs to spend behind a screen, the better.