"When all you have is hammer, everything looks like a nail."

A problem afflicting many IT projects which are constrained within a set of standardized tools. Over-simplified statements like "All data storage will go on the SQL database server", "Only vendor-supported, closed source software will be used" and so on.
Vendors are the major perpetuators of this flawed idea, they sell their products under the promise that it can do anthing, will magically adapt to whatever customer sitting in front of them. This narrow-minded line of thinking prevents the discovery of creative, think-outside-of-the-box solutions who unfortunately become burdened by the limitations of the imposed 'tools of choice'.

This observation has been attributed to two individuals and given two names.
The most commonly credited is the behavioral psychologist Abraham Maslow. He had many seminal observations and theories, many of which are still respected and applied. His most famous was the "Hierarchy of Needs," which posited that until basic needs of food and shelter were filled, higher needs would not be pursued.

Anyway, when attributed to him, it's usually called, "Maslow's Maxim." The most precise quote would seem to be,
"If you only have a hammer then you treat everything like a nail."
But as in many oft-repeated saws, it is seen in many forms.

"Baruch's Observation" is the second "person" to whom this quote is attributed. I have seen the name given as "Bruce Lee Baruch," and as "Arthur Conan Doyle Baruch." However, this name may stem from Jeremiah Chapter 51 in the old testament, where Baruch is a messenger of God that helped relay God's message that he was destroying Babylon, which had been referred to previously as "God's Hammer."

For what it's worth, the converse:
Blithwapping:
Using anything BUT a hammer to hammer a nail into the wall, such as shoes, lamp bases, doorstops, etc.

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