Shim it!

The lock on my front door was tough to turn.  I was afraid to turn the key too hard for fear of snapping it off.  I figured out that if I lifted the handle up that allowed the bolt to properly seat.  I noticed where the bolt was rubbing against the striker plate and the cut out in the door frame.  I bored out the opening in the wood slightly.  Minimal improvement, but still not satisfactory.  I tried moving the striker plate.  I didn’t want to force it too much since the screw holes would have to be filled and re-drilled for any major adjustment.  I even tried moving the locking mechanism to alter the angle of entry into the striker plate.  I did notice that the whole door seemed like it was a bit out of square with the frame.

Then it occurred to me to place a shim under one of the hinges on the door to adjust the whole door.  This worked!  The whole door is now square in the frame and it has a better seal with the gasket.  No daylight.

Software

Have you been tweaking, altering and adjusting parts of your system when a shim could be place in the right place and make the whole system work properly?  Perhaps, a strategically used adapter pattern would make the whole application easier to code?  Maybe some small tweak in the UI could lead to a more enjoyable experience through out the whole system?