I saw this on Twitter yesterday, posted by Meghan Biro:

Remember that the six most expensive words in business are: “We’ve always done it that way.”–Catherine DeVrye

She makes a good point. In my 30+ years in business I’ve seen way too much of “we’ve always done it that way” and I’d like to think (maybe I’m kidding myself) I’ve hated that phrase since the very first time (in 1971) that I encountered it. In accounting and bookkeeping, marketing, product development, it’s widespread. That’s no reason to do anything.

And there’s also an important corollary: just because something didn’t work three years ago is no reason to not try it again.  

Always is almost always a suspect word. Things change.