Andy's Axioms: There is no such thing as Tomorrow

It’s hard to say if this is truly an axiom or just a pet peeve. Or, maybe it’s both. But, I’ve had to remind quite a lot of people over the years that, “There is no such thing as tomorrow”.  (Tomorrow being a distant time…not necessarily the day after today) This kind of flies in the face of the main theme song from the musical “Annie”, “Tomorrow”. What does a little girl know of the mechanics of the the universe that guarantees the sun will in fact shine tomorrow?

https://youtu.be/KahOD-93D7U

What I hear quite often from people is that they’ll come back and fix something tomorrow. Or, later. Or, next week. They’ll be working on a design, see an opportunity for improvement and then decide they’ll put off adding that level of refinement until some other time.

I think where I’ve seen this most frequently is in the CAD design work that I’ve been part of over the years. (Because there are multiple right answers) And, for better or worse, I’ve spent quite a lot of hours working on CAD designs. (Are engineers even trained to work in 3D modeling in college? I certainly wasn’t. But, that’s perhaps a rant I’ll save for another day ??) The CAD designs, necessarily correlate to real-world physical parts and systems.  So, the kicking of the can down the street certainly starts on the “tube” (as we used to call our work stations). In my own design work I generally take a very long-term approach to things. If one of my former colleagues is reading this, they can probably confirm that my hydraulic fitting models are still being used 20 years later. While I would perhaps model them differently today, I put my heart and soul into making those parametric family table driven designs as robust and detailed as possible. And, to be clear, I’m not a perfectionist. (a failing of mine…) But, I do recognize the interconnectedness of the decisions that are made at that level of design and how that can affect downstream work. There were many instances where I, seemingly, put far too many hours of work into something as simple as a hydraulic fitting model.

This approach is contrasted to what I often ran into during my travels through industry. The lack of detail and organization to these foundational elements was a bit surprising. In many cases the barest minimum of detail was used to make non-parametric models.  This then sets the stage for subsequent components that get assembled to the fittings at higher levels. If the foundation is not established well…then the poor modeling practice is perpetuated through the designs that use those initial components. One could point to design managers or CAD platform managers as the place to lay the blame. But, truly, these decisions are in the individual designer’s hands. And, the point is…you will never go back and refine that design. There is no guarantee that you’ll ever get a chance to create a rev B.

In some respects, engineers and designers are a bit like snipers. You get one shot. If you make that shot…you might get called upon to take a different shot tomorrow. But, there’s no guarantee you’ll ever get a second shot a target/project.

There is a good parable in the Christian Bible that makes this point quite well. (Regardless of one’s views on the Bible…it is a good source of wisdom)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Rich_Fool

He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I don't have room to store my crops?' He said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."' "But God said to him, 'You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

— Luke 12:16–21, World English Bible

This isn’t to say we have to approach our design efforts as if we only have today to live. (Though, there is a hint of that philosophy in this axiom). The company you’re doing the work for shouldn't be quite so heavy handed to drive the fear for your life into you. But, time is fleeting. If you don’t have time to do something “right” today, what makes you think you’ll have time to do it right tomorrow?  My experience has been that there will be even more demands on you tomorrow than there are today. One’s life rarely becomes simpler as the years pile on. Life accumulates complexity. Things done yesterday have a way of following you through the rest of the week, year, decade… Truly, in that sense, the only way to ever catch up on all of your house projects is to stick a “For Sale” sign in your front yard and sell your projects to someone else. (A feeling I’m sure is universal among home owners around the world). That isn’t an invitation to shirk responsibilities and dump them onto someone else, but simply an illustration of how life can pile up around you. The same thing happens in the office.

So, as you approach a project, I’d admonish the reader to forget that tomorrow even exists. As far as your project goes…there is no tomorrow, no next week, no next month. If you set something aside or finish something to some lesser level of excellence than you’re capable of, that will be your legacy.  The sun may come out tomorrow. Or…something else entirely different may happen. So, make the very most of the time that you have at this moment. Be as excellent as you can be right now. Keep things in balance. But, dismiss the notion that you’ll have the chance to refine something “tomorrow”…because tomorrow doesn’t exist.  

-"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." J.R.R. Tolkien