Engineers, you may be wasting your time
Thinking about a pet peeve of mine, patently dumb ideas that gain a lot of traction (can you believe people are STILL building solar roads?!), I was reminded of a reprimand/piece of advice given to me by Andrew Goldenberg early in my career. It's an important lesson that has stuck with me.
I had been tasked with the mechanical design of an automatic spooling/unspooling fiber optic module to add to one of the company's existing bomb disposal robots. It was to be optional, and able to be mounted in the field. One of the big issues was that the robot was already full of equipment, and it would be really tough to squeeze it in.
My first impression was that we should mount it on an extension hanging off the back end of the robot chassis. However, one of the requirements was not to extend the footprint of the robot. I had to find room on the chassis itself, somewhere.
So, over the next few days, I came up with what I thought was a pretty clever idea. There was an electric box that mounted by a few screws to the top of the chassis. I designed the fiber optic module so that you could unbolt the electric box, lift it up, and remount it through the fiber optic module. If we made the cables long enough, you wouldn't even have to unplug them, and they could be routed through the fiber optic module while maintaining a water-tight seal for both modules.
Happy with what I had, given the constraints, I went to Andrew to ask for approval to move ahead with prototyping. He listened to what I had to say and then asked me if I had thought that it raised the center of gravity, making it harder for the robot to climb stairs. Did I realize that it could interfere with the main arm in certain positions? How about the risk of the seal being compromised, as it was a much less robust seal design than the original electric box had? I answered, yes, I had thought of all of those things, but it was the best place on the chassis available. Anywhere else was far worse.
His response floored me.
(I may be paraphrasing a bit. It's been years.) "You're not in school anymore," he told me, (full disclosure: he was one of my favorite profs at U of T before he was my boss.) "This is not a project. Your job isn't to find the best solution for the problem. You are a professional. This is the real world. If a design isn't good, no matter if it's the "best", people won't buy it. We won't make money, and no one will get paid. It's worthless. If you can't find a good solution given the constraints, your job is to come straight to me and tell me the constraints are wrong. The last few days, you have been wasting your time!"
Oof, talk about some tough love. But I've taken it to heart, and acted on it ever since.
We ended up mounting the module on an extension hanging off the back end of the robot chassis.
So, to all those engineers (and others) working on products or ideas that just don't make sense, stop fooling yourself. Stop telling yourself that if you're clever enough, it'll be genius! You are going to end up with something that is not good. And if it's not good, it doesn't matter if it's the "best". It doesn't matter how many clever features it incorporates. It doesn't matter how hard you work, or how passionate you are. You are wasting your time. And if you're sucking up huge sums of money while doing it, well, you've officially pissed me off. Congratulations!
PS: Like probably half of LinkedIn, I was sent an email to post about #BigIdeas2018. So, my Big Idea is to STOP FUNDING, SUPPORTING, WORKING ON, AND PUTTING OUT CRAP! Imagine the resources and talent that would free up!
Business development
5 年Ncie articles
Helping companies make a success of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
7 年Your boss wasn’t a prat. Too many bosses won’t take no for an answer and force you to design or build something hideously compromised because it fits THEIR idea
Owner of TECH-NET.
7 年Draftsmen, especially contractors, had decades of applicable experience which translated into a high level of design knowledge. It usually trumped the analytical knowledge of the engineer, who were never trained in form, fit and function design. The draftsman’s job was to make sure the engineer looked good. The draftsman had virtually no management career path. LOL
Owner of TECH-NET.
7 年What happens when an engineer has a staff of draftsman underneath him? This was how it was done Pre-CAD. Remember, all design was done on the board with non-standard layouts. Which were the assembly designed and handed off to drafting. 90% of the design was done by draftsmen under the scrutiny of the lead engineer. There were a few engineering firms where they had design engineers doing the layouts. I remember Pratt and Whitney was one. But in my 20 years as a contract engineer that was the only one. All design was done by the draftsman. We would get assignments from the engineering staff. I remember one time an order came down. I looked at it and chuckled knowing it wouldn't work. Being a contractor, I just kept my mouth shut and did nothing for two weeks. Remember, you only laid down as many lines as you could erase the next day. I chuckle at the thought of the 3D CAD engineer struggling with design.