Re: Space Shuttle Syndrome!
- From: wolfgang <wfhabicher@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:59:32 -0700 (PDT)
On Aug 14, 3:20 pm, "Bill Noble" <nob...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Buerste" <knotbr...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:xGghm.110871$rg4.106888@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I've been out of the shop for quite a number of weeks now due to
experimenting with drugs. (Kaiser's idea, not mine) Anyway, I've handled
most everything I need to at home with a phone and a laptop. However, one
of my engineers working on a long-term project that is really a bunch of
short-term projects bolted together, has gone off the deep end. A simple
mechanism that's supposed to have 3 limit switches bolted on some PVC pipe
mounted in plywood. It will have a wire coming from a spool pass through
it and the switches will turn on and off a feed unit as the wire gets
tight or loose. The third switch turns everything off if the wire jams
up. I penciled on a sheet of paper what I wanted not thinking it wasn't
worth CAD drawings.
In my absence, the engineer has created the most complicated Rube Goldberg
monster that he possibly could. I was in the shop yesterday to review
everything and was shown the CAD drawings of all 20 of the precision
parts. Since we need three of these mechanisms and there's more than one
each of the parts needed for each mechanism, the machining time has run
into weeks. ( I planned an afternoon for the PVC/Plywood version.)
I don't want to stifle creativity or initiative but WTF! Is there an
official name for this or have I coined the phrase?
giving you a serious answer - it is called "mis-communication" - the
engineer understood that you wanted a mechanism designed with certain
characteristics - he didn't understand the other constraints. Not being
there at the time, I can't tell you why this is, but I've been on both ends
of it - did you actually say, you can use 3 switches, some plywood and some
PVC pipe - this is to be "cheap and dirty"? if you said it, did he really
understand it? this is not a matter of stifling creativity - you don't have
to punish the guy (yet) but you do need to say "that's not what I had in
mind", explain what is wrong, and ask him how HE would suggest getting back
to your original intent.
When I had a lab of folks, I always "encouraged" failure, within some
limits - by that I mean, that if someone wanted to take an approach that I
was suspicious of, AND if it would not be fatal to the project, I would
express my reservations and say "go try it your way, but be on the lookout
for these issues" - sometimes their way was great, but if they ran into the
kinds of issues I pointed out and it got to be a problem, then there was buy
in to "my" way rather than having it dictated - this was much more
effective, and I got much better results - at least with every employee who
wanted to achieve results. I had a couple who were worthless, and could not
do anything - those had to go
Bill,
Your methodology has worked and paid off in spades for me when I was
in charge of manufacturing engineering. Also allowed me to sleep much
better at night and on weekends:-))
buerste,
Did you tell your engineer your cost and schedule expectations? Life
expectancy of this device? Reliability requirements? I was at the
receiving end of such a situation as you describe, and once I
explained my reasons for my design decisions the powers-that-be agreed
with my decisions.
Issuing constraints after the job is done can drive one to drink.
Wolfgang
.
- References:
- Space Shuttle Syndrome!
- From: Buerste
- Re: Space Shuttle Syndrome!
- From: Bill Noble
- Space Shuttle Syndrome!
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