S5 SOLUTIONS -INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR UNIQUE PRODUCT DESIGN, MANUFACTURING & TEST CHALLENGES
  • Solutions
    • Product Design
    • Automated Test Equipment
    • Engineering Solutions
  • Case Studies
  • Tools
    • ALOHA >
      • ALOHA - Details
      • ALOHA - Screenshots
      • ALOHA - Video
      • ALOHA - Download
    • MLA
    • Learning LabVIEW >
      • Getting Started with OOP
  • Blog
  • Contact

"Shoot the Engineer"

8/30/2021

0 Comments

 
Engineering is never “done”. Engineers gonna engineer. You have probably never heard an engineer say “That’s perfect. There’s nothing more I would change. Ship it.” More likely, you hear “You know what this toilet seat needs is BlueTooth and a phone app.” 

Having well-defined criteria for completion is important to knowing when your product is ready. And that is functional criteria, not a list of engineering tasks. Minus that, the engineers will continue engineering endlessly.
Picture
My first boss out of college always said “There comes a point in every project where you have to shoot the engineer.” A bit harsh, perhaps. And just to be clear, he never actually did that to my knowledge. The point was well taken and I have made an effort during my career to focus on the business case for the project, not just the engineering perspective.
​

Rather than shooting them, I have a better suggestion: distract them with the next shiny engineering challenge. Buy them a dev kit from SparkFun so they can play around with something new. Or ask them if they know anything about ______ (literally any piece of technology). That should keep them busy long enough for you to ship your product.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Events
    GUI
    LabVIEW
    Maker
    Project Success
    Special Interest

    RSS Feed

Quick Links
Home

Company Overview
Case Studies
ALOHA
​MLA

Blog
Contact
Picture
S5 Solutions, Inc.
8227 44th Ave W, Suite F
Mukilteo, WA 98275 
​
425.298.7447
​Info@S5Solutions.com
​
© 2022  S5 Solutions, Inc.           Employee Site
  • Solutions
    • Product Design
    • Automated Test Equipment
    • Engineering Solutions
  • Case Studies
  • Tools
    • ALOHA >
      • ALOHA - Details
      • ALOHA - Screenshots
      • ALOHA - Video
      • ALOHA - Download
    • MLA
    • Learning LabVIEW >
      • Getting Started with OOP
  • Blog
  • Contact