this is trivial but......

[Keye]

I had a design firm that left out a floor one time. I did not fire them. I had a design firm that placed a new air handling unit on the outside wall of a building. A note on the drawings said the coil could only be removed from the right. The right side was the outside wall. The AHU was on the eight floor of a building in downtown Charlotte. I fired the firm.

If a design requires maintenance and it can not be maintained it is worthless. If a design is not functional for its intended purpose it is worthless.

All of this just to gripe about a rain gage.

Bought a rain gage at the BORG this weekend. Don't know why because it is never going to rain again. Opened it up so I could mount it this morning. The only way to mount the thing will cause water to splash into the gage from whatever it is mounted to. Sure wish I could fire somebody.

[DavidF]

I understand your pain, I am always complaining about bad or thoughtless design.

[Alan in Little Washington]

I often wonder if some company just send a picture of what they want to a plant in China to be copied, but provides no details, thinking no way could they mess it up. They ordered 5 bajillion, and now, since they didn't give any guidance, must accept a "less than perfect product" and try to market all 5 bajillion of them. Along comes a buyer from a big box store, who used to work at the Gap and says, "Oh, aren't those just darling!" we'll take all 5 bajillion. No where in this process is any engineering, testing, or quality assurance.

[jerrye]

All it takes is the usage of the most valuable business tool: the QUESTION. I had customer in last job that had 100K worth of largely useless equipment because no one questioned enough about what they did that required the equipment. Most reps won't question because they think to question is to challenge. Well, it isn't necessarily so, but what's wrong with a challenge? If it doesn't accomplish anything else it gets people thinking about what they do and how they do it...

The moral? When in doubt, ask questions. When you're sure, ask questions!

[RayH]

I believe that between Alan and JerryE they have identified the problem
I spent the last few years prior to retiring as a translator -- between sailors on aircraft carriers and engineers (and marketeers) at electronics companies. It never ceased to amaze me that two people, speaking the same native language, could so miserably fail to understand each other while believing they were communicating. I am probably unfair in including the marketeers as their job is to say "Sure, we can do that."

Two of the most disasterous phrases are: "You know what I mean?" and "Sure I do."

RayH

[sapwood]

Can I pile on?
When I purchase something (like the rain gauge) I like to see how it's made, examine when possible. Many times it's in a bag or encased in plastic . . . for good reason I assume. But retailers put their SKUs, UIDs, or whatever barcodes all over the package and you cannot read product info without opening package. And you can't open it unless you buy it

Sorry for the minor hijack
Roger

[jerrye]

What I try to live by (but is HARD to do!):

God gave you two ears, two eyes, and one mouth. Two of those are input, one is output. Think He was trying to tell you something?

Solves a LOT of problems for me, even the ones I cause!

[cptully]

As one who has worked on many different kinds of equipment (setup, installation, use and repair), including cars, scientific equipment, computers (hardware and software) and wood working tools, I've come to a following conclusions:

1) It seems to me that most designers stop at the drawing board. "Why bother testing it, my design is obviously flawless!"

2) In order to come up with a truly useful and functional the designer must both talk to and work with the end users.

3) To insure that a new device can be used and repaired by the end user, the designer should be required to assemble and repair the finished product using only a screw driver and pair of pliers.

4) In my experience many devices are only designed to be used until the first failure and then discarded.

As you may have guessed, I don't have much patience for poor design...

Chris

[Gofor]

Originally Posted by sapwood

Can I pile on?
When I purchase something (like the rain gauge) I like to see how it's made, examine when possible. Many times it's in a bag or encased in plastic . . . for good reason I assume. But retailers put their SKUs, UIDs, or whatever barcodes all over the package and you cannot read product info without opening package. And you can't open it unless you buy it

Sorry for the minor hijack
Roger

Not just the SKUs, IDs, and Barcodes, either. I was in Lowe's today looking for a ballast for the garage light. The box had the word "Ballast" on it and a P/N, along with the statement "See markings on ballast for application information". It was packed in a sealed white (opaque) cardboard box!! Not to worry, tho. As always at Lowe's, I was able to find the box someone before me had opened!!. (Not that it was the right one, but at twice the price of the light, I gave up the idea anyway).

Go

[JimmyC]

Engineering, what a wonderful concept. So good that they invented re-engineering to fix their mistakes.

Why is it that we never have enough time to do something right, b ut there's always enough time to do it over.

I've learned to accept incompetence, because if I can't laugh, I'll cry.

Jimmy

[Mike Davis]

I am very slowly working toward making everything i need on a daily basis. If I can't make it I will do without. I plan to live a very simple life after I retire. Three ladies were born and lived on my property before I did and two of them never went more than a mile from here until they died. They grew all of their food and made their own clothes. If they could do it so can I.

[cpowell]

Originally Posted by Mike Davis

I am very slowly working toward making everything i need on a daily basis. If I can't make it I will do without. I plan to live a very simple life after I retire. Three ladies were born and lived on my property before I did and two of them never went more than a mile from here until they died. They grew all of their food and made their own clothes. If they could do it so can I.

If I had to make everything I used I'd never get bored...make, remake...make, remake...probably die of starvation before boredom ever set in.

I prefer electrical engineering. If the design is poor enough then it self-destructs on power up.

Chuck

[Travis Porter]

Originally Posted by halfblind

I had a design firm that left out a floor one time. I did not fire them. I had a design firm that placed a new air handling unit on the outside wall of a building. A note on the drawings said the coil could only be removed from the right. The right side was the outside wall. The AHU was on the eight floor of a building in downtown Charlotte. I fired the firm.

If a design requires maintenance and it can not be maintained it is worthless. If a design is not functional for its intended purpose it is worthless.

All of this just to gripe about a rain gage.

Bought a rain gage at the BORG this weekend. Don't know why because it is never going to rain again. Opened it up so I could mount it this morning. The only way to mount the thing will cause water to splash into the gage from whatever it is mounted to. Sure wish I could fire somebody.

Could you not mounte the rain gauge on a stand alone post?

[rsitzejr]

I don't have any qaulms about opening a package up to see if it's the right size, what I need, color, etc. If the store doesn't like it, change your packaging or I do business elsewhere. I do try to make it neat, resealable, etc.

[Glennbear]

Originally Posted by rsitzejr

I don't have any qaulms about opening a package up to see if it's the right size, what I need, color, etc. If the store doesn't like it, change your packaging or I do business elsewhere. I do try to make it neat, resealable, etc.

Right or wrong, I tend to agree with your thoughts in light of knowledgable sales people becoming a rare breed any more.