Lan Barnes wrote:
This is absolutely flat ass wrong, Stewart. I don't say that to you often
-- this may be the first time -- but it is not "wasteful to try to catch
as many defects as possible up front," it is the best and most cost
effective approach.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
That thinking killed DEC. That thinking holds back medical devices.
Catching defects *must* be balanced against shipping a product.
DEC could have shipped EV6 at least 12 months earlier. Had they, the
company would probably still be around. However, there was no incentive
to ship. The only reward was to be a notch higher on the next project.
That meant "don't ever make a mistake as your career will never
recover." Lots of "defect" catching and testing ensued. The fact that
the company was going down the drain never entered the picture.
My favorite in medical devices is implantable continuous insulin
delivery systems. Since the medical defect level is *zero*--cannot fail
or we wind up in the headlines--they do not make them. However, nobody
ever balances the improvement in quality of life from the shipped
product against the possible defects. A device which completely
alleviated the symptoms of diabetes in 99% of people but killed 1% is
probably a net win since the complications from diabetes eventually kill
people anyhow.
However, nobody is ever willing to have that discussion.
I always love the medical device "no defects". Excuse me, but the
system, known as the human body, you are trying to fix isn't that
reliable or you wouldn't be needing to fix it.
The longer you take to find a defect, the more its effects spread out, the
more defects you introduce in your "five minutes to fix."
This isn't Lan talking. Lan doesn't know much. This is an avalanche of
opinion from brilliant, experienced professionals who have studied exactly
this question over four decades.
No argument. However, sometimes the cost is acceptable.
This is especially true when *not* having the shipped product also has a
cost. The problem is that nobody ever adds that into the equation.
-a
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