Comments on Execupundit.com: Mistake-Proofing

I know what a carburettor is - or carburetor as we...

2008-05-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

I know what a carburettor is - or carburetor as we spell it on this side of the pond. I also know my way around a set of drum brakes, how to set points in a distributor and check the timing of the engine afterwards. Anytime I made repairs, I placed the parts in a basket. When I reassembled, I often ended up with a few spares. Car still ran right - I wondered if the darn thing had been built correctly in the first place.

Larry,Lately, I've started following your "spare p...

2008-05-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Larry,

Lately, I've started following your "spare parts" advice and it has been so helpful I'm embarrassed to think how long I didn't follow that routine.

Oh, and on the "spare parts" thing...When assembli...

2008-05-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

Oh, and on the "spare parts" thing...

When assembling a kit I go through the parts list and count everything, setting aside "overs" in a suitable container apart from te working stuff.

And when I used to overhaul carburettors and such as each part in the original was replaced with a part from the kit, I set the replaced part aside.

Kind of like the sponge count in an operating room. I guess.

I wonder how many know what a carburettor is.

When I was doing, or was in charge of doing system...

2008-05-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

When I was doing, or was in charge of doing system design work, I (sometimes against advice) always tried to design things in the code to catch errors.

The conceptual model was something I was taught in elementary school--to "check my work" either by solving the problem a second way, by reversing the solution, or by using something like "casting out nines".

As a minimum, I insisted on range checks or reasonableness tests.

I see lots of silly errors that could have been caught.