{"id":2416,"date":"2021-11-23T18:45:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T18:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instrumental.com\/?p=2416"},"modified":"2022-07-20T22:09:34","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T22:09:34","slug":"in-2021-be-thankful-for-your-issues-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instrumental.com\/resources\/improve-product-quality\/in-2021-be-thankful-for-your-issues-list\/","title":{"rendered":"In 2021, be thankful for your issues list"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For people like us \u2013 people who build physical products \u2013 our jobs look different today than we ever could have imagined two years ago. Before the pandemic, much of our \u201creal work\u201d took place on fluorescent-lit assembly lines buried deep within huge concrete block buildings half a world away. The stories of catastrophes and heroism that made up a hardware engineer\u2019s mythology have faded into legend. Previously told in hushed voices and with grim laughter in darkened factory vans speeding down highways or over late-night hotel dinners \u2013 now appear quaint. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, so you mean back in the days when you could just <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">be<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the factory tomorrow? You solved a problem with sharpies? Now try doing that from 6,000 miles away.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The machismo of the mythology fueled us during those late nights trying to find the next clue that would provide the breakthrough. The methods may have changed, but the nuts and bolts remain the same: a long issues list is better than no issues list. The engineers who trained me entered each early build with a distinct goal in mind: as a team, we will make a list of 100 issues with the product. It was called the MIL, the Main Issues List. Every day I was at a build, I would stand on the assembly line for hours with a small notebook in hand to write down whatever I could find:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Operator having difficulty removing pull tab from right to left<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most buttons feel mushy on 0.5mm shim config<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cosmetic gap is larger on the left than on the right<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2021, where stepping on the factory line to see things yourself is the stuff of legend, creating the issues list in the first place is a victory. Each issue is hard-won from combing through the data exhaust from the factory or hours spent FaceTiming factory counterparts at 1 AM. In 2021, the fact that there is an issue list in the first place is something to be grateful for. When we dedicate ourselves to looking for flaws, we find them. We have to find them to make fixing them possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the teams that are toiling away this week worried about an ongoing build happening in a faraway place and getting pulled into calls to unblock your teammates \u2013 remember that finding issues with part quality, process, design, and workmanship is progress. Once found, you can solve them. A long issues list is encouraging, particularly if it\u2019s longer than your list from last year. It means that your team and the process you\u2019ve created to counteract the unique challenges your manufacturing process has faced in the previous two years is catching what is bad. It means that the product you are building is meaningful enough that it couldn\u2019t be done on the first try \u2014 no matter how experienced your team is. And most importantly, it means you have a list of precisely what is standing between you and getting your product to your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you from everyone at Instrumental for building something meaningful enough to be hard. Thank you for striving to build better \u2013 in whichever ways you\u2019ve made those steps forward in these past two years. Help spread our gratitude for engineers doing hard things by sending this to an engineer who needs some encouragement this holiday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Best wishes in building better,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anna and the Instrumental Team<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For people like us \u2013 people who build physical products \u2013 our jobs look different today than we ever could<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-improve-product-quality"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In 2021, be thankful for your issues list - 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