It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.

One should not be timid about committing, but one should commit only when one has a clear sense of goals and means. Invariably, it is more complicated and potentially more costly to undo an action already under way than to change a decision before it is acted upon.

This principle has specific meaning in many fields, including the transition of engineering solutions to manufacturing, something I’ve experienced first-hand during the transition to production of extremely complicated and exacting government electronic systems.

By involving all elements of the team – including manufacturing – early in the design process, producibility will be built in. Designing in quality is a lot more effective than inspecting – or testing – it is later. Customers understand this acutely. Get your suppliers on board, too.

Put another way: remember your first speeding ticket? It was so easy to exceed the limit, but there would have been so much less pain in the long run if you had just observed good process – and the speed limit.​

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