The problem is not the tools we use, but how we use them. In the article, the engineer accepts too tight a deadline, "So you say OK (knowing if you don’t someone else will) and stay the extra few hours a night..." The people who assembled the elevator are no less intelligent than those who assembled them in 1970. In both cases, the laborer is rushing something in order to succeed against perceived competition.
News Flash: The customer cares about quality, and will pay more for it.
News Flash #2: There are multiple ways to gain a reputation that will drive business your way, #1 be the fastest (but not necessarily the best) or #2 create the best most elegant design (or at least one that works and looks better and is easier/less expensive to manufacture. In either case, the world will beat a path to your door.
UNLESS YOU NEED THAT EXTRA JOB TO SURVIVE, consider turning down jobs you know cannot be performed in the timeframe alotted AND IN A HIGH QUALITY MANNER. You'll discover the time with family, the opportunity to exercise, and relaxation to clear your head is worth more than the contract that's taking away the things you really want.
Where I work, we have very strict quality requirements that have forced us to no-bid jobs due to poor data or time constraints we know to be unrealistic. And yes, we've heard (many times) that there are others ready, willing and able to do what we won't. We've lost some business that way, but most of the time our customers know we're being honest with them or they try someone else and come back to get the quality they know we can deliver.
Quality pays, whether it is in your work or your personal life. Don't compromise!
|
not CAD's fault...
