Hardware Project Communication: How Small Misunderstandings Become BIG Problems

WEBVTT
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Picture this.
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Your engineering team has been working for weeks.
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Your supplier's been manufacturing for weeks and you're looking forward to the first
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units arriving, but when they arrive, they're not right.
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They're not broken.
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They're just not what you were expecting.
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Everybody seems to have done their job.
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Nobody's made a mistake.
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So, what's gone wrong?
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Well, it's communication.
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And today, we're going to get into why it's the silent killer of hardware projects.
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and more importantly what you can actually do about it.
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Let's get into it.
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You're listening to China manufacturing decoded from the Sofeast Group.
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Hello, welcome back to the podcast.
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Adrian hosting here and Paul Adams joins me. Hi Paul.
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How you doing Adrian?
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Good to see you again.
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Yes, very well thanks.
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Hope you're okay and the listeners as well.
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This is episode 347 and I wanted to cover a topic
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that most probably hardware teams might run into but maybe we don't talk
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about enough and that's how communication or maybe a lack of communication can
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actually affect the outcome of a project from day one.
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Well, it's it's all about communication.
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Okay, and this is what we're talking about and communication.
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It really does matter.
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Now, I know we've talked about communication and how we do things in
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the past, but I really want to drive this one home on this
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particular episode because it is so important.
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It's so important and we've come across these particular issues that I want
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to cover today, just recently on a couple of projects that
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that we've managed with customers uh just over the past few weeks. Okay?
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And this is really all about it.
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Communication is one thing, okay?
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But I' I've been working with teams for for many many years and
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and it's not just about hardware team let's say it's across the entire
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product development cycle and it's the communication gap that consistently lets the project
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down time in time out.
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Okay, this is the one thing that derails a project.
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Okay, it's the lack of consistency or how teams now when I'm talking
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about team I'm talking about internal team, external team, customer and we'll go
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through this later on but it's how that communication is failing which will derail your project.
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This is a big thing.
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Okay, it's a big thing.
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So yes, there is a lot at stake if we don't get this one right. Yeah. Yeah.
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So, I mean, you mentioned the D word and that's delays, right?
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And with hardware products, that's, you know, that that can be a real killer, right?
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So, how do we get from, you know, maybe misunderstandings or miscommunication to delays then?
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Um, well, you know, I I sort of shrug that off
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and say it's relatively obvious, but it's not.
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And this is the problem.
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You see it it's all about how people communicate in the team.
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Now I just mentioned team and and this is a cross functional team.
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Now I'm talking about the customer.
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I'm talking about the the point of contact on the main teams in
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some cases it's myself okay other other teams have different leaders.
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It's then the designers it's the engineers. It's procurement. It's quality.
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It's production, it's the supply chain itself.
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In other words, the multiple a plethora of different suppliers.
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Everybody needs to communicate the correct information at the right time. Okay?
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So, it's not just the correct information.
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It's at the right time and it's the understanding. Okay?
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Now, hardware has a tendency of hiding issues or errors until they become obvious.
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Now, what do I mean by that?
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It's well, for example, if you got a software, okay, and you got
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your software or your firmware, your an issue with your product, okay, okay, no, no problems.
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We we'll send over a patch.
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So, it's over the air sort of patch is going to come through.
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You download it and you're fixed. Okay. Virtually instantly.
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So, is it an issue?
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Well, it is an issue because the product hasn't worked correctly,
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but it's fixed virtually instantly as soon as you download it and
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and reboot the product and and away you go again. Okay?
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Hardware is hardware products don't do that. Okay?
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And the issues can be hidden until they come to the surface in the physical form. Okay?
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And this could well be the first time you see a prototype. Okay.
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So, let me set the scene. Okay.
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Customer comes in.
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Yes, we want to build this, this, and this, and this and this. Excellent.
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I have then interpreted it or the point of contact, let's say.
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I don't want to take the blame myself obviously, but we will interpret that information.
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It's not necessarily written down correctly or we taken the what is written down as that's it.
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That's all you need. Okay?
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Nothing else, nothing more.
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at it as that designers.
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Designers basically grant through that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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We'll design that. No problem.
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So they have then interpreted what I have passed on or what the
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point of contacts passed on.
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They have then worked with the software guys.
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So okay this needs to when I do this this needs to up
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could yep everything got it.
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We then build the prototype. Okay.
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And because there've been lack of communication backwards and forwards, the communication's been
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there, the documentation's been there, and it's all been passed down.
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Okay, the product has built-in assumptions.
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Now, we've talked about this in previous podcast, Adrian.
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Yeah, building in assumptions is very, very dangerous thing.
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Now, in this particular case, did anybody do anything wrong?
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No, not really.
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Yeah, because they were looking at the the documentation that was passed down
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from one person to the next to the next to the next.
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They have gone through that.
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They've got their own interpretation and we've built the prototype. Okay.
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Meeting customer prototype.
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Customer says, "What have we got there?" Your prototype.
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No, it's there's nothing like what we want.
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You didn't read this, this, and this, and this.
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And oh, by the way, ah, yeah, we forgot to tell you.
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Yeah, this this way around, not that way around.
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It wasn't written down because we assume that.
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This is where your delays get built up. Okay?
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And that's a very very easy thing to do believe it or not. Okay.
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Now we are way way more mature than that.
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And we've got a process in place that we we follow very very carefully
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and and and step process and that just doesn't happen uh unless okay
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there are communication barriers let's say uh from a let's say a language
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barrier for example which was the case in this particular case I was
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talking about this case study.
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So the delay doesn't actually [ __ ] show itself until it manifests into a physical form i.e. a prototype.
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Now can you imagine if this was a really big project and
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that first prototype say 6 months again you got 6 months worth of delay
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because you got to start again you know or potentially you got to
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correct some of the issues maybe not you know start all over again
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but uh you're certainly going to incur a delay because there were assumptions
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or the communication wasn't two-way it was only passed down one way
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right this is definitely an area that we needed to to take into consideration.
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I don't want to talk about that later on as well. Okay.
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Yep.
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So that sets the scene on why communication or miscommunication can be such an issue.
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A project normally can span, you know, could be a year, you know, like
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and lots of different phases, lots of different actions.
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Where do you feel like you often see, you know, projects go sideways
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because of miscommunication, let's say?
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Well, I've already touched on a couple of those things and and it's
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because it's the a multifunctional crossunctional team.
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There are so many different players involved in the communication plan, let's say,
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that we really need to be careful.
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Now we're talking about the customer has to provide the information to start with.
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So that that that's one step. Okay.
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And we generally we call that the the product requirement document
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or the the customer specification that comes from the customer. Okay.
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Sometimes, right, the customer doesn't know or doesn't know what they particularly want
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or don't know how to describe a certain feature or function within the product itself.
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So therefore, it's left out or omitted to start with.
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Okay, that is then interpreted as well or if it's not written down, it's clearly not required. Okay.
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Now, sometimes the designers see that and go, but surely if I press
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this button, then something needs to happen, but it's not within the product requirements specification.
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So, I'm just going to build a button that does nothing.
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Um well sometimes yeah and this is where we need to actually think smart
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and and luckily we do have a process in place which I can
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talk about in a minute to come up with these situations
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where they think okay so you've found an issue let's push
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that back upstream okay to to cross-check everything and this cross-checking
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is an issue with respect to not being done okay so we've got
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the designers interpreting the information that's passed down from from the customer.
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We got the engineers that are building various different things.
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We got the suppliers that are manufacturing components based upon the designers
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and the engineers information that we we're putting out.
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Now, sometimes the supplier will again just take the print as gospel. Okay?
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Okay.
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So, if we're sending out a drawing with high dimensions, low dimensions, no
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surface finish, or the wrong surface finish, sometimes they just just don't even ask questions.
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They just build it regardless.
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If the and I've seen this, and I've seen this, the metric
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and imperial system gets mixed up.
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Not very often.
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I've only seen this once to be fair.
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to be fair, you know, and the part I wanted was like this on the other side.
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The part I received was like this. Oh no. Yeah.
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Oh my goodness.
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You know, so what happened?
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Well, like 10 in.
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No, 10 mm.
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So, you know, it was just like crazy. What's that?
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You know, but again, lack of communication. Okay.
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So, it is all about the the the communication.
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And so the suppliers, we need to teach the suppliers to come back,
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you know, and question everything that we push to them and say, are
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you sure you want this?
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Yes, we are. Double check.
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Yes, we'll double check.
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We're all good.
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Thank you very much.
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Each of these departments has their own particular language or the way they
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describe things or technical terminologies.
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Okay, sometimes that is not understood.
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Sometimes the suppliers or the engineers will use acronyms and and the customer
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has got zero idea what we're talking about.
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Okay, that's not a good move.
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We need to make sure that we're talking clear, plain English in order for everybody to understand.
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Now, when I'm talking about English, even our designers that uh speak very
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little English use translation apps, you know, on the on our devices these days.
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So there's no excuses and there are no excuses, right?
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It has to be right.
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Uh set priorities. Okay.
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And eliminate assumptions or if you're making an assumption, make that assumption very very clear. Okay?
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So Mr.
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Customer, it's my assumption that's this, this, and this is the case
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because it hasn't been written down.
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This is what we assuming.
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Can you please confirm?
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Okay.
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All of these things that come into play need to be formulated
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and we've got a very good sort of communication plan set out in a jillion and southeast.
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And if your uh contract manufacturer doesn't have anything like that, it it
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it's not necessarily a red flag, but it's something that you really really
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should question with respect to the frequency of communication is not expected
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where you know where I'm expecting it.
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And you need frequent sort of communication push back from your team
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and this is something that we do a lot.
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Okay, we do sit down with the customers a lot and talk to them
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and say, "Question this, question that.
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Is this okay?
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We're not going to do this because it's going to be uh overtime
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or too expensive or we can't actually physically do it, etc
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." And we come to that discussion point and make sure everything is okay
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and everybody's on the same page. Okay.
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So, you know, it's it's all of these teams, all the different languages,
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and the best way around this is to have some sort of a plan
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as we're moving forward.
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Now, plan means make sure the communication goes two ways. Okay?
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Make sure the documentation is clearly understood each time it's passed down. Okay?
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Each time it's passed down, ask question.
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Do you understand it?
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What about this, this, and this, and this, and this?
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go through each of the bullet points.
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You go through each of the specifications, get that understanding fed back to you.
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So, it's not just a case of like pushing down the information.
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It's making sure that what you're pushing down that the person you're pushing
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it down to or the department pushing down to understands exactly what you're giving them.
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And again, this is where communication is done right or it's done wrong. Okay?
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it could have done wrong.
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It's just literally thrown over the fence and good luck. Okay.
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And some people were like that.
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You mentioned the plan and I think it's important to dig into that.
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Maybe we can use our own, you know, our own experience
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and the way things are at Agillian when we're dealing with uh customers
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who are bringing new hardware to the market, right?
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So like it's it's quite obvious that communication is very important
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but it can also go sideways as we've discussed.
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So how does the plan survive that?
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you mentioned, you know, questioning at each point and I think getting
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that, you know, getting that uh validation that people understand throughout that seems like an important point.
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But if you had to sort of say, well, this is the plan
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that we follow and then the listener can take that away, can't they?
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Yeah. Yeah. Sure.
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So it it starts at the beginning which is all about the customer's
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information um coming through and generally this is a specification that sets down
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what the product is all about.
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In other words the product requirement document product requirements we call it a product requirement document. Okay.
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So that's uh that that's point one. Okay.
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We never take that as granted. Okay.
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We will push back as soon as that comes through as a document. Right?
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We will take that and read it and and we will actually go
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back to the customer and say, "Look, we've got this.
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We've got this point here, point number 13.
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You've said this, this, and this, and this.
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I want to question that.
00:15:03.156 --> 00:15:08.491
I want I want to challenge you on this particular area because you're saying
00:15:08.866 --> 00:15:12.554
that you want a lot of power from the battery, but you want
00:15:12.776 --> 00:15:15.702
the battery the size of your fingernail.
00:15:15.852 --> 00:15:16.732
You can't have both.
00:15:16.732 --> 00:15:18.273
What do you want?
00:15:18.572 --> 00:15:19.907
What's more important to you?
00:15:20.026 --> 00:15:24.147
Is it size or is it power?" So we're always pushing back. Okay.
00:15:24.274 --> 00:15:29.160
So that's the first point of the communication with the with the customer
00:15:29.312 --> 00:15:33.856
and it is a a linear thing but it's it's a two-way. Okay.
00:15:34.383 --> 00:15:38.306
So information comes in with the customer comes down to the next step
00:15:38.610 --> 00:15:41.577
or goes up whichever way you want to go.
00:15:41.695 --> 00:15:45.416
So, it's really understanding the the the client's understandings.
00:15:45.521 --> 00:15:49.003
Like I said earlier, okay, and this is no fault of anybody
00:15:49.395 --> 00:15:53.385
and it's it's no no words or I'm not trying to slate anybody,
00:15:53.658 --> 00:15:56.020
but it it's the fact, okay?
00:15:56.202 --> 00:15:59.645
Sometimes you don't know what to put down, okay, on a particularly
00:15:59.755 --> 00:16:06.389
if it's your first time coming into the manufacturing world, they say, "I've got a fantastic product. Let's go.
00:16:06.574 --> 00:16:09.641
I'm gonna get this made in China or I know the right guys
00:16:10.761 --> 00:16:15.516
to do it and that's s clearly but I don't know how to
00:16:16.013 --> 00:16:19.910
describe technically what I need but don't worry we can help you with
00:16:20.731 --> 00:16:24.937
that other people not their first rodeo we get a very very detailed
00:16:25.317 --> 00:16:29.453
product requirement document okay but don't worry if it's not written down this
00:16:29.638 --> 00:16:33.146
is the skill with a communication plan that we have in place
00:16:33.427 --> 00:16:38.673
because we have to sit down and basically break that down break the
00:16:39.206 --> 00:16:44.687
uh sort of the customer community PR down, right, into segments and push back each question.
00:16:44.865 --> 00:16:45.560
Okay, what about this?
00:16:45.891 --> 00:16:46.584
What about this?
00:16:47.371 --> 00:16:48.430
I think there's something missing there.
00:16:48.825 --> 00:16:53.212
And particularly these days, right, it's easy to use tools, online tools, let's
00:16:53.669 --> 00:16:56.412
say, to actually cross check that does this make sense?
00:16:56.689 --> 00:17:01.326
Do you see any areas that are missing or areas that could be
00:17:01.455 --> 00:17:05.046
improved upon so can communicate back to to the customer?
00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:07.590
Okay, so that's the first point of call.
00:17:07.729 --> 00:17:11.188
The next thing is really the designers and the engineers. Okay.
00:17:11.947 --> 00:17:12.450
And it's that jump.
00:17:12.607 --> 00:17:17.519
Every time we we do a jump up up or down, doesn't matter.
00:17:18.010 --> 00:17:18.714
Let's go up, shall we?
00:17:19.378 --> 00:17:21.323
So, we got the customer coming in.
00:17:21.434 --> 00:17:24.652
They're coming into okay, we've got this product requirement document.
00:17:24.761 --> 00:17:29.902
The next step is designers and the engineers to have a look at that. Okay.
00:17:30.150 --> 00:17:33.426
We will then sit down with the R&D team.
00:17:33.554 --> 00:17:35.207
Call it the R&D team.
00:17:35.956 --> 00:17:40.685
We'll go through the the uh sort of the functional requirement uh the
00:17:41.103 --> 00:17:44.914
material requirement the environmental requirement whether the products indoors outdoors whether it's lighting
00:17:45.125 --> 00:17:49.692
whether it's like hardware whatever the case may be will go through all of
00:17:49.907 --> 00:17:54.854
that to make sure that the R&D team fully understands what the
00:17:54.975 --> 00:17:59.871
requirements are okay if they have any questions we will then go back
00:17:59.984 --> 00:18:02.976
to the customer so customers in we've for myself let's say new product
00:18:03.093 --> 00:18:07.837
development R&D R&D I got some questions so we'll go straight
00:18:08.212 --> 00:18:12.659
back to the customer okay generally new product development team are the interface
00:18:12.793 --> 00:18:16.569
between the customer and the rest of the the universe let's say okay
00:18:17.790 --> 00:18:22.070
so we are the conduit and we make a very good job of
00:18:22.204 --> 00:18:26.903
communicating with the customer from the customer to the to the internal team
00:18:27.313 --> 00:18:31.117
so we will make sure that this two-way communication never never stops.
00:18:31.221 --> 00:18:34.972
Okay, the next point of call, right, is engineering to supplier.
00:18:35.134 --> 00:18:38.687
Okay, now you can't make anything until you've got the design.
00:18:38.807 --> 00:18:42.755
Okay, the supplier can't physically manufacture anything until they've got the design.
00:18:42.878 --> 00:18:46.584
Okay, in other words, the drawings and the CAD.
00:18:47.085 --> 00:18:48.290
Okay, this is where we sit down again.
00:18:48.430 --> 00:18:54.039
We analyze the CAD, make sure the parts can go together, make sure
00:18:54.796 --> 00:18:55.291
that there's no clash points.
00:18:55.291 --> 00:18:56.963
We got internal review.
00:18:57.490 --> 00:19:01.925
We've got tools that will check everything from a from a CAD point of view.
00:19:02.255 --> 00:19:05.793
From a 2D drawing point of view, we'll analyze the tolerance stackup.
00:19:06.353 --> 00:19:09.791
We'll make sure the tolerances can be held and they are sensible.
00:19:10.219 --> 00:19:15.066
In other words, what we don't want is 0.002 on an external surface
00:19:15.172 --> 00:19:17.887
where it doesn't really matter. Okay?
00:19:18.223 --> 00:19:22.095
And again, we've talked about why that is the case in previous episodes.
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.668
So this review is then fed back to the customer again.
00:19:25.772 --> 00:19:29.692
So this is the CAD, these are the drawings.
00:19:29.834 --> 00:19:31.698
This is why we're doing this, this, and this.
00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:34.362
And we'll get the sign off. Okay.
00:19:34.753 --> 00:19:37.932
So again, we've got it's no longer a linear.
00:19:38.333 --> 00:19:41.191
All of a sudden, it's becoming a circle.
00:19:41.449 --> 00:19:45.558
So it's doing plan, do, check, act, plan, do, check, act, plan, do, check, act.
00:19:45.674 --> 00:19:49.195
It's all of this like continuous cycle where nobody lets go. Okay.
00:19:49.816 --> 00:19:55.771
is we're in a continuous handhold at this moment from a communication plan point of view. Okay.
00:19:55.896 --> 00:19:57.995
So the suppliers are now involved.
00:19:58.103 --> 00:20:03.131
The supplier will come back respect to this is how I'm going to make it.
00:20:03.314 --> 00:20:04.809
This is the tooling required.
00:20:04.937 --> 00:20:11.675
This is the service finish that we're going to do based upon your specifications. Everything's okay.
00:20:11.820 --> 00:20:12.520
This is the lead time.
00:20:12.788 --> 00:20:13.238
This is the cost.
00:20:13.803 --> 00:20:16.859
By the way, come and audit our factory.
00:20:17.585 --> 00:20:22.177
And the amount of factories that I've been around, I just can't can't remember.
00:20:22.464 --> 00:20:25.027
There's so many. Okay.
00:20:25.613 --> 00:20:28.754
It's always good to go and see your supplier. Okay.
00:20:28.947 --> 00:20:34.040
As a customer, if you can't come over to China, which I fully
00:20:34.416 --> 00:20:39.301
understand a lot of lot of people can't, make sure somebody from the
00:20:39.743 --> 00:20:43.103
team goes to see at least your critical suppliers. Okay?
00:20:43.277 --> 00:20:51.123
That is absolutely paramount because without that it's [clears throat] a little bit hit and miss.
00:20:51.492 --> 00:20:55.654
Now again we've got a plan in place that we don't work with suppliers
00:20:56.016 --> 00:21:01.983
that we haven't audited that are not on our pre-approved supplier list. Okay.
00:21:02.110 --> 00:21:06.983
So we know that we have or someone on our from our team
00:21:07.289 --> 00:21:11.553
has been around this critical supplier key supplier done the audit.
00:21:11.929 --> 00:21:18.291
We're very very happy with their performance and therefore this is why we use them. Okay.
00:21:18.483 --> 00:21:23.724
But if you can come over, we will definitely take you to the
00:21:24.059 --> 00:21:29.212
supplier to make sure you understand how your products being made in their particular environment.
00:21:29.945 --> 00:21:32.920
And again, communication all the way around.
00:21:33.233 --> 00:21:37.514
So our plan never stops going from backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards.
00:21:38.153 --> 00:21:40.853
Okay, let's talk about internal between departments.
00:21:41.129 --> 00:21:44.078
Now I've talked about new product development.
00:21:44.572 --> 00:21:45.967
I've talked about R&D.
00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:48.070
Then I talked about suppliers.
00:21:49.205 --> 00:21:53.611
Okay, clearly there's so many more people within that, let's call it supply
00:21:53.740 --> 00:21:58.300
chain in order to get a product from scratch to mass production.
00:21:58.409 --> 00:21:59.913
We're talking project managers.
00:22:00.364 --> 00:22:01.897
Absolutely key within our organization.
00:22:02.226 --> 00:22:06.460
Really, really, really useful because they help with the product.
00:22:06.645 --> 00:22:08.513
They're in communication with the customers.
00:22:09.081 --> 00:22:12.101
They're in communication with R&T.
00:22:12.231 --> 00:22:16.407
More importantly, they're in communication with suppliers, make sure everything is running smoothly.
00:22:16.969 --> 00:22:18.833
Okay, we've got procurement or purchasing.
00:22:19.186 --> 00:22:24.607
Okay, these are the guys that are dealing with purchase orders, making sure
00:22:25.210 --> 00:22:29.521
that the quantities are correct, making sure that the lead times are coming
00:22:29.667 --> 00:22:33.242
in, making sure that everything's been delivered correctly.
00:22:33.362 --> 00:22:35.481
Okay, we've got production planning.
00:22:35.829 --> 00:22:37.157
Okay, we've got quality team.
00:22:37.511 --> 00:22:41.383
Quality team, don't forget the guys on the quality team.
00:22:41.731 --> 00:22:42.877
absolutely critical from communication point of view.
00:22:43.318 --> 00:22:47.618
Okay, so you can see where I'm going here.
00:22:47.962 --> 00:22:50.893
We've got all of these people, right?
00:22:51.381 --> 00:22:52.909
Continuously talking to each other.
00:22:53.361 --> 00:22:58.690
And what really comes to the plate is the customers right in the
00:22:59.076 --> 00:23:05.036
middle with respect to we will have weekly, bi-weekly, minimum once a month. Okay.
00:23:05.184 --> 00:23:10.441
some big customers, some big projects, not big customers, big projects, you know,
00:23:10.757 --> 00:23:15.820
it's depending on where you are in a phase, but critical phases with big projects.
00:23:16.103 --> 00:23:20.259
We'll have two or three meetings a week. Yeah. Okay.
00:23:20.506 --> 00:23:21.569
Who's in who's in those meetings?
00:23:21.744 --> 00:23:28.437
Well, all of the key players, what we call the core team. Okay.
00:23:28.840 --> 00:23:32.992
So, the core team would be new product development, your project manager.
00:23:33.150 --> 00:23:36.575
We've got different elements from R&D.
00:23:36.923 --> 00:23:41.513
We've got the mechanical guys, we've got the electronics guys, we've got the
00:23:42.211 --> 00:23:46.789
software guys, we've got our PMS, we've got the quality guy, we've got
00:23:46.928 --> 00:23:49.297
um PPM, so production project manager.
00:23:49.414 --> 00:23:55.034
Okay, the core team will sit down and we'll discuss with the customer
00:23:55.702 --> 00:23:58.218
this is the progress are you happy any changes?
00:23:58.448 --> 00:24:02.974
Okay, so communication plan is very very solid within our organization.
00:24:03.111 --> 00:24:07.175
One thing that I just want to bring up just while I can,
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.995
Adrian, is changes mid projects.
00:24:10.718 --> 00:24:12.470
Well, that is a recipe for delay.
00:24:12.606 --> 00:24:17.526
I can tell you now that now because everything's going to plan.
00:24:17.815 --> 00:24:18.760
Okay, communication is great.
00:24:19.093 --> 00:24:24.546
Okay, now sometimes there will be an obvious requirement for change
00:24:24.927 --> 00:24:29.558
or the customer will understand that the market he's selling into is a shift. Okay.
00:24:30.094 --> 00:24:35.060
And if he stays where he is, he's going to miss the opportunity.
00:24:35.185 --> 00:24:39.905
So he has to change technology, change the direction, change the shape, change
00:24:40.273 --> 00:24:42.452
something through no fault of anybody's. Okay?
00:24:43.214 --> 00:24:44.810
It's just a market change.
00:24:44.947 --> 00:24:50.016
Sometimes it's just uh h the ums are okay, let's discuss that. Okay.
00:24:50.278 --> 00:24:54.474
So but when I say let's discuss that not not now
00:24:55.434 --> 00:24:59.428
but yeah it's one of those situations where we need to discuss
00:25:00.009 --> 00:25:04.102
that with a customer okay why do you want to change this to
00:25:04.466 --> 00:25:09.298
this yeah small changes I'm talking about because if you if you do
00:25:09.529 --> 00:25:14.306
that there's going to big delay okay incur more costs from design development
00:25:14.502 --> 00:25:19.319
throw away all the prototypes we've already done if you're in the tooling
00:25:19.446 --> 00:25:25.335
scrap the tooling okay so any change mid project will cost you time
00:25:25.494 --> 00:25:26.445
and money and increase stress levels.
00:25:27.192 --> 00:25:31.817
Okay, so I just want to throw that one on the end there.
00:25:32.641 --> 00:25:35.502
So our communication is very very solid, right?
00:25:35.767 --> 00:25:39.051
And it always goes back to the customer.
00:25:39.576 --> 00:25:41.176
Communication with a customer is absolutely key.
00:25:41.604 --> 00:25:47.001
Without that recipe for disaster, okay, so okay, that was a not necessarily
00:25:47.001 --> 00:25:51.036
a short intro to our plan, but uh I think pretty solid.
00:25:51.730 --> 00:25:55.979
No, no, that's good that because we know that it works
00:25:56.166 --> 00:26:01.058
and I mean I think I think it's good to talk about the
00:26:01.499 --> 00:26:07.547
different handoffs and what people are doing to sort of maintain the integrity of the information.
00:26:07.691 --> 00:26:12.500
I I think maybe a really bad situation is if you've got kind
00:26:13.270 --> 00:26:17.143
of like a a situation of like Chinese whispers, right?
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.118
I don't know is that politically correct these days?
00:26:20.543 --> 00:26:22.942
I'm going to say yes. Right.
00:26:23.457 --> 00:26:27.033
and and uh and where you know there's there's the there's the requirement
00:26:28.206 --> 00:26:33.757
then somebody will pass that on to a colleague but maybe there's a miscommunication
00:26:33.868 --> 00:26:38.798
and then it just continues on down the track and then obviously you're
00:26:39.154 --> 00:26:42.994
you're staring delays costs etc in the face after that.
00:26:43.171 --> 00:26:43.983
Well, that's right.
00:26:43.983 --> 00:26:51.623
And that's one of the things that I'll just reiterate that is something that I said earlier.
00:26:51.733 --> 00:26:56.040
It's not just necessarily a case of like passing the information down
00:26:56.227 --> 00:27:00.431
and hoping for the best and assuming that the person you're passing the
00:27:00.618 --> 00:27:05.000
information down to, regardless of where that communication chain is, never assume
00:27:05.804 --> 00:27:09.315
that they have read it or understood it. Okay?
00:27:09.415 --> 00:27:12.406
This is why our communication plan works. Okay?
00:27:12.571 --> 00:27:15.171
because we ask questions with respect to John.
00:27:15.711 --> 00:27:21.439
I'm just going to pass you down the specification for XYZ. Okay, great. Thanks Paul.
00:27:21.439 --> 00:27:26.074
So the next question would be I would then challenge John for example
00:27:26.217 --> 00:27:29.341
and are you okay with this factor?
00:27:29.793 --> 00:27:30.486
What about this function here?
00:27:30.625 --> 00:27:33.073
Are you sure we can do this?
00:27:33.459 --> 00:27:37.704
And is there a time delay if we change that?
00:27:37.930 --> 00:27:41.283
Okay, in other words, I'm challenging what I've sent down. Okay.
00:27:41.696 --> 00:27:45.369
Making John I'm just using his name. Okay.
00:27:45.544 --> 00:27:50.997
To make sure that he's read it and so he's coming back
00:27:51.789 --> 00:27:53.518
and say, "Ah, yeah, I see the Bluetooth here.
00:27:54.122 --> 00:27:59.266
Oh, be careful with this component because I last time I heard this
00:27:59.627 --> 00:28:05.664
was going to go end of [clears throat] life." So, we may need
00:28:05.781 --> 00:28:07.081
to to change the uh component on that.
00:28:07.801 --> 00:28:12.504
So, always challenge right regardless of where you are in that chain. Okay?
00:28:12.683 --> 00:28:14.833
Purchasing always challenge the supplier.
00:28:14.979 --> 00:28:19.398
Make sure you know is there any delays or any issues?
00:28:19.501 --> 00:28:20.300
What about material?
00:28:20.428 --> 00:28:22.007
Do you have stock?
00:28:22.007 --> 00:28:23.925
blah blah blah blah.
00:28:24.033 --> 00:28:28.572
Okay, so always challenge and make sure not necessarily did we send it?
00:28:29.351 --> 00:28:30.113
Yes, tick the box.
00:28:30.326 --> 00:28:32.167
Forget about it. No.
00:28:32.282 --> 00:28:33.269
Did we send it?
00:28:33.508 --> 00:28:35.071
Yes, I did.
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:39.141
Did the person I send it to understood what I sent?
00:28:39.141 --> 00:28:41.256
Okay, that's the question. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:41.708 --> 00:28:46.118
I guess getting that engagement from each each sort of handoff.
00:28:46.476 --> 00:28:50.157
I think that's that's a really important sort of key point here
00:28:50.635 --> 00:28:55.224
because it is, you know, somebody sends me a document and they're like,
00:28:55.801 --> 00:28:57.261
"All right, there you go.
00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:02.481
I might be in the middle of something and then I don't look
00:29:03.151 --> 00:29:07.974
at it straight away." Well, yeah, but if that's an if that's an
00:29:08.219 --> 00:29:13.314
important component that we're meant to be purchasing and then I've not looked
00:29:13.417 --> 00:29:17.793
at it for a few days and then I'm coming back
00:29:17.793 --> 00:29:22.973
as, I don't know, somebody in purchasing and saying, "Oh, no, actually we
00:29:22.973 --> 00:29:28.696
can't get that." Well, that's a few days down the drain sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:28.798 --> 00:29:34.457
And inherently it does cause delays because if we say to the customer,
00:29:35.048 --> 00:29:39.818
don't worry, I'll pass that down to the R&D guys, they're going
00:29:39.923 --> 00:29:44.277
to pick it up today because I've assumed that it's then they they
00:29:44.398 --> 00:29:49.445
miss it for a couple of days and and oh by the way,
00:29:49.676 --> 00:29:54.904
tomorrow's a holiday and I'll pick it up on Monday and oh by
00:29:55.019 --> 00:29:57.918
the way, Wednesday we're off.
00:29:58.452 --> 00:30:00.591
So it wasn't actually seen come back after October.
00:30:01.649 --> 00:30:03.594
Forgotten all about it.
00:30:03.748 --> 00:30:07.055
So it's a case of making sure that that is done correctly. Yeah. Okay.
00:30:07.245 --> 00:30:12.194
I hope everybody who's listening is not thinking, "Yeah, my project's really messy
00:30:12.361 --> 00:30:16.980
and people are having a miscommunication and things like that, but it's quite possible
00:30:17.101 --> 00:30:20.204
that either it is a little bit like that right now
00:30:20.792 --> 00:30:24.492
or we've all been through scenarios like that in the past, right?
00:30:24.643 --> 00:30:28.998
So, if that's ringing a bell to the listeners, I think there are
00:30:29.526 --> 00:30:32.528
a few takeaways that we can leave them with, right?
00:30:32.884 --> 00:30:35.674
That that we can kind of go through those.
00:30:36.045 --> 00:30:40.123
So I think there's five takeaways that you can share, right, about how
00:30:40.317 --> 00:30:43.749
to walk away and how to kind of improve communication uh and uh
00:30:43.948 --> 00:30:48.295
and maybe reduce the risks of issues that we've been discussing.
00:30:48.494 --> 00:30:49.185
Yeah, sure.
00:30:49.373 --> 00:30:51.879
Yeah, I will go over those and it's and I think it's really
00:30:52.351 --> 00:30:58.200
important to to potentially talk a little bit slower here, Paul, for everybody to understand.
00:30:58.620 --> 00:31:02.955
Takeaway number one, Adrian, is which you just talked about, which we just
00:31:03.904 --> 00:31:04.425
sort of finished on is the handoff.
00:31:05.333 --> 00:31:06.023
Okay, audit your handoff.
00:31:06.599 --> 00:31:08.706
Okay, so in other words, take out a pencil.
00:31:09.150 --> 00:31:12.477
Theoretically, you're going to do it on the computer, right?
00:31:12.603 --> 00:31:17.701
And mark off, yes, I have sent that document down to the next.
00:31:17.901 --> 00:31:20.193
Okay, make sure, okay, you ask the questions.
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:22.916
In other words, you challenge some of the points.
00:31:23.453 --> 00:31:24.602
Now, this does two things.
00:31:24.733 --> 00:31:27.470
one, it makes sure that you understand what you're passing down.
00:31:27.754 --> 00:31:33.645
So, if I take the customer's product requirement document and say, "Thank you very much, Mr.
00:31:34.513 --> 00:31:37.461
Customer." I don't even read it and pass it down to R&D. Okay?
00:31:37.659 --> 00:31:39.460
I've only got myself to blame. Okay?
00:31:39.723 --> 00:31:45.573
So, I need to make sure that I'm reading that, make sure I've disseminated the information correctly.
00:31:46.014 --> 00:31:48.771
I've understood what I'm passing down.
00:31:49.274 --> 00:31:52.206
I then challenge all who I'm passing it down to to make sure
00:31:52.455 --> 00:31:54.978
that they are too understanding it. Okay.
00:31:55.436 --> 00:31:59.403
And again, you need to make sure that you're auditing your own handoffs
00:31:59.512 --> 00:32:05.781
and if you are responsible for the communication plan, make sure everybody else understands that as well.
00:32:05.882 --> 00:32:11.486
So that's the first thing because this is where assumptions get built in, assumptions get built in. Guess what?
00:32:11.908 --> 00:32:13.993
We got issues, delays, and incurred costs down. Okay?
00:32:14.790 --> 00:32:16.642
And that takes us neatly on.
00:32:16.798 --> 00:32:20.388
I was just about to say so and we're just talking about assumptions
00:32:21.213 --> 00:32:26.749
and this is where assumptions it's okay to make assumptions as long as they are visible.
00:32:27.626 --> 00:32:31.583
Now I mentioned this earlier when you're talking to anybody you know
00:32:31.777 --> 00:32:35.432
and in particular I do this with customers right the assumption is Mr.
00:32:35.536 --> 00:32:38.906
Customer that we will mold this from polyropane and here's why. Okay.
00:32:39.534 --> 00:32:44.545
because it's not on the product requirement and specification or document cuz you've said durable product. Okay.
00:32:44.898 --> 00:32:50.517
Always make your assumptions visible at the start of any project or each phase. Okay?
00:32:50.846 --> 00:32:51.808
Have them written down.
00:32:51.926 --> 00:32:56.467
Even if it's assumption, write down that assumption and share them with everybody that is mattering. Okay?
00:32:56.893 --> 00:33:01.297
In other words, the stakeholders whether they'll be up or down. Okay?
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:02.371
Share it with a customer.
00:33:02.657 --> 00:33:04.243
Share it with R&D.
00:33:04.554 --> 00:33:06.176
Share it with the tooling guys.
00:33:06.711 --> 00:33:08.817
Share it with the supplier. Okay?
00:33:09.196 --> 00:33:09.979
It's the assumption.
00:33:10.290 --> 00:33:10.740
Write it down.
00:33:10.740 --> 00:33:11.988
Get the buy in. Okay?
00:33:12.112 --> 00:33:15.788
That way nobody's going to say, "Oh, I didn't know." Okay?
00:33:16.190 --> 00:33:19.479
Cuz that is again incurring delays, cost, okay, and issues.
00:33:20.069 --> 00:33:22.896
Number three, takeaway number three, confirm, understand, not just receipt. Okay?
00:33:23.813 --> 00:33:26.822
This is very very uh sort of hand inhand with number one here.
00:33:27.233 --> 00:33:31.164
After sharing the requirements or specification or drawings or the CAD
00:33:31.438 --> 00:33:35.360
or whatever the case may be, make sure you ask the party
00:33:35.512 --> 00:33:39.039
or the person or the team that you pass that to tell you
00:33:39.617 --> 00:33:40.838
all about the product itself.
00:33:40.945 --> 00:33:43.071
Tell you all about the product.
00:33:43.223 --> 00:33:46.171
Tell you all about this the document.
00:33:46.837 --> 00:33:48.011
Tell you about the specification. Okay. Ask them.
00:33:48.591 --> 00:33:49.278
Okay, play dumb.
00:33:50.270 --> 00:33:52.007
Okay, so I'm not just talking about me.
00:33:52.316 --> 00:33:53.529
I'm not talking about the customer.
00:33:53.653 --> 00:33:57.323
I'm talking about the person that's passed it down, regardless of
00:33:57.585 --> 00:34:00.620
where they are in the that supply chain.
00:34:00.813 --> 00:34:02.879
Ask them, I just passed you a document down.
00:34:03.496 --> 00:34:07.342
I didn't really understand it because, you know, it's not my area of expertise.
00:34:07.457 --> 00:34:10.255
Explain it to me.
00:34:10.410 --> 00:34:11.689
Okay, that's not a smart way of doing it.
00:34:12.073 --> 00:34:17.357
Okay, particularly if you're a mechanical guy and it's going down to electronics.
00:34:17.490 --> 00:34:21.772
If you're an electronics guy and it's going down the mechanical guy for example.
00:34:22.287 --> 00:34:27.620
Okay, that's a very very good way to play the confirm your understanding of the product itself.
00:34:27.939 --> 00:34:29.331
Okay, now here's a good one.
00:34:29.550 --> 00:34:31.554
Okay, create one source source of truth.
00:34:31.680 --> 00:34:34.844
Okay, now what do I mean by that?
00:34:34.947 --> 00:34:36.830
There's one single document that is the Bible.
00:34:37.219 --> 00:34:41.539
Okay, now what I'm talking about here is obviously right the requirement document. Okay.
00:34:42.330 --> 00:34:43.594
Now, this is something that we do.
00:34:44.267 --> 00:34:48.934
We go back to that product requirement document and this is why we
00:34:49.191 --> 00:34:51.812
communicate with the customer so much on this particular document.
00:34:52.209 --> 00:34:56.819
We make sure that every single line, I mean, every single line is understood
00:34:57.274 --> 00:35:01.148
and challenged with the customer because that is our single source of truth.
00:35:01.395 --> 00:35:05.645
That is the product written down line by line, bullet point by bullet point.
00:35:06.190 --> 00:35:10.535
And not just it's blue, it's what panone color, right?
00:35:10.686 --> 00:35:11.721
Is it soft touch?
00:35:12.082 --> 00:35:12.904
Is it molded?
00:35:13.037 --> 00:35:13.590
Is it painted?
00:35:13.736 --> 00:35:14.455
Is it whatever the case may be?
00:35:15.112 --> 00:35:17.436
So much detail in that particular document.
00:35:17.784 --> 00:35:20.047
It is the single source of truth.
00:35:20.385 --> 00:35:22.287
Make sure your product requirement document is as detailed.
00:35:22.630 --> 00:35:26.479
I mean as detailed as possible because everybody should come back to
00:35:26.761 --> 00:35:29.896
that document to cross check this is what the function said.
00:35:30.069 --> 00:35:31.210
Yes, it does. Okay.
00:35:31.558 --> 00:35:33.995
Regardless of what that is. Okay.
00:35:34.161 --> 00:35:37.823
And again, communication that is where we'll be basing our communication from.
00:35:37.925 --> 00:35:39.360
Go back to the customer.
00:35:39.522 --> 00:35:45.046
Challenge as it's passing down, ask questions, make sure everybody's understood what's being passed around. Okay.
00:35:45.330 --> 00:35:46.579
And finally, document changes.
00:35:46.932 --> 00:35:51.643
Well, I've seen some issues here in the past in my how many years been doing this. Mhm.
00:35:52.053 --> 00:35:54.208
They nearly go away my age.
00:35:54.612 --> 00:35:58.873
If there's a product in development stage, okay, and we need to make
00:35:59.725 --> 00:36:03.307
a design change, okay, the best thing to do is change it quickly.
00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:07.053
In other words, rapid iteration, okay, because that way you can test
00:36:07.456 --> 00:36:11.727
and test and test and test until you got something that's working.
00:36:11.940 --> 00:36:12.507
Okay, perfectly okay.
00:36:13.371 --> 00:36:13.821
As long as everything's documented down.
00:36:14.053 --> 00:36:15.701
Version one included this.
00:36:15.928 --> 00:36:18.460
Version two, no, it didn't work.
00:36:18.750 --> 00:36:19.481
Version three, no, it didn't work.
00:36:19.592 --> 00:36:22.560
Version four, wow, we're getting there. Okay.
00:36:22.715 --> 00:36:25.222
So, we're documenting down every change that we're doing. Okay.
00:36:25.394 --> 00:36:29.787
formally, okay, within R&D to make sure that the product gets from
00:36:30.381 --> 00:36:31.688
not working to exceptionally working.
00:36:31.849 --> 00:36:35.436
Okay, now once we go to pre-production stage, right, that's a different
00:36:35.584 --> 00:36:40.072
ball game because now we've released products into tooling, suppliers have produced parts
00:36:40.618 --> 00:36:43.081
and we're starting to build that on the production line.
00:36:43.457 --> 00:36:44.760
In other words, it's pre-roduction. Okay.
00:36:44.866 --> 00:36:50.246
If there's a change and that gets introduced without any formal system, let's say,
00:36:50.633 --> 00:36:55.298
and I say, well, actually, I don't I don't want this black anymore.
00:36:55.878 --> 00:36:57.309
I want I want the white one. Okay.
00:36:58.047 --> 00:36:59.563
So, all right. No problems.
00:36:59.693 --> 00:37:01.921
R&D white crossed out black. Put white.
00:37:02.542 --> 00:37:06.588
That gets released, sent down to the purchasing team, purchasing send it off
00:37:06.708 --> 00:37:09.431
to the customer, and everything comes in white.
00:37:09.869 --> 00:37:11.290
Goes into the warehouse.
00:37:11.766 --> 00:37:16.385
warehouse then and get an order for we need to build another 10,000 of these mouse.
00:37:16.600 --> 00:37:17.050
Okay, no problems.
00:37:17.766 --> 00:37:20.169
So, they're just going to pick the boxes.
00:37:20.431 --> 00:37:21.135
They go down.
00:37:21.656 --> 00:37:24.205
Half of them are white, half of them are black.
00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:26.207
Now, what's going on?
00:37:27.233 --> 00:37:28.348
What What do you want?
00:37:28.479 --> 00:37:29.423
White or black?
00:37:29.783 --> 00:37:30.803
Which one's correct?
00:37:31.061 --> 00:37:31.511
Okay.
00:37:31.511 --> 00:37:33.809
Well, the answer is whatever, you know, because we don't know.
00:37:34.424 --> 00:37:38.161
It wasn't formally identified within the system that we're going to go from
00:37:38.316 --> 00:37:42.138
white to black or black to white or whatever the change is.
00:37:42.682 --> 00:37:46.022
There has to be a system in place that captures any change.
00:37:46.143 --> 00:37:49.178
I mean any change a screw going from 2 mm to 3 mm
00:37:50.892 --> 00:37:52.357
that can throw the whole system out.
00:37:52.921 --> 00:37:56.666
Now everybody knows this is the ECR engineer and change request.
00:37:56.959 --> 00:37:58.734
Okay, that's one terminology for it.
00:37:59.729 --> 00:38:01.552
But it has to be in place. Okay.
00:38:01.927 --> 00:38:05.556
As soon as you go to tooling, anything after that has to have
00:38:06.367 --> 00:38:10.175
formal change request and it just go through the process change.
00:38:10.288 --> 00:38:11.046
Why is it changing?
00:38:11.420 --> 00:38:11.870
Okay.
00:38:12.712 --> 00:38:13.423
How much is it going to change?
00:38:13.697 --> 00:38:14.863
What's the cost?
00:38:15.624 --> 00:38:16.074
What about the inventory level?
00:38:16.674 --> 00:38:17.819
Is there any scrap involved?
00:38:18.047 --> 00:38:18.497
Yeah.
00:38:18.497 --> 00:38:19.606
What's the lead time?
00:38:19.976 --> 00:38:21.030
What about production?
00:38:21.238 --> 00:38:22.391
Are we in continuous production?
00:38:22.512 --> 00:38:26.340
How's that going to affect the uh sort of the work in progress?
00:38:26.666 --> 00:38:29.463
All this right is managed through that system. Okay.
00:38:29.606 --> 00:38:33.281
and it's easily understood and all the answers are there but
00:38:33.456 --> 00:38:38.259
if it's not in the system you got chaos I mean absolute disaster
00:38:38.510 --> 00:38:42.714
okay you have to have a formal document change and again that's all about communication.
00:38:42.857 --> 00:38:47.681
well sounds like common sense right but it does no doubt people could come
00:38:48.476 --> 00:38:51.499
as serious cropper and have done from this kind of thing
00:38:51.782 --> 00:38:55.653
because all it takes is a is a sort of a voice note
00:38:55.842 --> 00:39:00.123
on WhatsApp or a straight email and somebody's like, "Oh, right. Yeah, okay.
00:39:00.665 --> 00:39:04.524
I got to change that." And then it doesn't it doesn't get logged
00:39:04.921 --> 00:39:06.890
and everyone else doesn't know what's going on.
00:39:07.022 --> 00:39:08.190
So, yeah, absolutely.
00:39:08.337 --> 00:39:12.439
It's definitely sounds simple, but it's totally worth reminding everybody of.
00:39:12.600 --> 00:39:13.385
Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. It is.
00:39:14.048 --> 00:39:19.801
So, but I just uh the start of the program I I did say
00:39:19.997 --> 00:39:22.865
that um and we've experienced this in house.
00:39:23.036 --> 00:39:28.096
Now let me explain that because I don't want anybody going hold on
00:39:28.269 --> 00:39:33.749
a minute Paul you said that you experience but you didn't explain what
00:39:33.874 --> 00:39:39.126
so this hopefully I'll catch this in time this again you know working
00:39:39.443 --> 00:39:44.785
with a Chinese team here in China we got call it western companies
00:39:45.175 --> 00:39:50.450
western c customers coming in regardless where US or Europe doesn't matter okay
00:39:51.198 --> 00:39:55.692
or other countries they come in basically it was the an email communication came in.
00:39:55.921 --> 00:40:01.608
Sometimes our guys can't read English very well and one of the uh
00:40:02.119 --> 00:40:05.618
sort of the people who use the the app.
00:40:05.752 --> 00:40:08.963
They then made some interpretations. Okay.
00:40:09.187 --> 00:40:13.747
And went off and passed that information on to the R&D guy
00:40:14.065 --> 00:40:16.178
and basically said, "Oh, okay.
00:40:17.029 --> 00:40:19.993
So, you want this component a little bit bigger." Okay.
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:25.238
Well, by the time it got back to the customer, luckily this just
00:40:25.698 --> 00:40:28.048
very very early stages of concept development.
00:40:28.382 --> 00:40:34.227
Okay, the actual product stuck out the top of the the component
00:40:34.647 --> 00:40:37.588
that was interpreted right stuck out the top of the product.
00:40:37.701 --> 00:40:40.845
Okay, clearly that's that's not the case.
00:40:41.195 --> 00:40:48.505
Okay, so it was an early case of like misunderstanding or mis uh misunderstanding from the translation. Okay.
00:40:48.634 --> 00:40:53.219
And when it went into design, they literally said, "Oh, okay.
00:40:53.507 --> 00:40:58.423
You want this product this big, but it's going to stick out the top.
00:40:58.992 --> 00:41:04.395
Um, and they didn't use their logic in this particular case." And sent
00:41:04.994 --> 00:41:06.170
that back to the customer.
00:41:06.917 --> 00:41:13.206
Customer said, "No, that's not exactly what I want." But we got that cleared up very easily.
00:41:13.549 --> 00:41:16.369
Now, again, yes, we did experience that.
00:41:16.724 --> 00:41:22.020
But the key thing is we went back to the customer very quickly
00:41:22.128 --> 00:41:25.587
and said, "Look, we've got an issue here.
00:41:25.940 --> 00:41:27.152
I think there's something wrong.
00:41:27.275 --> 00:41:29.348
Okay, let's clear this up.
00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:31.813
Okay, and then we move forward.
00:41:31.919 --> 00:41:37.635
So again, it's a case of like making sure all the commission go
00:41:38.061 --> 00:41:40.625
communication goes back to the customer at all times.
00:41:41.470 --> 00:41:45.116
Because of this particular case, everything was like, oh no problems.
00:41:45.216 --> 00:41:50.413
After the meeting, we're all cleared up and we moved on.
00:41:50.961 --> 00:41:56.776
But again, this is communication plan that managed to save this particular case.
00:41:57.243 --> 00:42:00.837
If it hadn't, can you imagine if we didn't talk to the customer
00:42:00.952 --> 00:42:04.372
and we continued down that road?
00:42:05.057 --> 00:42:09.203
Okay, six months worth of delay, you know, more cost, etc., etc., etc., right?
00:42:09.453 --> 00:42:15.097
In this case, it was like a two-day delay with respect to
00:42:15.353 --> 00:42:20.611
well, not a delay even, but it was two days before we actually
00:42:20.889 --> 00:42:26.292
went back to the customer because that's how quick we actually communicate with
00:42:26.404 --> 00:42:28.519
people is, oh, we found an issue.
00:42:28.638 --> 00:42:30.603
Okay, communicate always, always, always.
00:42:31.378 --> 00:42:35.502
And and I think that's a great way to finish off because
00:42:35.969 --> 00:42:40.605
that really sort of kind of proves the point, right?
00:42:40.875 --> 00:42:46.499
And so for for me, what I'm taking from this is documenting is great.
00:42:46.808 --> 00:42:51.341
Obviously, that's very important and I like having the sort of one master
00:42:51.803 --> 00:42:55.569
PRD document which which everybody it's kind of the gospel.
00:42:55.999 --> 00:43:00.303
Um but also actually having the validation of what you shared.
00:43:00.491 --> 00:43:03.436
So okay, I'm giving you this document.
00:43:03.583 --> 00:43:07.294
This is what we need for the next step.
00:43:07.629 --> 00:43:10.391
Now, do you understand what what's going on?
00:43:10.541 --> 00:43:15.359
You know, can you play it back to me as it were?
00:43:15.559 --> 00:43:19.624
And that's how you're going to avoid your delays and and costs and
00:43:20.321 --> 00:43:22.805
and the rest of it.
00:43:22.967 --> 00:43:27.659
So, some of the things we dig into are quite complex,
00:43:28.426 --> 00:43:32.634
but this one is kind of common sense in a way, but
00:43:33.098 --> 00:43:38.208
if you don't think about it or you didn't think about it yet,
00:43:38.933 --> 00:43:42.259
then it's something that could be easy to get wrong. So, yep.
00:43:42.515 --> 00:43:47.356
I think great to dig into it today, Paul. Thanks.
00:43:47.558 --> 00:43:50.767
Check out the resources, guys, in the show notes.
00:43:50.905 --> 00:43:52.452
There'll be links to other helpful things.
00:43:53.201 --> 00:43:55.775
We'll be back next week.
00:43:55.930 --> 00:43:57.898
We will see you then.
00:43:58.247 --> 00:44:03.969
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