Engineers solve problems, not issues - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 08:44:20 am
content: Engineers essentially solve problems, but we deal with issues as well. I once worked for a medical electronics business designing medical devices where the CEO said to me "To you, everything is a problem.", to which I replied, "Yep, that's my job. As an engineer my role is to solve problems." He said we should never write the word "problem" on any documentation, but use the word "issue", else it will raise the eyebrows of the regulatory auditors. When I studied mathematics, the textbooks all said "Solve the following problems." Never, ever did I ever see a textbook stating "Solve the following issues."The overuse of the latest political correct buzzword word "issues" reached a new peak today. One of our biggest banks (NAB) went down for half a day this morning throughout Australia, and many small retailers and their customers could not do business. NAB never called it a problem in their media releases, only "issues". No, the outage was &@$%#problemwhich they had to fix. An issue would be that the bank crash highlights why a cashless society is risky.This sounds trivial maybe, but I think political correctness has gone haywire, even in the ranks of engineering. Fundamentally, we are problem solvers. Filtering out conductive noise on the mains from a switch mode power supply design is a problem to be solved, not an issue. Am I right, wrong, or just old?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 09:10:22 am
content: Wording is important when discussing things like this, so you don't get sued. This is not great, but it is a part of modern world.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 09:15:56 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on May 26, 2018, 09:10:22 amExactly.The issue was the problem so the problem was the issue.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 12:38:27 pm
content: Quote from: wilfred on May 26, 2018, 09:18:44 amPrecisely. This type of language distinction and use is actually done for legal and insurance liability reasons, despite the gratuitous attempt to politicize it.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 12:41:10 pm
content: Surely they are both 'opportunities' anyway.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 12:49:15 pm
content: Not at all, they are clearly unintended features,Device doesnt turn on? Low power modeDevice catches fire? Hand warmerDevice Explodes? Easter egg!

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 12:50:23 pm
content: You forget, we don't address problems or issues -- we providesolutions!Tim

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 02:28:54 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on May 26, 2018, 08:44:20 amI don't argue with anything you've said - but it isn't political correctness. It's called "spin doctoring". You use terms that are less harsh in the way they come across, rather than put a hard label on something. This allows the wordsmiths to write around whatever went south and make it seem not quite as bad or worrisome. It also makes the organisation less exposed to the extremist who will latch onto the word "problem" and go to town on it.It's all bullshit, of course, but in this day and age, image and reputation are all important and if using some different words produces even 1% less dissatisfaction, then those words are worth using.

author: BillB
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 03:15:29 pm
content: Nothing new...Euphemisms.

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 04:34:50 pm
content: Quote from: Rerouter on May 26, 2018, 12:49:15 pmDevice catches fire - It is an unintended thermal eventDevice Explodes - a Rapid Unplanned Disassembly

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 05:09:25 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on May 26, 2018, 09:10:22 amExactly, that is the worst problem.

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 08:06:38 pm
content: The problem is with auditors. Auditors are paid to find problems, discrepancies, non-compliance etc. Auditors aren’t doing a good job unless they find these things and are adept at finding problems that are mostly nonexistent so that they keep their jobs. Audit companies are often hired as a show of force because upper management has no clue as what the company actually does; management just thinks they regulate the money. The auditing company has zero interest in the company they are auditing other than getting paid and showing the need for ongoing audits.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 10:36:19 pm
content: I wonder if there is money to be made, by patching and repackaging FOSS tools to avoid terms like "bugs" and "problems", and use the marketing-speak for them instead?So, instead ofbugzilla, you'd haveDetail Desk; instead ofregression testing,Feature Recurrence Verification, and so on.If the employment contracts referred to a list of terms whose use would be a sackable offense, a company might technically be able to advertise its products as having zero bugs or security holes. (They would be e.g.undesirable detailsandunauthorized ingress methods, respectively.)

author: palpurul
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 10:40:54 pm
content: failure = presuccess

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 10:48:39 pm
content: From the customer viewpoint, "problem" means "shit, that's not working right and we don't know what to do" whereas "issue" means "things are temporarily not working right and we are fixing it". It's spinning the situation to put the customer at ease. To use an overused horrible phrase, it makes "the optics look right". Ugh.My former employer sets aside meeting rooms to be "war rooms" when dealing with big issues such as when the FDA aren't happy.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2018, 11:21:57 pm
content: Every field has its lingo. As an engineer, you have yours. But keep in mind, the VP of Engineering isn't really doing engineering. He/She is doing the politics to keep the Engineering Department going as well. As such, Corporate Politics/Politicians have their lingo as well.If he/she is not able to do the politics effectively, the Engineering Department will not get the funding it needs to develop the product it designs.So, (dare I say), perhaps it is a good idea for engineers to at-times leave their comfort zone and help the politicians with the fight.Be it defusing the bomb (issues to be handled before it blows up), or for funding which will eventually show up in your pay-check.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 12:48:56 pm
content: Our CTO often says the annoying buzzword "takeaways", in phrases such as: 'What are our takeaways from this discussion?" I am tempted to reply, "One hamburger with cheese, and $2 worth of chips."

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 01:04:18 pm
content: Error of judgement = I lied.Error of judgement = I stole.Error of judgement = I raped.Business development manager = salesman.State manager = salesman.Area manager = salesman.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 01:22:40 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on May 27, 2018, 12:48:56 pmI wouldn't be temped, I simply would reply like that.I find it very childish when people nitpick on words.Complete waste of my time, just take your responsibility and go on with it.IF someone makes a mistake, just be a man and admit it.In the end it's about the solution, not who or what created problem to begin with.Although lots of people and companies have a tendency to stay in the 'pointing fingers and blame stage" and never actually get to the solution.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 01:30:49 pm
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on May 26, 2018, 12:50:23 pmAlmost.Wedeliversolutions.

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 02:35:59 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on May 27, 2018, 12:48:56 pmTakeaways?? Only translation I can find for this word is the takeaway food related, is there some double meaning for it or is it again a linguistic corporate cancer?

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 02:41:19 pm
content: we're trying to empty the ocean"directionally correct

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 05:52:33 pm
content: Quote from: Vtile on May 27, 2018, 02:35:59 pmIt's actually written astake-aways, as in a noun constructed fromto take away, replacing e.g.conclusions.Quote from: Vtile on May 27, 2018, 02:35:59 pmThis. It seems theyneedto twist the language, in order to silence their consciences, to be able to continue their exploits. You can see this in all human careers: when someone insists on using obscure jargon, it means they are unsure of whether they even know what they are talking about, and are trying to hide it; if not consciously, on a subconscious level. A true professional can explain what they do, and why, to a five-year old.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 07:03:06 pm
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 26, 2018, 10:48:39 pmI wonder what the rooms would be called in which they deal with actualproblems?

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2018, 08:06:17 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on May 27, 2018, 07:03:06 pmToilets?

author: OE2WHP
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2018, 08:39:07 am
content: At least they don't call problems an "exciting challenge", like some 'always think positive'-morons here in the german speaking countries do.'The whole POS system of our customer xy crashed and we have absolutely no clue yet why. He is loosing a couple of 1k$ per hour.' Hey, what an exciting challenge. !.....

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2018, 10:04:48 am
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 26, 2018, 10:48:39 pmI have heard this term thrown around in some companies as well - it may be the latest trend in MBA courses.As a non-native english speaker, I have learned throughout the years that the word problem seems to be more loaded with criticism, thus I tend to avoid using it in the public venue.Similar thing I have been noticing later when people use the word "disingenuous" when compared to its harsher synonyms "fallacious", "dishonest" or "deceitful". "Misunderstand" when compared to "misconstrued", and others.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2018, 11:59:37 am
content: Quote from: OE2WHP on May 28, 2018, 08:39:07 amI had a manglement weenie tell me there were "no problems only opportunities", to which I responded (With the sark turned up to 11) that we always seemed to be surrounded by "Insurmountable opportunities".Also an overly chirpy "God job team" from a senior manager who clearly has no clue about who did what, yea, just no, don't do that, it is NOT appreciated (And the phase still gets used around the department when someone has fed the fuckup fairies).Regards, Dan.Regards, Dan.