Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1426508
14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2021 me that? I just want to come to you and get the boards." Now I need to do it all for my standards, and I need to have a system internally for track- ing that. I think that owner- ship of the standard needs to be set at the manager's level, but ultimately, it's always going to come down to the engineer and the people who are in the CAD package to make sure that the data is meeting those standards. I'm curious to see how other people handle this, because every group I've talked to handles it differently. Shaughnessy: Right. John, you worked at an OEM for years; you had a lot of designers working for you. Who was responsible for all that data? John Watson: First, it really depended on whether things were working well with the data or not working well (laughs). But, under- standing your finish line and what you're pro- viding to that customer is vital. Let's say your company makes Christmas cards that play music when you open them. ey're not going to be looking for the same quality of data as a DoD company. It's a matter of understanding everyone's role internally in your company. Who is responsible for creating the documents or that data? Who is responsible for QC-ing it? Who's responsible for coming up behind and making sure it's correct? Dan Feinberg: Let's say that there's a gross error, something that should have been caught. Who is responsible: the company, or the individual employee who made the error? Watson: I think it would be both because the company is responsible for putting in place the quality checks that are nec- essary to make sure it's cor- rect. If the process is not put in place and followed, then you're doomed for failure. Feinberg: at's a good answer. I agree. Watson: If you're putting footprints on a board that have not been looked at and verified, according to a stan- dard, and you're using your fab house and assembly house to verify your foot- prints, forget it; you're done as a company. I have worked in the medical field and the DoD as a PCB lay- out person. I can tell you their standards are so high that they had a set procedure and process to do things with a required endpoint, a deliv- erable; if you broke that SOP, you were done. at's the level you must work at today. Feinberg: Especially today. I agree because we see a a trend toward individuals not wanting to take responsibility. Watson: Yes. When something happens, the first words out of anyone's mouth are, "at's not my fault. at wasn't my area. at wasn't my responsibility." I actually got to the point where I had my engineers signing documents, signing the schematic, signing the PCB, and releasing it. We would do a design review. We would pass a piece of paper around, and everybody who signed was saying, "Yes, I approve of this design." We had gotten into a habit where six months down the road, if something was missed, everyone said, "No, I didn't agree to that." en, you could pull that piece of paper out and say, "Well, there's your signature." What happened? We need to do a postmor- tem and identify what happened here. Why did Dugan Karnazes