Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1493016
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 69 REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 69 even if that will never work. Maybe at first you don't get it, but when you listen to their story, you begin to understand what their fear or concern might be. Their solution may or may not be the right one—maybe because it's too expensive or less reliable—but you're working through it together. This is the way to find a resolution. Another part of collaboration has been to say, "Okay, have we made enough change here to make it worthwhile to stop at this point?" Shall we release this thing now vs. should we keep repainting and touch- ing it up again and again? If it never gets released, it's worthless. Sometimes we come to that consensus with the group that, yes, we're going to release it. Sure, we still have this laundry list of things, but some of these will take a lot of work to go through and we've already been at it a long time. Maybe, we've gotten a lot of stuff done. We say, "Let's release it; the rest is all part of the next revision." That's been help- ful. In some cases, that process allows us to deliver something tangible while we continue to work. Overall, I think that a key is that the bigger the group, the easier it is to accomplish something. You knew Dieter, probably quite well. Any memory that sticks out? While I don't have a specific one, it's kind of funny, but the picture of Dieter we always see—I'll call it the stock picture—makes me smile every time. Some theater for sure, but he always was kind of exploding into your meeting room. Just making an entrance with his big smile and all this energy and enthu- siasm, and then off he would go to the next room, moving from meeting to meeting. I like to say that picture really captures all that experience and enthusiasm he had for IPC. And he probably left you with 15 things to think about or do? Exactly. He would say, "Did you guys think about this? What do you think about doing this? Think it would be good if you did that?" Then you were probably further behind than when he came in. But that's all right. His energy and passion are what stick with me. Certainly, he was head and shoulders above so many with all his ideas. What are you finding exciting about our industry right now? For me, what's most exciting right now is thinking about where all our boards end up. Maybe we're just designing and building circuits, but where they go is flat-out exciting. Where else can you get a front row seat to virtually every major techno- logical advancement happening in the world? We have that. I've been involved with medical devices that were lifesaving items—defibril- lators, pacemakers, robotic surgical equip- ment—to the coolest new phones. We are literally involved with rocket ships, satellites, airplanes of all types, and EVs. We get to be part of everything. The electronics industry enabled it all. Yep, and we're working directly with those folks. I've walked into some neat places over the years and, collectively, as a group, I have to say that we actually do change the world. That's a lucky thing to be part of. Whatever you're working on today, if you look at it as For me, what's most exciting right now is thinking about where all our boards end up. Dieter Bergman IPC Fellowship Award