IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1546209
20 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2026 for I-Connect007 titled "PCB Design… It's a Team Sport." The central insight was that successful PCB design cannot be achieved by one person working in isolation. Like a relay team, PCB development depends on electrical engineers, PCB designers, librarians, mechanical engineers, component special- ists, manufacturers, assemblers, test engineers, and quality personnel combining their individual exper- tise. Each person performs a specialized role, but the product's success depends on how effectively those roles work together. My insight was correct then and remains just as important today: PCB design is and always will be a team sport. Today, as I look back, I realize that I did not take my idea far enough. I focused primarily on assem- bling the right people and encouraging them to cooperate as a team, failing to recognize that team members could still operate within separate departments, use disconnected tools, and move the design from one discipline to another through a series of handoffs. They might belong to the same team while still working in silos. Even then, the PCB industry was moving beyond that traditional structure. The next step was not simply to improve cooperation among individual specialists, but to create an entire interconnected product development ecosystem. We even came up with a catchy little name for it: co-design. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Co-design describes a connected development process in which every discipline contributes its expertise early enough to influence the product. Instead of electrical engineering, PCB layout, mechanical design, sourcing, manufacturing, assembly, and testing working independently and passing the design from one silo to the next, they operate within a shared environment where infor- mation, decisions, and feedback flow in both direc- tions. That is how it works—in theory. Of course, I can already hear murmuring from my Altium friends in the back of the room: "Isn't CoDe- signer already a feature?" Yes, Altium CoDesigner supports collaboration between ECAD and MCAD. However, the co-design ecosystem I am describing is much broader. It connects not only PCB and mechanical designers but everyone involved in designing, sourcing, manufacturing, testing, supporting, and improving the final product. What I observed several years ago is still true, but our industry is now moving at the speed of a 2.4 GHz signal. PCB development has become too complex and fast-moving for traditional silos. Higher design densities, shorter schedules, tighter mechanical and thermal constraints, supply-chain instability, and increasing pressure for first-pass success have made late-stage handoffs too costly. At the same time, cloud platforms, shared data, and real-time collaboration tools have enabled earlier connections across disciplines. The industry did not suddenly discover collaboration; product complexity made the ecosystem necessary, and technology made it practical. That is the new reality of our industry. Like our Olympic sprinters, PCB designers are among the best in the world at what they do. We possess tremendous individual skill, experience, and technical knowledge. But just as speed alone could not carry the U.S. relay team into the final, individual expertise alone cannot guarantee a successful product. Our next challenge is learning to apply that expertise within that cute little connected ecosystem: coordinating with other disciplines, sharing information earlier, and mastering the handoffs that turn outstanding individuals into a successful team. So, how do we encourage the adoption and implementation of such a co-design ecosystem within our work environments? It begins by recog- nizing that co-design is not simply another software feature, management initiative, or project manage- ment system. It represents a fundamental change in how people communicate, make decisions, and measure success. Build the Team Before the Design Begins A co-design team begins by bringing together ev- eryone whose decisions can influence the product: electrical engineering, PCB design, mechanical en- gineering, sourcing, fabrication, assembly, testing, and quality. Identify them before the design begins, define what each person contributes, and deter-mine when their expertise must be incorporated into the process. Give the team a shared objective, clear respon- E L E M E N TA RY, M R . WATS O N E L E M E N TA RY, M R . WATS O N