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62 The PCB Magazine • November 2014 SOLvING A TRuE DAM PROBLEM continues tains exactly the humanity required to solve any complex problem. You could write a book about it, and in fact a book has been written: Daring Greatly, by Brené Brown. In the book, Brené states, in essence, it is only when we can allow ourselves to be vulnerable that we discover in- novative solutions. You might ask that, since DMAIC doesn't work, what methodology can we follow to solve a true DAM problem? I present you with three statements, which you can use to develop your own homebrewed problem-solving methodol- ogy. 1) People always create problems. In order to solve a problem, you have to address the people part just as much as the technical part. 2) In order to solve a problem, people have to be inspired to solve the problem, knowing in the end that if they fail, they failed while daring greatly. 3) A tough problem cannot be solved with one human mind. It requires the engagement of a mastermind. Let me explain these three statements in more detail, starting with the people part, and a real-world example taken from the annals of my own recent experience. The group of engineers that report to me had a problem with a rigid-flex board that had inconsistent plating, and thus scrap due to voids. The reason for the voids was our inabil- figure 1: test panel result showing improved plated vias.