Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/477523
18 The PCB Design Magazine • March 2015 You abruptly snap awake. With a shock, you realize that you've fallen back asleep and now you're going to be late to work. Quick! Get cleaned up and hope that no one notices that big tuft of hair on the back of your head that won't lie down as it should. You throw your clothes on and tiptoe across the bedroom in the dark, only to be rewarded by a squeal of pain as you step on the dog's tail. Sleepily, your spouse asks, "What's going on?" You growl a re- sponse that sounds similar to the dog's.. There's no time for breakfast, so on the way to work you pull into the nearest fast-food drive- through where the cheery mood of the perky young lady behind the window doesn't help your half-asleep dourness.You try to act like a human, grumbling a half-hearted "thanks" as you drive away, only to realize after you get on the freeway that your order is wrong. It's too late to turn around, so you throw the breakfast slider down your throat just to get something in your stomach, which now feels like it is lined with cement. As you walk into the office, you get some puzzled looks and a few stifled giggles. All of which you ignore, until the guy in the cubicle next to you says, "Hey, did you know that your shirt is inside out?" The day hasn't started out very well and the last thing you want to deal with this early is a conflict. But when you see your design engineer approaching from one side and your manufacturing engineer from the other, you know that there is no escape. Wel- come to the battlefield. The Role of the PCB Designer: Appeasing Two Superpowers We've all had mornings like this (to my em- barrassment, I actually was told one morning that my shirt was on inside out), and then to get stuck between design and manufacturing requirements while the project is demanding results can really jump-start a migraine. But that's the job. Our role as a circuit board de- feature by Tim haag inTeRCePT TeCHnology DFM: The PCB Designer as Arbitrator