Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/942744
FEBRUARY 2018 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 43 • Vulnerability, honesty, and transparency: Customers need support technicians who they can trust completely, so that they feel comfortable when asking for help. If you've ever gone to someone for help and instead got your trust abused by an obnox- ious response, you would probably be hes- itant to go to that person again. The same principle applies in customer support. As support technicians it is our responsibility to instill trust in our customers by being vulnerable, honest, and transparent so that they will trust us with their support prob- lems. Having worked in customer support for many years, I couldn't begin to tell you all the differ- ent, specific requests that users have asked for in their PCB design tools. Many of these have since been incorporated as standard function- ality in most tools used today. There have been some though that have stood out from the rest; here are a few of those that I recall: • Graphical user interface (GUI) enhance- ments: This has been a constant request over the years, and as evidenced by today's PCB design tools, many of these improvements have already been made. Customers will always want improvement in these areas, to match current operating systems and to support the ever-increasing amount of functionality. • Menus and commands that aren't confus- ing: As a tool set grows, the amount of commands will grow with it. Sometimes these new enhancements are stuffed into menus or buttons that don't make sense to the users. A common request that I would get was to reduce the amount of different commands, and locate those commands in menus and pallets that were intuitively part of the work flow. • Comprehensive and logical documenta- tion: Users typically want to solve their own problems if they can, and to do so requires documentation that is written from the user's perspective. This includes step-by-step procedures to follow along with clear and concise images as well as appropriate links to other steps. • A more comprehensive constraint man- ager: It has been a pleasure for me to watch all the different CAD tools expand and enhance their rules and constraint management over the years. This has evolved from a single drop-down menu with a few selections in it from many years ago, to advanced spreadsheet-type constraint managers today. Yet customers continue to ask for additional enhance- ments and improvements to make entering these rules and constraints more intuitive. CAD companies have responded with a variety of wizards and other enhance- ments for their constraint managers, and more will come as design rules become more complex. • High-speed design enhancements: Along with enhanced constraints, users have also asked for continual improvements in their ability to work with high-speed designs. An example of this that I have seen is the request to work with high speed rules based in time, not length. Additionally, new routing capabilities have also been added to work with high speed rules and constraints. The need for advanced PCB design capabili- ties will continue to grow to satisfy the require- ments of new and emerging design technolo- gies. And to meet these design needs, CAD tools will also have to continue to grow. This growth is a healthy part of our industry, and it is exciting to be part of it. Fortunately, PCB design CAD software companies are staffed with pro - fessional support personnel that are ready to work with you and listen to your requests for help and your recommendations. They're your support staff, make sure to use them so that they know what you really want. DESIGN007 Tim Haag is a consultant based in Portland, Oregon.