03/31/2026
Nearly seven years ago on an assembly project with a very tight deadline, our team made the decision to shorten a step that normally protects the rest of the build: a full pilot assembly validation before sending the job into production.
At the time, the decision did not feel irresponsible.
In many respects, the product was very familiar to us, and our team was confident we could save significant time by moving directly into assembly.
However, once assembly began, our team discovered several issues that were not obvious during planning. Hardware access in one area was more difficult than expected, assembly sequence had to be adjusted, and a small fit-up issue created avoidable rework across multiple units.
None of these issues were catastrophic on their own, and fortunately, our quality control process still caught them before shipment. Unfortunately, by the time the issues were discovered, the lost time was far greater than what we thought we had saved.
And because we rolled the dice together, we recuperated together as a true team in every sense of the word and met the customer deadline. (The customer had no idea!)
The lesson we learned was clear: compressing any stage of our process to save time can create more disruption than it prevents. Processes are more than a list of checkpoints. They are where assumptions are tested, instructions are refined, and risks are identified while they are still easy to remedy.
Since then, we have been more disciplined about protecting every step of the processes we’ve worked so hard to build, even when a customer has an aggressive timeline.
We now have better strategies to meet tight deadlines — strategies that do not compromise quality, performance, or product aesthetics.
Hey, if you’re not learning, you’re not growing! Right!?
Please share a lesson you've learned from a mistake.