WorldWide Drilling Resource

21 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® MAY 2014 Learning from Failure by Britt Storkson Owner, P2FlowLLC I have a quote on my office wall from the famous basketball star Michael Jordan. It says: “I have failed over and over in my life. And that is why I suc- ceed.” While we admire success, it is usually learning from repeated failure which leads to success. I have spent over 20 years devel- oping the water pump control “platform” (printed circuit board and software) that operates the water pump control we sell. During that period, I failed a lot of times, but I have made a point to learn from each failure and move on. One of the biggest challenges to developing a product like this is there are many electronic products out there that could be used to make this device. Over the years, I’ve tried this product and that product only to throw it away or give it away - not because the prod- uct wasn’t any good. Most electronic parts are good quality, so that wasn’t the problem. I threw them away because the particular product wasn’t adequately suited for the task at hand. While the part was likely well suited for all sorts of other things, it just wasn’t suitable for what I was trying to do. Or there was another part that was a bet- ter “fit” for what I was trying to do. Or there was a part that could combine functions which the part I rejected would not, thus allowing me to reduce the parts count on the printed circuit board. One also has to define what the “end game” is. Just what is it I want this product to do? Will this be easily used and understood by those who would buy it? Will this product be competitive price-wise and feature-wise with similar products currently on the market? There’s no sense making something that already “owns” the market unless there is a price advantage for the customer. I’ve learned customers are not im- pressed with complexity. At first I thought everybody would be awed by all of the different “bells and whistles” I offered on the control unit. Big fail! I realized most customers do not lay awake nights thinking about their water pumps. As long as the pump delivers the water they need when they need it, it’s all they care about. Safety shutoffs and problem indicators are appreciated, but ideally it will never happen with a well- designed system. A big part of learning what works is to learn what doesn’t work. Thomas Edison once said, “Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discard- ed is often a step forward...” Often it is wise to construct tests with the objective of analyzing the results to find out what works and what doesn’t for a particular application. I spoke with a semiconductor engineer one time and he told me they deliber- ately “blow up” transistors to find out how they react to current overloads before they decide whether to use it for a particular application. I counsel my students by saying this: “There is no problem with failure. The problem is not learning from the failure.” Britt Britt Storkson may be contacted via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Aprender de los Fracasos por Britt Storkson Propietario, P2FlowLLC Tengo una frase en la pared de mi oficina del famoso jugador de baloncesto Michael Jordan. Dice: "He fallado una y otra vez en mi vida. Y es por eso tengo éxito." Mientras admiramos el éxito, por lo general es aprender de los repetidos fracasos que llevan al éxito. He pasado más de 20 años des- arrollando la bomba de control de agua "plataforma" (placa de circuito impreso y programas de computo) que opera la bomba de control de agua que vende- mos. Durante ese período, he fallado muchas veces, pero me propuse apren- der de cada fracaso y seguir adelante. Uno de los mayores retos para el desarrollo de un producto como este es que hay muchos productos electróni- cos disponibles que podrían ser utiliza- dos para fabricar este dispositivo. Con los años, he probado uno y otro pro- ducto sólo para tirarlos a la basura o regalarlos, no porque el producto no fuera bueno. La mayoría de las partes Hector Leos Translator Storkson trans. cont’d on page 22. Buy a reusable bottle that fits your lifestyle and skip buying bottled water. Americans use 3.3 million plastic bot- tles every hour, but only recycle one out of five.