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March 24, 2006
When simpler would be better
My wife's garage door opener stopped working.
The remote rattled when you moved it, so I suspected an easy fix. Looking to impress the family with my long-lost skills in electronics, I pried it open and diagnosed the problem: the little switch thingy (technical term) had broken off the circuit board.
I declared victory and went looking for my soldering iron. I pawed through every box of childhood detritus in the basement. I found solder, wire, resistors, and diodes, but not the soldering iron. I went and bought a new one. Finally, over spread newspapers on the kitchen table, I began electronic surgery as my children looked on in fascination.
A half-hour later the children were gone. I was sitting alone amidst the metallic droppings of many failed attempts to solder the tiny switch in place when my wife came in.
"Why don’t you just use a piece of tape?" she asked.
My wife is wonderful, but obviously not very technical. I explained to her why that was a completely ridiculous suggestion. Then, after she left, I got a piece of transparent tape from the children's school supplies and firmly fastened the switch in position. It has functioned perfectly ever since.
It is always fun, both at home and at work, to come across a problem to which you can apply all your tools and skills. But before you build the web site, create the database, or bring in the attorneys, ask yourself if the cheaper, faster, better solution wouldn't be a clipboard, a file folder, a phone call, or a piece of tape.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at March 24, 2006 4:58 PM
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