The #1 thing I learned from 12 years of working in engineering and engineering management was: "keep it simple, stupid".

Somewhat related: this week when going through a 30-year old dusty/mildewy storage locker, I found an old cassette player that works like new. Kind of like how those hold Nintendo systems can basically survive a nuclear apocalypse and keep working.


lol I was inspired to make this while having a “keep it simple stupid” moment earlier this morning 😂

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I remember when the batteries would start to die the music would just slooooooow doooowwn.


The modern automobile industry could use this meme.


You'd think we'd know it by now

-
Way is very straight, but people prefer to deviate.
[Tao Te Ching chapter 53]


I still have a working SNES with a shoebox full of games 👍🏼


But only if you blow on the cartridge first.


Will the same be said of bitcoin signing devices we use today in 30 years?


I would agree.

1. Keep the solutions simple and thus reduce the potential failure modes.

2. In certain contexts, introduce redundancy. You increase potential failure modes but provides continuous operation in case of a single failure.

3. Design those redundancy solutions dissimilar as to not fail from common failure modes.


Me too - I keep coming back to KISS and YAGNI https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it


A DJ on the radio was saying that a cassette of Pearl Jam's 10 was auctioned at $4000...makes me want to dig through my storage:-)


Simple + stupid = joke formula.


Cool you could use it as e.g. a door stopper.


planned obsolescence is a shitcoin


Actually we have some old cassettes that are super important from that storage locker, so the fact that a working cassette player was with them was great.


This storage locker sounds like Marry Poppins handbag, i wonder what else you will find?


it's not about simplicity but using right materials for how long you want something to last in a given environment.  jumbo jets have a design life of 15-30 years and that's with CONSTANT USE, racking up tens of millions of miles.  by contrast most consumer products are DESIGNED TO BREAK ( planned obsolescence ) as well as to be non-repairable.  under capitalism you will always be sold the worst quality product that you're stupid enough to buy.  apparently airlines are smarter than the average Tesla buyer.


💡 New product idea: Analog audio storage of seed phrases. Security through technological obfuscation.


MY experience in Engineering taught me that 90% of energy Engineers expend goes towards making products WORSE on purpose so they break right after either load is exceeded or warranty ends.  We wouldn't even need engineers if we simply made things that last.  The job of engineers in a consumer capitalist society is to cut corners.  It's honestly sickening.


I like the idea that I heard from musk which was that really smart engineers are great at optimizing the part that doesn't need to be there


I wonder if the moisture helped keep the belts from drying out, or if they were made from better rubber back then. I need to get a new belt for my cassette recorder, and it's only in the order of 15-20 years old. Just a regular crappy Tanashin mechanism, or maybe even a copy, but it works well enough for my use case for it.


The #1 thing I learned from 12 years of working in engineering and engineering management was: "keep it simple, stupid".

Somewhat related: this week when going through a 30-year old dusty/mildewy storage locker, I found an old cassette player that works like new. Kind of like how those hold Nintendo systems can basically survive a nuclear apocalypse and keep working.


The KISS principal was beat into us who served as nukes on subs. Also GCE.


Wish the old cassette players I came across did...


My engineering experience is: "make it automatic and repeatable"


one mantra: KISS

Practice Poka Yoke to error-proof your life and keep mishaps at bay.

Why complain about complexity when you can hold to simplicity and a foolproof plan?


i never know whether it is with or without comma


The rubber pinchwheel degrades and can stick to your tape and wrap it all around. give the rubber a wipe with acetone or a methylated spirits using a qtip, before reliving the 80's again.