Bill wrote in :

tiredofspam wrote:
Bill you've seen the Nike commercials.. The ones that say

JUST DO IT


One thing I try to impress upon my students is

Design, Design, Design!

Some of them don't understand, so I may explain with more emphasis:

Design, Design, Design, Design, Design, Design! (slight exaggeration)

I say, "You're nodding, but I still don't think you appreciate it (what
is behind the words) enough".

I suggest that when confronted with a job interview, or similar, that
they could do a lot worse than to reveal a sacred point of view
regarding design. At least they encountered one person who defended a,
perhaps, unusually-euphoric reverence for it.

Admittedly, I explain, a careful design may be of less importance on a
project you intend to build by yourself in one day. Still, the world
might be a better place if more people embraced the D-word.
For a software developer, I consider it evidence of maturity.

I am almost reticent to share now that I think it holds its
weight in this environment too. How likely is it that a result will be
superior to a plan? Experience has shown too that the sooner one can
identify a problem, the cheaper and easier it is to fix it. It is
interesting to note that, timewise, cutting wood, depending on how one
defines cutting wood fibers, may amount to less than 1% of a ww
project,
yet it, the materials, could represent a significant proportion of the
cost of the project. The woodworking materials may not even be directly
replaceable. In short, there is probably adequate time to DO IT, after
one has crafted a design. Of course, as most everyone is aware, design
can take many forms, such as building a prototype, or involve
practicing
the unfamiliar, but don't get me started...

Cheers, with a capital D,
Bill


My CAD professor used to say "make all your mistakes with a pencil and
paper before you create it in AutoCAD".