Spared
Nobody likes work stoppages – always have a charged, spare battery for your power tools and electronics.
Last updated March 2019
Picture this – you finished designing and debriefing a top secret project for the military. You have been given one day to deploy your system out in the field because they need it to help them complete their mission. You have all the tools you need from Twin Insight #5 and your team is ready to go. You arrive at the install site, anxious to get started. You start assigning tasks to your team members so you can work in parallel. Remember, you only have one day to complete the installation.
The day is going smoothly and everything is coming together as planned. All of a sudden, one of your team members comes up and says “my battery died, do you have a spare?” Your stomach suddenly drops as you picture the battery in your shopping cart, but didn’t purchase it. “No, I don’t, I have a charger though.” After 20 minutes, the battery is fully charged and your teammate goes back to work. You know that they’ll be back soon for another recharge.
Okay, that might have been a little dramatic, but you don’t want this to happen anywhere. Especially, if you’re in a time-critical situation. You and your team may or may not finish the job because you didn’t have spare batteries – I’ll leave the rest of the story up to your imagination.
You have to expect the unexpected and always be prepared. Remember that old saying “prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” This applies to everything in life. Bring extra supplies even if you think you don’t need them. If you’re building a circuit board, purchase more than one board. What if you blow out a regulator or your microcontroller? Those have a lot of pins and are very difficult to desolder. But, you were prepared, had a spare board, and quickly got back to productivity.
Having this mindset could even save your life. What if you were camping and got lost or the weather conditions rapidly changed? I don’t think you would want to be stuck with minimal supplies. That could be a recipe for disaster. I like to bring an extra day’s worth of food, water, and dry clothing. A scenario like this may never happen while camping, but it’s much better knowing that you’re prepared if it does.
What did we learn?
- Have spare batteries and parts on hand to prevent delays and missed deadlines.
- Prepare for the worst and hope for the best in all situations.