Thread

1. dzonga · 1790729289 · focus · HN ↗

   people behave like engineers grow on trees.

   or processes can be restarted if they were not preserved and actively practiced.

   1. walrus01 · 1790730263 · focus · HN ↗

      > or processes can be restarted if they were not preserved and actively practiced.

      One of the reasons why the UK went vastly over budget and behind schedule when they built the first Astute class submarine, because almost everyone who had domestic UK based hands on experience building a nuclear sub had long since retired. There's certain technical things, both military or non military, where if you stop making them for a long period of time (at even a minimal rate of production), the institutional capacity to implement them dissolves away.

      1. leoedin · 1790756124 · focus · HN ↗

         See also - mega rail projects that start from nothing (cough HS2).

         Politicians think doing engineering projects is like buying something off the shelf. Every engineer will tell you the only way to do stuff is iteration - starting small, learning from your mistakes and growing things. If you start a megaproject without a team of people experienced in doing more or less the same thing recently, it will cost vast amounts. Particularly if you push too fast and commit large amounts of money before you've had a few iteration cycles.

   2. aaron695 · 1790731692 · focus · HN ↗

      [dead]

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