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Most of the commenters here get it. Efficiency is an outcome of optimization, and optimization is a form of specialization with respect to the environment/assu
by wenc 8y ago
Most of the commenters here get it.
Efficiency is an outcome of optimization, and optimization is a form of specialization with respect to the environment/assumptions. With any kind of specialization there's a trade off. If the environment or set of assumption changes, one can be worse off than if one did not optimize at all.
Also, optimization at the wrong level of detail/abstraction can be costly. One example is in auto manufacturing.
U.S. car manufacturers have traditionally tended to spec tight tolerances at the component level, with the assumption that everything will fit when assembled. This can be very expensive to get right, and the assumption of perfect final fit is not always borne out.
Japanese auto manufacturers however, despite their reputation for perfectionism, have tended to be looser with component level tolerances, but paid more attention to assembly tolerances (functional build [1]). They understood what tolerances needed to be tight and those that mattered less in the final build. They embraced natural imperfections, and made sure the rest of the system accepted the lower part tolerances. It turns out this led to higher overall quality at lower cost. (Detroit has now embraced functional build)
(The Japanese approach is analogous to focusing on integration testing as opposed to exhaustive unit testing)
[1] Functional Build https://www.adandp.media/articles/building-better-vehicles-via-functional-build https://www.adandp.media/articles/building-better-vehicles-v...
- hinkley 8y agoThere are more dimensions of efficiency than are really covered in that article though. To continue in the automotive space, building a system to efficiently retool a production line will pay longer term dividends when the consumer market shifts, as it often does. Whereas building an SUV cheaper ends up being a liability every time there's an oil shock. The main negative consequence of building an efficient CD pipeline is dealing with all the pushback at the beginning from people who think it's 'too hard' or 'not worth it'. All that work is still valuable as your customers shift focus, or you change your market mix. Meanwhile, learning to build the best React apps possible will end up being a problem when React goes out of fashion. Both can be painted with the same efficiency brush, if you're not very careful with your definitions.
- hathawsh 8y agoExtending your example: I've heard from mechanics that looser tolerances also lead to cars that age much better as the components change in shape due to wear and corrosion. Expensive cars have expensively machined parts to avoid the need for gaskets, while ordinary cars use gaskets to avoid the need for expensively machined parts. This trade-off is counter-intuitive for most car buyers.
- castle-bravo 8y agoI too watch Scotty Kilmer. https://m.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer https://m.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer
- lsc 8y agoThat guy is way more entertaining than he has any right to be. His voice, the way he waves his hands around when he's talking; his love for ancient Toyotas; He just has a great personality for that kind of thing.
- AstralStorm 8y agoMost cheap gaskets age less than gracefully. Soft elastic but not ductile parts is where it is at, with good aging properties. Well fastened. Spring steel best but heaviest, certain aluminum alloys, finally few specific plastics.
- akvadrako 8y agoGasket material is probably one of those components where you should have tight tolerances.
- agumonkey 8y agoReminds me of the origin of jitter, planes used to be build with the highest manufacturing precision but they realized the more precise, the higher failure rate. Too much precision caused coupling / node points of failure. Loosening gave opportunity for errors to get through the mechanics.
- kqr 8y agoSounds almost like a bias/variance tradeoff!
- gniv 8y agoIn the computer world, a similar idea was building a highly-available cluster using consumer hardware. This was also counter-intuitive and revolutionary when it was introduced (20 years ago?).