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This is a trope we see repeated: back in "the day", they couldn't run the numbers, so for safety margins, they just overengineered. It's usually applied to civi
by npsimons 6y ago
This is a trope we see repeated: back in "the day", they couldn't run the numbers, so for safety margins, they just overengineered. It's usually applied to civil engineering, but I could see how it could be applied to staffing too.
I don't bemoan having a clearer picture of costs or margins of safety. What this speaks to is re-examining our values and perhaps directing our priorities to something other than maximizing ROI at all costs.
- TheCoelacanth 6y agoAnd in spite of having larger safety margins, they were much less safe for the occupants.
- ntsplnkv2 6y ago> What this speaks to is re-examining our values and perhaps directing our priorities to something other than maximizing ROI at all costs. Our entire system is built upon maximizing ROI at all costs. Dealing with these values is extremely difficult.
- npsimons 6y ago> Our entire system is built upon maximizing ROI at all costs. Dealing with these values is extremely difficult. I may have miscommunicated; perhaps I should have phrased it as re-evaluating what "return" we want to maximize.
- inglor_cz 6y ago"they couldn't run the numbers, so for safety margins, they just overengineered." That was definitely the case in the Ancient World and may be the reason why some Roman buildings are still standing. (Roman concrete was awesome, BTW. Rebar is a major source of eventual concrete failure and Romans did not use any. On the other hand, they used volcanic ash in their concrete. Some Roman concrete piers are still standing, 2000 years of waves beating on them made them harder!)