I guess it's confession time.
First, a few years ago I adopted an architecture with TestStand (I do nothing else these days) that allows for very efficient code reuse and portability. I and others went on a LabVIEW coding binge with the result that we're able to create in most cases, brand new test sequences in hours or days as opposed to weeks or months. The new products have been evolutionary so that it's easy to build on past projects. So what's left now, is a few days of absolute madness followed long periods of boredom. Let me describe the last month and you'll get an idea of the boredom. I get new testers built and a new test program written. Now, before I can release it to production, it hs to undergo a long qualification process. Typically, we test 3 boards 15 times each and then 10 boards 3 times each. this is for each tester. Since we are short on manpower, the test engineers have to do this themselves so with a test time of 10-15 minutes, I'm left with quite a bit of idle time that I log in and check for questions. So, I get the qualification done and I'm ready for the pilot run of the new product. That's 200 boards and I'm expected to oversee this and see what kind of problems might pop up. Again, I have more idle time that I can use to log in. Then, no sooner is that finished, then I'm told that the final firmware for the product has some bugs in it and a new release is available and please rerun the pilot. The fact that this has hardly been an isolated incident is no consolation.
Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I'm sure all of you have felt frustrated at one point or another and all of your congratulations, special VIs, and humor have made my days much better and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
