Importance of good blueprints and assembly instructions

Seventy Fifth Post: Importance of good blueprints and assembly instructions

Once in Ancient China a little boy was playing with chop sticks. He was so loud it made his father go to his room and yell at him. As he approached his son, he was amazed that his son had just invented the drum sticks. LOL (Only kidding. See post 73)

Today I just built a car tent from “Cover It.” The instructions weren’t completely wrong, but there were little glitches in the instruction. Enough of them weren’t explain clear enough that installing the canvas cover was pretty tricky. We finally finished the entire tent after 8 hours of hard work in the heat. This little building adventure reinforces the idea that instructions need to be as simplified and as detailed as possible.

Drawings or pictures that show the correct view, correspond with the instructions, are in the right order, and correctly describe the step’s actions are all traits that make good assembly instructions. Unfortunately these instructions take time and effort to make and there are usually common parts that different buildings share in there construction. That means the builder may have the same blue prints that show the assembly of many buildings. The instructions we had to build the car tent could have explained how to put the canvas on better, but the instructions were good enough that we were able to figure it out.

A little project lets the builder respect those whose job it is to build. The engineers and construction workers do it every day. Usually when I build something that came from the store such as a shelf or table I build it wrong and have to tear it apart and start over. But for those workers pouring a foundation, it has to be correct the first time every time. Next time you, the reader, see something being built, notice the method it is being constructed. Construction is a process that has evolved over time. You may notice the workers moving at what seems to be a slow rate. It seems that they will never finish. But remind yourself that they are moving at a slow and steady rate. Everything they do has to be planned and then created.