Knowing Where to Tap

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Paul Braineard — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 10:57:59 GMT

Thank you very much Bruce for the tremendous knowledge you have shared with us, hope this light continue to glow forever. God bless.

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Gabor Endredi — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 08:40:52 GMT

Hi Bruce, I really will be missing your new posts on "The Signal". I wish you a lot of happy hours while working on your current plans.

best regards

Gabor

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Mark Fortunato1 — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 22:45:30 GMT

Bruce,

You are absolutely one of those Guru's who passed along the knowledge. I know I have learned a lot from reading your stuff before and after my time at TI and I gained a boatload of knowledge from you, Bill, and many others of the old BB guys while I was at TI. I sincerely hope you the best in your grandfathering and bike riding. If you ever get the itch to write some, please do. There is an army of us out there who would love to see more.

Mark Fortunato

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Michael Steffes — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 23:06:15 GMT

hey Bruce T. I am staggered and amazed you would exit with so much left to do!!

occasionally I get asked to comment/correct on various articles and authors. Recently someone asked me about one and gave me the title - I asked who wrote and when he said Bruce Trump I immediately said "well then it is almost certainly correct and useful" What I didn't say was correct and useful on more levels than most folks can imagine.

Yes the BB and TI design and test reviews operated at a rarified level of open discussion and challenge to move the state of the art forward and protect what were often the most critical path customers in the world from mistakes. You certainly were a big part of that culture and contribution and I am sure the youngin's are going to feel a bit set adrift.

Enjoy organizing your garage, something I to sorely need to attend to.

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

John Davies — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 16:11:12 GMT

All the best for your retirement! I have enjoyed your column and learned a lot from it. I hope that somebody will continue to address the same broad range of topics. "Precision Designs Hub" sounds a lot more specialised and I wonder whether they will trouble with little things like bypass capacitors.

John

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Orikasa — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 06:21:01 GMT

Bruce-san,

I'm sorry you are leaving even though I knew this day would come… It has been a great privilege for me to work with you for the past 10years. I ‘ll never forget what you gave us in technical training or customer visit. When I travel in Tucson next time, let me help your garage cleaning !

Regards,

Ori

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Glenn Smollinger — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 16:31:58 GMT

The origin of this story may be apocryphal, but when I first heard it, c. 1984, It was attributed to General Electric, Schenectady, NY, and the old-timer in question was John Steinmetz. The consulting charge was only $100, but in Steinmetz' day, this was a princely sum. Accounting demanded an itemized bill, and the old SOB responded with, "$1/tap + $99/knowing where to tap".

Good luck in your retirement. As I near my own, I wonder who will carry the torches in the future. If it is going to be the young engineers in our own communities, then it is up to the old-timers to pass on their knowledge before it becomes lost art.

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Jens-Michael Gross — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 11:05:37 GMT

Bruce,

I'm sorry to hear that you're leaving and I wish you fun and success with your future plans (I know how difficult it is to clean up a garage that was left unattended for years - I still have some sealed chests from my last moving, 12 years ago.)

It was a honor and a pleasure to know you and especially to meet you in person earlier this year in Texas.

And as usual, you're right: knowing where to tap is more important than being capable of tapping. I know lot sof people how know how to tap, but have no clue where to tap. So they tap everywhere and will eventually find the right spot - or cause more damage before they reach it.

And I wholeheartedly agree that passing knowledge forward is as important as gathering it. (even though unspread knowledge helps keeping the job). In my own forum posts, I always try not only to tell where to tap, but also why or how I figured out.

And finally, it is a true and important insight that teaching makes you learn things better. It starts with learning the vocabulary of a foreign language: if someone asks you and you tell him the results, you'll learn faster and better than when you write the questiona nd aswer on two sides of a card and learn by yourself.

If you are forced to sort your throughts in order to pass them to someone else, you often enough discover where your own knowledge lacks detail or understanding. I learned this when giving private lessons in math, physics and chemistry so many years ago, and I still notice it when explaining my own work progress to the others during our weekly meetings.

Passing knowledge is a win-win situation.

Thank you for all the knowledge you passed to us in your blog. I learned a lot by your blog. Not only about analog design. I'll miss it, and I'll miss you. I hope you'll miss us too, at least a little bit :)

JMGross

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

LeonardEllis — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 21:23:33 GMT

Bruce,

I know I will surely miss you. You were one of the "know-where-to-tap" guys I got introduced to when I first started at TI almost 8 years ago. I could depend on you, you were not just helpful, but full of wisdom that you also so graciously passed on. That "teach a man to fish" attitude was apparent in your interactions, and I'm glad to say I adapted that same style. I will miss you , my friend. And I know you will continue to make a difference in the world. . . . best to you.

~Leonard

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Aimee Kalnoskas1 — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 14:36:11 GMT

It's been a honor and a pleasure to know you, Bruce. You not only educate and share your vast knowledge in every blog you write, but you share a bit of yourself through humor, storytelling, and a little snarkiness now and then. It's my favorite kind of writing and I believe you resonate so well with your readers because of that unique combination of intelligence and humor.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have met you and shared this community space with you. I have a feeling I am in good company...

Cheers and peace,

Aimee

RE: Knowing Where to Tap

Stephen Power — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 13:46:37 GMT

Bruce, I am sure I speak for many when I say thank you for the excellent 'The Signal' blog. I found it both enjoyable and enlightening. Enjoy your retirement.

regards

Steve