Your word of the day is poka-yoke: mistake-proof. Such as keying on network cables that ensures they can only be inserted correctly. From Wikipedia:
Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ?) [poka yoke] is a Japanese term that means “mistake-proofing”. A poka-yoke is any mechanism in a lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur.[1] The concept was formalised, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System.[2][3] It was originally described as baka-yoke, but as this means “fool-proofing” (or “idiot-proofing“) the name was changed to the milder poka-yoke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poka-yoke
To eliminate defects we embrace poka-yoke instead of blaming people.
Dumb, Costly Errors Should Be Hard To Make
Building computers for fun in the 1980’s I ruined at least one floppy drive because I plugged the controller cable in backwards. Nowadays those kinds of screw-ups are much more difficult to make.
My favorite story about being committed to not blaming people comes from my father’s career. They had chemicals next to each other in identical vials that made it easy for him to mistakenly waste about $10,000 of material. (Double that figure when you adjust for inflation.)
When he hesitantly told his manager about it the guy said, “Well, we shouldn’t have made it so easy to make that mistake.”
