Russell W. Faust, P.E.

This program is registered with the AIA/CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product. Questions related to specific materials, methods, and services will be addressed at the conclusion of this presentation. PDH Online | PDH Center 5272 Meadow Estates Drive Fairfax, VA 22030-6658 Phone & Fax: 703-988-0088 www.PDHonline.com www.PDHcenter.com An AIA/CES Registered Continuing Education Provider (#J681)

Course Outline

Failure is inevitable. Whatever you design will fail someday. Will it be sooner, or will it be later and come in the form of an honorable retirement after a long and useful life? Will it be sudden or gradual? Catastrophic or evolutionary?

As Architects, Engineers or Designers we strive to design for the longest practical life of our structures, systems, devices or processes. But, we cannot foresee all of the conditions against which our designs may be tested.

The failures of the past, many of which are described in this course, serve as lessons for the future. Here you will find some of the author's thoughts on design blunders as well as the ideas of many others. They are presented in the hope that they suggest some general principles of design, which you will find useful in your work. No design professional is immune from committing blunders but, perhaps, we can reduce their likelihood by thoughtful application of those principles.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will learn:

• The three most important questions to ask about any design project;
• How to avoid unnecessary repetition leading to design conflicts;
• When to "show" information and when to "tell";
• Where to include "escape hatches" in your designs;
• How to make your designs more reliable and easy to operate;
• How best to conduct "reality checks" of your designs;
• To avoid inherent dangers when changes are made;
• To verify your design tools, especially software; and
• The value of "peer review".

Course Content

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.