Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Tim's Takeaways: DDR Routing, and Other Big Fish in the Lake of Technology

If I can pull you away from your latest layout for just a moment, I would like to tell you a fish story. We have heard tales about the “big one that got away,” but here’s one about the “big one that got away that I never saw.” Does that sound intriguing? Well, here’s what happened:

Many years ago, a friend and I went out of our way to try the fishing at an obscure lake somewhere in southern Oregon. There weren’t many people there, locals mostly, and they were all fishing from a tall platform that extended into the lake. I don’t know what the platform was used for, but we joined them on it anyway. The folks there were pulling in fish after fish, but we weren’t having any luck at all. After a couple of hours, we finally decided to throw in the towel and call it a day. As I was pulling my line in, I was furthered annoyed to discover that it had snagged, so I started pulling harder to free it up. Imagine my surprise when the line started pulling back. I wasn’t snagged; instead, I had hooked into a really large fish.

Trying to be as gentle as possible, I started reeling in my line while slowly backing away from the railing. All this commotion caught the attention of the other people on the platform, and they quickly gathered around our spot for a better view. As the fish came within reach, my friend could see that the hook was precariously set, so he grabbed the line to swing it in over the rail. This proved to be too much stress on the line unfortunately, and the fish tore loose from the hook and plunged 25 feet back down toward the water. With my view completely blocked by all the people gathered around the railing, I didn’t get to see any of this—including seeing the fish. I did, however, hear their collective “gasp” when the fish tore loose, followed a moment later by what seemed like the loudest “kerplop” in recorded history as this Moby Dick-sized fish hit the water. This was a sad final salute from the biggest fish that I almost caught, but never saw.

The locals were very sympathetic for my loss, describing in agonizing detail how that fish had been one of the largest they had ever seen, while ripping my friend a new one for grabbing the line too aggressively. I have always felt bad for him because he really was trying to do his best to help—but that’s not going to stop me from sending him a link to this story. After all, a little fresh salt in the wound is good for the soul—said no one ever—but that is what friends are for. Right?

Anyway, there are two points to take away from this story, and the first one is to always bring a net with you when you go fishing. The second is more important—even though this particular fish got away, there’s plenty more to be caught. After all, there is always a bigger fish.

This theme of “there is always a bigger fish” is very common in our culture and literature, as both Jonah and Ahab can attest to. It also encompasses much more than just the realm of ichthyology, however, and can be applied to almost all areas of our lives. Take our industry of designing circuit boards, for example. No matter how much your latest design may have pushed the envelope of technology, there will always be another design that will present an even greater challenge waiting for you tomorrow. There’s always a bigger fish.

I’ve been in the PCB layout business for a long time now. When I first started, we were laying out very simple boards with through-hole parts using 12-mil traces and spaces. I still remember vividly the first board that came through our department that required specific routing topologies and trace lengths. None of us really understood any of this at the time, and the designers assigned to the job instead created a beautiful layout with the best-looking bus routing you have ever seen; it was something the rest of us marveled at. All this hard work, however, was promptly rejected by the customer because even though it looked great, it wasn’t going to come close to working the way it was intended to. We all went back to the drawing board and learned about measured lines, the proper positioning of terminating resistors, and how these trace topologies were really supposed to be connected. We were pretty proud of ourselves—until we got our first taste of DDR memory routing.

There’s always a bigger fish.

Soon we became experts in what was required to successfully complete a design with DDR memory routing. We had to restructure our designs for the correct stripline layer configurations, as well as to allow enough room for all the escape routing. Component placement became more important than ever as we designed the entire signal path instead of just looking for the shortest connections between pins. We also learned very quickly how to work with different routing patterns such as T-topologies and fly-by topologies, as well as how to best tune our traces to achieve the correct signal timing. You would think by this point we would have deserved some well-earned pats on the back, but it was not to be.

There’s always a bigger fish.

Whether it’s hybrid designs, flex circuits, or something else equally intriguing, there will always be newer and more challenging circuit board technologies that designers will have to learn and become fluent in. You may even find yourself having to refresh your knowledge of past design technologies that you haven’t worked with for a while in order to satisfy the requirements of a new project. The key to all of this isn’t so much in what you already know, but in your ability to quickly adapt, learn, and be ready for the next new design that will be coming your way. There’s always a bigger fish, especially in our industry, so let’s come up with some ideas on how to be ready to land the big one safely—without it getting away. Here are a few thoughts to use as a starting point:

Be Ready for Change
I realize that this sounds like a cheesy motivational phrase, but I know of several people who have missed out on some great opportunities because they weren’t mentally prepared for it. Whether it’s emerging design technologies or next-generation systems and tools, it’s going to be different, and we’ve got to be ready. Sadly, many will avoid changes in what they are doing to stay with what they know and are comfortable with. Inflexibility can be a career-killer, though, and it’s one sure way of letting the big one get away.

Rise Above the Fear
The thought of learning and doing something new can also bring with it a lot of fear. It is not at all unusual for this apprehension to build in our minds and make the task seem much more difficult than it really is. Yes, it may take some time, a lot of extra effort, and perhaps even banging your head against the wall a few times in frustration. With perseverance, though, you will be rewarded with another technological capability that you can add to your tackle box of design skills. Too often we spend time trying to convince ourselves that something can’t be done, instead of just sitting down and doing it.

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse
To explore new ideas, you need to know what ideas are out there to explore. We are fortunate in our industry that there are many different resources that can help with this. Design007 Magazine, for example, explores a different industry topic each month, along with many other design-related subjects covered in its different articles and columns—and that is only one of the many resources available out there. With newsletters, white papers, seminars, classes, and conferences, there is no shortage of information on the newest design technology pools that you can fish from.

Expand Your Network
I would never have had the story about “the big one that got away that I never saw” to tell you if my friend hadn’t suggested that we try fishing at that obscure little lake that I had never heard of before. Having people in your network that can expose you to new ideas and help you when you are stuck is essential to staying on top of your game. And I’m not just talking about other designers either; connect with anyone who can shine new light on a previously darkened area: customers, managers, competitors, friends, and experts from other industries as well. Just as iron sharpens iron, connecting with others in our network can help us learn and improve as we, in turn, help them.

How about you? What do you do to keep yourself ready for the changes in technology that come your way? If nothing immediately comes to mind, then give it some thought. It’s always good to be prepared for the next bigger fish before we find it pulling on our line. And with that, I think it’s time for me to prepare something for dinner: chicken, burgers, pizza—anything but fish! Keep on designing everyone, and I’ll see you next time.

This column originally appeared in the May 2021 issue of Design007 Magazine.