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Elementary, Mr. Watson: The ‘Baton’ Handoff Makes or Breaks the Design

Elementary, Mr. Watson: The ‘Baton’ Handoff Makes or Breaks the Design

In my previous column in I-Connect007 Magazine, I shared the example of the U.S. men’s 4x100-meter relay team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker, and Cravon Gillespie were among the fastest sprinters in the world. Reaching the final seemed almost certain.

Instead, they finished sixth in their qualifying heat and missed advancing by only two-hundredths of a second.

The problem was not speed, experience, or talent. It occurred during the baton exchange. Their failure demonstrated that being exceptional at an individual role does not guarantee collective success. A race can be lost not during the individual legs, but during the brief moments when responsibility changes hands.

It all came down to a deceptively simple object: a metal baton approximately 11 inches long, 1.6 inches in diameter, and weighing less than two ounces. Yet that small piece of metal carried the team’s hopes of reaching the finish line.

Isn’t that often the case? A missing requirement, an outdated file, or a misunderstood decision may seem insignificant until it disrupts the entire project. Like the Olympic team, a company can lose the race not because it lacked talent or technical ability, but because the baton was not transferred cleanly when it mattered most.

PCB Development Is a Relay Race
I am not necessarily speaking only of PCB layout, but of the entire product development process from electrical engineering to PCB design, mechanical and thermal integration, fabrication, assembly, and testing. Each discipline runs its own leg, but they all carry the same product to the finish line.

Look at it this way: A stadium consists of customers, managers, suppliers, manufacturers, and, of course, competitors who fill the stands. Likewise, the entire electronics industry is watching to see which team can move a product from concept to reality without dropping the baton, and win the coveted prize of first to market.

Our opening runner is electrical engineer Eddie Electron. He steps onto the track carrying the product requirements, performance goals, customer expectations, cost targets, and technical challenges that must ultimately be met.

Eddie settles into the starting blocks. The crowd grows quiet. His hands press against the track, his feet lock into position, and his attention narrows to the starting gun. The starter raises the pistol. Eddie takes one deep and final breath.

Bang!

He explodes off the blocks and drives the product forward. As he gains speed, requirements become circuits, components are selected, and power architectures and interfaces are defined. Signals are connected, and the schematic begins to take shape.

As Eddie rounds the track, the theme from “Chariots of Fire” begins playing triumphantly in his head. For one glorious moment, everything appears to move in slow motion as each decision adds something to the baton: requirements, constraints, assumptions, risks, and unresolved technical concerns.

But Eddie cannot carry it across the finish line.

Ahead, Paula PCB prepares to run the second heat. The first exchange zone is approaching quickly.

As Eddie closes the distance, three questions cut through the triumphant music ringing in his head:

• Is the baton ready? He knows that the schematic may be complete, but he must ensure that the information it carries is accurate, up to date, and stable enough for Paula to move forward. He must also be honest about what remains unresolved rather than allowing uncertainty to hide inside the design.
• Does Paula understand what she is receiving? Just handing over the files is not enough. Paula must understand the decisions already made, the intent behind them, and the constraints she must preserve as the electrical design is translated into a physical circuit board.
• Will Paula have a secure grip before Eddie lets go? Eddie’s responsibility does not end the moment the files are released. For several critical strides, they must run together: answering questions, confirming understanding, and sharing responsibility until Paula is fully prepared to carry the product into the next leg.

Paula accelerates, her arm extended and palm open. Eddie matches her stride as the music in his head reaches its grand finale. He reaches forward, and the baton lands firmly in Paula’s hand.

The transfer is clean.

There, in PCB development, lies the reason many PCB designs fail: The transition from electrical engineering to PCB design is one of the most important exchanges in the entire process. A schematic may define the electrical connections, but it does not always communicate the intent behind them. When that intent is incomplete, unclear, or delivered too late, the PCB designer may have the correct data but the wrong understanding.

A successful transfer requires more than releasing files. It requires clear communication, shared understanding, defined responsibility, and enough overlap to resolve questions before momentum is lost. The exchange is complete only when the PCB designer understands what is being carried forward and is ready to take ownership of the next leg.

Paula, with baton in hand, now surges out of the exchange zone doing what she does best. Components are placed, critical connections are routed, the stackup is defined, and the once-flat schematic begins taking the physical form of a real circuit board. Every decision she makes must preserve the intent Eddie placed into the baton in the first place.

As Paula rounds the track, the final exchange zone comes into view. Manny Manufacturing is waiting.

The “Mission: Impossible” theme begins pounding in Paula’s head. Before reaching Manny, she must answer her own critical questions: Is the design truly ready to build? Are the fabrication and assembly files complete and consistent? Have the remaining risks been identified? Most importantly, can Manny manufacture and assemble the product without being forced to guess?

She gets one chance with this transfer, and those questions must be answered before the baton changes hands, not after production begins.

Confident that the baton is complete and ready, Paula enters the exchange zone, calls the signal, and slides the baton into Manny’s waiting hand. He secures it and powers forward.

The anchor leg is underway.

Manny rockets down the final straightaway, the baton locked in his hand. Fabrication equipment roars to life. Solder flows, components are placed, inspections are completed, and the design becomes a real, functioning product. 

The finish line, the delivery date, rushes toward him. The crowd rises with deafening cheers. 

Eddie Electron and Paula PCB stand at the edge of the track, shouting him home. Every requirement, decision, and ounce of design intent has survived the journey.

Manny leans forward and breaks the tape. The team has done it.

Not because one runner carried the entire race or because each person was exceptional at an individual role. They succeeded mostly because the baton remained complete, every exchange was deliberate, and each runner understood that the race belonged to the entire team. Most of all, the product crossed the finish line because no one dropped the baton.

John Watson is a professor at Palomar College, San Marcos, California.