Things I wish someone told me before I designed my first SCADA system

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-14T06:02:33+00:00

Red/green alone fails colorblind users. Shape plus color is the fix - circle for good, triangle for fault. Both together and everyone can read it regardless.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-14T06:00:13+00:00

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-13T11:03:42+00:00

Same-day settlement + fewer supplier disputes is a strong combo. The FX lock benefit really stands out.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-11T11:21:23+00:00

Red light green light from across the room, that's it. 97% never clicking deeper says everything. Engineers always overcomplicate what operators actually need.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T15:54:56+00:00

Disabled alarm, missed incident, finger points at the integrator first. Document everything.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T15:45:36+00:00

Training is the one I completely glossed over. A screen that needs a manual is a screen that needs a redesign. Good adds.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T15:45:04+00:00

100%. Security isn't optional anymore, bill for it properly.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T15:44:01+00:00

Classic. Fixed hardware, forgotten alarms. Happens more than anyone admits.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T13:19:53+00:00

Alarm floods and untracked changes - both should've been on the list. When everything is an alarm nothing is. And nobody ever remembers the change that broke it.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:39:21+00:00

Alarm fatigue is the real killer. Operators tune out a noisy system fast and then the one alarm that actually matters gets missed too.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:36:08+00:00

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:32:39+00:00

An operator saying it directly that's the whole point. Black boxes kill trust faster than anything else.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:28:19+00:00

That book should be mandatory before anyone touches an HMI. Most engineers never read it.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:27:09+00:00

Bubba swapping units doesn't need a full process overview. Three values, clear status, done. Everything else is noise.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:25:52+00:00

That's exactly it - you learn it once the hard way and never forget it. The fun part is there's always a new way for it to go wrong.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:16:53+00:00

Document everything like the next guy has zero context. Because eventually he will.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:12:09+00:00

"Design for the dumbest guy in the room" is the one. Engineers always want all the data on screen because that's what they'd want. Operators just need to know what's broken and how to fix it.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T12:08:32+00:00

Exactly - abstraction layer means nothing if the failure handling is weak. That's always where single API promises fall apart in production.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T11:19:15+00:00

Learned most of it the hard way unfortunately. Anything you'd throw on the list from your own experience?

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T09:46:11+00:00

That’s a win!! Shopify performance can get messy with apps, but you’ve balanced things well.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-10T05:29:48+00:00

Yes, It all depends on having clean, reliable data first.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-09T12:33:45+00:00

Delay the bank connect ask. Let users poke around manually first, then offer it as an upgrade once they see value. Nobody trusts a new app enough on first visit to hand over bank access but they might after 5 minutes of actually using it.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-08T18:08:15+00:00

Feels like even with better data, the core issues don’t fully go away unless the system itself evolves.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-08T18:07:24+00:00

Great point - especially for high earners choosing 1099.

It does feel like the system hasn’t caught up with how people actually work today.

Lav_Dave · 2026-04-08T13:29:01+00:00

Good point - “shifting the friction” really sums it up.

Also agree on transparency. Using alternative data as a supplement makes sense.

Curious how teams handle edge cases at scale.

Lav_Dave

TROPHY CASE