A few years ago, a major U.S. customer of ours suffered a "line down" in their huge projection TV factory in Mexico, all because of a problem with our switcher IC. I was dispatched almost overnight, along with our respected, senior-most QA expert, straight out of our California location (without even proper re-entry paperwork). That was a blistering response time for sure! And we did solve the problem in a couple of days, too, though one particular incident within that period is still fresh in my mind. I was sitting there on the side of the customer's now-deserted production floor, trying feverishly to understand the problem, that is, basically just doing some crisis-mode troubleshooting. I guess I may have been thinking aloud like any immersed engineer, because I was told that our customer's production head had just passed by within earshot. And perhaps he had actually heard something. All I know is that our seasoned QA expert suddenly knocked me out of my engineering semi-trance, with a rather scary, job-threatening stare, "you just admitted to them that we have a problem with our part. Tell me: are you working for them or for us?" Whoa! Pardon my naivet /ignorance, but I thought that was (almost) the same thing.

Basically, our QA expert thought all business was primarily about product liability. "Don't admit to anything," was the underlying creed. Later, he told me he had learned this "important lesson" over several years while being...