Many of us find ourselves in a position where we are maintaining legacy electrical systems. Circuit boards that were designed 5, 10, or even 20 years ago can still be useful today, and are therefore still in production. The components that go on those boards, however, might not be reliably available over such long periods of time. Though this problem has been exasperated by the recent chip shortage, the problem has existed independently for as long as electronic products have been in production. Surely, after a hundred years of electronics engineering, there must be an established practice for mitigating these types of problems. Right?
Or is the hard way the only way? Is it necessary to understand every aspect of the design and how the components interact with the board as a whole? What if the boards were produced a decade ago by a TEAM of experienced engineers who are no longer around, and you are (hypothetically) a singular, inexperienced engineer trying to sustain such boards? Are there books written about this? Classes offered? Is there any reliable and systematic method that one can learn to better navigate this problem that we all face? Or is it just "work harder" and "hire more engineers" all the way down? Sorry for the rant, but any wisdom and/or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Or is the hard way the only way? Is it necessary to understand every aspect of the design and how the components interact with the board as a whole? What if the boards were produced a decade ago by a TEAM of experienced engineers who are no longer around, and you are (hypothetically) a singular, inexperienced engineer trying to sustain such boards? Are there books written about this? Classes offered? Is there any reliable and systematic method that one can learn to better navigate this problem that we all face? Or is it just "work harder" and "hire more engineers" all the way down? Sorry for the rant, but any wisdom and/or advice will be greatly appreciated.