Accomplished Quote by Norman Ralph Augustine
“It is very expensive to achieve high unreliability. It is not uncommon to increase the cost of an item by a factor of ten for each factor of ten degradation accomplished.”
About This Quote
Source Book: “Managing the Design Process”, 1995
Increasing reliability dramatically raises cost; each tenfold reliability gain costs ten times more.
In simple terms: Higher reliability costs exponentially more.
Key Takeaway
Balance reliability with budget constraints.
Themes
engineering
cost
reliability
trade‑offs
Mood
analytical
pragmatic
Type
technical
business
When to use this quote
- product design
- risk management
- maintenance planning
- budgeting
Key Concepts
systems engineering
economics
Questions to Reflect On
- Is the extra cost justified for your product?
- What reliability level meets user expectations?
A Different Perspective
Sometimes lower reliability is acceptable if it enables innovation.
![“[U]nless oppressed groups stick together, and on alliances of self interest rather than do-goodism; nothing can be accomplished in the long run to dismantle the apparatus of oppression.” quote by Shulamith Firestone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d7b/shulamith-firestone-12980_accomplished_u-nless-oppressed-groups-stick-together_5485.jpg)
