RTFM Isn't Rude. It's Risk Management

Quick note before someone critiques my writing style (again). Short sentences. Clean structure. No fluff. A little vulgarity thrown in for color. That’s the military coming out, and some submariner habits die hard.

I spent years in the Navy writing (and following) procedures where:

• confusion gets people hurt

• assumptions break systems

• clarity is not optional

If you can make training or procedures sailor-proof, then it will keep them from killing themselves and damaging multimillion-dollar equipment. That's how I've structured my training programs for the last 18 years in this industry, and it works.

So if this reads direct, that’s the point.

You can build a technically perfect system on paper and still end up with a failure in the field. Not because the equipment failed. Because the process did.

The Myth of “Standard Practice”

There is no standard.

• One crew torques everything to spec

• Another is winging it and hoping for the best

• One designer models real loads

• Another sizes based on square footage and optimism

Both think they are doing it right, but they are not doing the same job.

Exposure Is Not Training

This one makes people uncomfortable.

Watching:

• a webinar

• a video

• someone else install a system

…is not training. Cue gasps and harumphs.

Training means:

• you understand why

• you know failure modes

• you can spot problems early

What we actually have is exposure pretending to be competence.

Where It Breaks

The triad of failures:

Design

• bad load assumptions

• batteries sized on hope

• “backup everything” promises

Installation

• poor wire management

• connector handling issues

• “close enough” mounting

Commissioning

• systems turned on without validation

• settings skipped or misunderstood

• no real testing under load

Then we act surprised when things fail.

The Real Cost

Not just:

• truck rolls

• warranty claims

Also:

• lost trust

• bad reviews

• no referrals

One bad system spreads faster than a good one.

Why It Keeps Happening

• speed beats quality

• sales beats design

• training becomes a checkbox

And the hard truth: The industry rewards volume more than quality.

What Actually Fixes It

• real training paths

• scenario-based learning

• commissioning that gets verified

• accountability tied to outcomes

And this one: Manual equals code.

You ignore code, you fail inspection. You ignore the manual, physics handles the inspection.

Lostw Reality

A solar system should be boring.

• quiet

• predictable

• reliable

If it is interesting… something went wrong earlier.

If this sounds familiar, it is already costing more than you think. But let’s keep pretending the next product feature is going to fix it.

If You Actually Want to Fix It

Bitching is easy. We all do it. Some of us made/make a career out of it.

But the Navy rule was simple. If you bitch about something, you bring a solution.

Quick sea story.

Here we are in Guam, tied up next to a submarine tender on my last deployment in the Navy, 2005. That is the floating barracks in the background.

I don't remember what I was bitching about specifically, but we had just pulled in after a long underway and we just wanted to get off the boat.

It's Guam, sure, but a bad day in Guam is better than a good day on the boat.

After giving my recommendation to expedite this monkey-screwing-a-football evolution, I was told, "Noted, Petty Officer Smith. Now stfu."

"Cheery aye, aye, senior chief." So, I assumed the position and made the face as someone took this picture.

I learned a second lesson that day. Sometimes it is not that people do not have a solution. It is that nobody wants to hear it.

That does not mean the solution was wrong. It just means it was inconvenient.

Ok, let's get on this onramp...

So here it is. Not theory. Not marketing. Stuff that actually works.

1. Set a Real Baseline

Right now, “trained” means whatever someone feels like it means.

Fix that.

• Define what a trained installer actually knows

• Define what a trained designer actually understands

• Define what “commissioned correctly” looks like

Not vague or ambiguous. Not aspirational.

Clear. Measurable. Repeatable. (Six Sigma certified. Bloom’s approved.)

If two crews can produce completely different outcomes, you do not have a training program. You have a suggestion.

2. Train for Failure, Not Just Success

Most training shows the happy path: Perfect install. Perfect conditions. Everything works.

That is not the real world.

Start training people on:

• what bad connectors look like

• what poor wire management turns into over time

• what misconfigured systems actually do under load

Show failure early. Because the field will show it later anyway.

3. Make Commissioning Mean Something

Right now, commissioning often means: “System turns on. Light a ciggy. Go home.”

That is not commissioning. That is optimism.

Real commissioning:

• verifies settings

• checks performance under load

• confirms communication and controls

• documents the result

If you cannot prove it works, you do not know it works.

4. Tie Accountability to Outcomes

This is where things get uncomfortable. Stop measuring success by installs.

Start measuring:

• callback rates

• service tickets

• system performance over time

If someone installs 100 systems and 20 of them fail, that is not success. That is a delayed problem.

5. Treat the Manual Like Code

This one should not be controversial, but here we are.

The manual equals code.

• conductor routing

• connector handling

• mounting requirements

• configuration steps

It is all there. If you ignore it, the system does not care how experienced you think you are. Physics will enforce compliance eventually.

6. Stop Pretending Experience Equals Competence

“I’ve done a bunch of these” is not a qualification.

I talk about this in my Amazon best-seller, The Battery Powered Home. During many training sessions over the years, an installer speaks out with his resume, followed by a snide, "I've been doing this for [insert number] years!"

Yeah, and those are the ones who usually fuck up a simple, new product installation.

Experience without feedback just reinforces bad habits faster.

Competence comes from:

• training

• verification

• correction

Without those, you are just getting really efficient at doing it wrong.

Bottom Line

None of this is complicated. It is just not convenient.

It takes time. It takes discipline. It takes admitting that maybe the way we have been doing things is not as solid as we thought.

Solar doesn't have a technology problem. It has a training problem.