# Ep. 41 - Surviving the Bus Test

- Show: [Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast)
- Published: 2025-06-19
- Length: 38m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test
- Listen: https://opulo.io

## Summary

Lucy Chaparr and Stephen Hawes of Opulo discuss the 'bus test' (or bus factor) and how they survived Lucy's 10-week absence due to a family emergency. They detail the critical role of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in tools like Ohai and Mattermost, which allowed the team to maintain order fulfillment and sourcing. However, they also highlight a failure in build management within their PLM system, which led to inventory discrepancies requiring a massive manual count of 100,000 components.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test#t=0) Introduction and the Bus Test Definition
- [4:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test#t=251) The Necessity of SOPs and Playbooks
- [10:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test#t=657) Knowledge Management and Account Access
- [21:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test#t=1291) Legal Continuity and Probate Risks
- [25:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test#t=1509) Lucy's Absence: Successes and Failures
- [29:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-06-19-ep-41-surviving-the-bus-test#t=1759) Inventory Chaos and Future Improvements

## Topics

- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Opulo (company)
- Ohai (tool)
- Mattermost (tool)
- LCSC (company)
- Formlabs (company)
- Python (other)
- Guido Van Rossem (other)
- Jira (tool)
- Slack (tool)
- Google Drive (tool)
- WeChat (tool)
- Alibaba (company)
- PLM (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [#162 - Ops Nightmares, Powered by Crstl](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2024-09-24-162-ops-nightmares-powered-by-crstl) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [SOPs , Kaizen Events and Other Keys to Operational Excellence w/ Dave Crysler](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2023-11-07-sops-kaizen-events-and-other-keys-to-operational-excellence-w-dave-crysler) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Episode 081: Let’s just get through the next 10 minutes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2016-07-29-episode-081-lets-just-get-through-the-next-10-minutes) (Making It)
- [Foundation First: Products, Systems, Process & People w/ Bill Kaewert](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2023-07-25-foundation-first-products-systems-process-people-w-bill-kaewert) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [The Oxide Supply Chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-08-30-the-oxide-supply-chain) (Oxide and Friends)

## Citing this page

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