Engineering snigglet: A word for spending the whole night comparing (trivial) parts?

technolomaniac wrote 03/13/2014 at 16:55 • 4 points

I'm searching for a word that adequately describes the blackhole of engineering time, when you spend the whole night looking for a component, comparing the host of "not-quite-perfect" features. Regulators are the perfect example! If it's got a perfect output voltage or current, the dropout voltage is huge or it's just too expensive. Maybe I'm just cheap but $3-4 for my dream LDO? Ha! No way.

I (and I know others) can spend days trying to "game" components, looking for the ideal part. I just wonder if there's a word for this dearth of productivity.