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Ask HN: How do I get Good at Cable Management?

9 points by joeatwork ↗ HN
I’ve known a bunch of folks who were really good at network cable management, none of whom were full time network techs. When I try to imitate them, my cabling ends up a total mess. If you’re good at cable management, how did you learn it?

10 comments

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Justsignedup
Honestly, watch some YouTube.

I did that for running cables inside computer builds and it gave me so many ideas.

Then... Buy a ton of zipties and such and try it. Then take it apart and do it better. I'm sure within 10 attempts you'll get pretty good at it.

gjvc
velcro should be preferred to zip-ties
Justsignedup
honestly i just did wiring for a desk. i probably re-did somewhere between 10-20 zipties. It is always worth it.

Velcro is just expensive, I can buy 100 zipties for like a dollar.

PaulHoule
It helps to be able to cut cables to an exact length, but you have to leave a little slack. There was that time a friend and I connected about 40 pairs to the board of a college radio station that were exactly the right length and somebody yanked on the board and broke many of them.
navjack27
Do things over and over. Use velcro ties. Think through the entire cable run in advance. Think the logic of the run. What has to plug into what first? What can stay unplugged while you manage the run? What will need to be unplugged in the future more often from what end most likely? Things like that.
brudgers
Replace “cable management” with “piano playing“ and the idea that virtuosity is a collection of tips, tricks, and shortcuts is exposed as the absurdity it is.

my cabling ends up a total mess

Good cable management means tidying up the mess as opposed to accepting the mess.

That’s work of course, but being good at something doesn’t mean working less. At best it means becoming more efficient so more gets done in the same amount of time.

In the average case being good is more work. Good luck.

[edit] The important thing about learning the piano is the expectation it will take time and dedication to a process of correcting poor results.

Sure you can hire a piano teacher. But you can also hire a consultant to come in once a week.

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bradknowles
Q: How do you create a sculpture like "The Statue of David"?

A: Take a block of marble, and remove everything that doesn't look like David.

This sounds like a simple question, and it sounds like a simple answer. But the truth of the matter is that there is much more behind both the question and the answer than most people seem to comprehend.

The same came be said for many other cases of trying to understand virtuosity. And especially trying to replicate it.

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