With a little help from my friends I have come up with a list of process, mechanical, and piping design mistakes that have made our job as automation engineers more challenging and in some cases impossible. We learn the most by our mistakes. Besides preventing the reoccurrence, this list should provide insight to prevent conceptually similar problems.
Solutia retiree and Fellow Hall of Famer Terry Tolliver and ISA Mentor Program participants Hector Torres and Hunter Vegas have helped me with this first list.