> A Short Story for Engineers
JFTR, Every time I see such titles it curios me: which type of Engineers it directed for: Software, Civil, Social, etc.? It should be clarified in the title, because all of them are different.
A Short Story for Engineers
61–70 of 128 posts
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#62It's a great anecdote but good manufacturing organizations have long realized that you need engineers, managers and the workforce on the floor to constantly communicate and get everyone to pull together. One big problem is the culture clash between white and blue collar, unfortunately.
And every once in a while outside consultants aren't the bloodsuckers they are made out to be.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#63This reminds me about one of the topics that has been bothering me along my career as a technical pm: when is the diverge part of the design process is finished? per my experience, many orgs underestimate the benefits of “people thinking” and overestimate the benefits of being able to forecast when the solution will be available. And this, imho, is key when talking about startups vs corps... corps worry about the pro…
Agree with you there. I have seen so many times that people leave meetings without understanding what was concluded and what to do next. I try to be the person that ask questions if I don't understand what is agreed upon or if I "feel" that others don't understand. In the startup I'm in right now we try to build a culture where asking questions and taking a moment to think and talk if someone "feels" something is off is appreciated.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#64Yes, the story is an urban legend, the budget goes up every time it's told, etc. But I think the important lesson here is not really "line worker outsmarts expensive consultants", its really about incentives . The consultants are incentivized to do good work (they want to keep a good reputation and potentially get more work) BUT they are also incentivized to charge as much as possible ("value-based pricing" is the te…
There's another element where the consultant simply enumerates all of the things that the employees have already been telling management for years. And of course there's an entire spectrum in between. Some things are only important once a dollar figure is attached to them.
This blog post touches on the topic (highly recommended read):
https://blog.erratasec.com/2020/07/how-ceos-think.html
> Outside consultants often end up saying the same thing you do, but are trusted whereas you are not. CEOs listen to the outsiders because they have no hidden political agenda.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#65Topically, the presumed explosion danger from hydrogen fueled aviation is also eliminated by installation of electric fans.
But they do need battery backup.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#66Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, but the concern isn't its serving as a parable for engineers. The concern is it serving as a parable for uneducated people about why they should rely on 'common sense' rather than experts in a given field. We just have to look at the modern US political landscape to see why that's a problem.
> The concern is it serving as a parable for uneducated people about why they should rely on 'common sense' rather than experts in a given field. Well, often people should rely on common sense, rather than experts -- which more often than not are mere consultants with expensive solutions to non-problems to sell. "Trust" is only good in an era of honest experts that don't look for a quick buck over science and rigor -…
Those lobbyists and salesmen and quacks tout common sense much, much more than they do science. The science is hard to understand, and non-emotional, the common sense is easy to understand, and can be very highly charged.
To take something that isn't currently in the political eye, but demonstrates this well, tobacco. "We believe in freedom. We believe in choice. You are free to educate yourself and decide for yourself; we don't need some nanny state deciding FOR you". Nevermind that it's a physically addictive product, being sold with ads targeting adolescents who are especially responsive to imagery and messages around rebellion, bucking the status quo, etc, and less long term thinking.
As to medical procedures...yes, the perverse incentives are in place to where extra tests = extra money. But the article you link even lists "Patients often insist that a medical provider “do something,” like write a prescription or perform a test." - this is "common sense" overriding expert opinion.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#68Yes, the story is an urban legend, the budget goes up every time it's told, etc. But I think the important lesson here is not really "line worker outsmarts expensive consultants", its really about incentives . The consultants are incentivized to do good work (they want to keep a good reputation and potentially get more work) BUT they are also incentivized to charge as much as possible ("value-based pricing" is the te…
“value-based pricing”
As I understand it, the value is based on the customer’s perception of value. And I believe this is contrasted with hourly-based pricing.
If I try to come up with an example, I might say the postal service has a value price. Mail a letter anywhere in the (continental) US, 0.55 You don’t pay 1.55 if it gets there sooner. Even if you overnight the letter, there is a flat fee. The extra cost for more difficult deliveries versus easier deliveries is a wash; the post office doesn’t charge you more or less.
Hourly consulting, like for a winning advertising campaign—what is that worth?
I don’t understand the remark suggesting value pricing is the more lucrative of pricing structures.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#69Yes, the story is an urban legend, the budget goes up every time it's told, etc. But I think the important lesson here is not really "line worker outsmarts expensive consultants", its really about incentives . The consultants are incentivized to do good work (they want to keep a good reputation and potentially get more work) BUT they are also incentivized to charge as much as possible ("value-based pricing" is the te…
“value-based pricing” As I understand it, the value is based on the customer’s perception of value. And I believe this is contrasted with hourly-based pricing. If I try to come up with an example, I might say the postal service has a value price. Mail a letter anywhere in the (continental) US, 0.55 You don’t pay 1.55 if it gets there sooner. Even if you overnight the letter, there is a flat fee. The extra cost for mo…
Value-based pricing is used to imply that the price of the service should be proportional to the value the customer receives from it, not the cost it took for the consultant to implement the solution.
Of course, with huge corporations, teeny improvements can be worth millions in value. So consultants working with these large corporations will usually prefer a "value-based pricing" model because if they can convince a customer that they can reap $100 million in additional savings or revenue (not unreasonable for a large company), they could easily charge, say, $40 million for it, but they would never be able to charge, say, $5000 an hour if that's what the timing worked out to be.
Re: A Short Story for Engineers
#70"How a plan becomes policy"
https://web.archive.org/web/20160531101830/http://ogun.stanf...
In the beginning was the plan.
And then came the assumptions.
And the assumptions were without form.
And the plan was without substance.
[...]