Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
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Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
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Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#2Engineers solve problems. Doesn't mean all problems are defined properly. That's why part of the hype around design thinking is about solving the right problem before solving the problem right.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#3Engineers solve problems. Doesn't mean all problems are defined properly. That's why part of the hype around design thinking is about solving the right problem before solving the problem right .
Working with limited information means making decisions that might turn out to be bad ones down the line. I agree with your statement, but the opportunity cost of figuring out the exact right problem to solve is inaction, and inaction is often worse than making a poorly-informed judgement.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#4Engineers solve problems. Doesn't mean all problems are defined properly. That's why part of the hype around design thinking is about solving the right problem before solving the problem right .
Working with limited information means making decisions that might turn out to be bad ones down the line. I agree with your statement, but the opportunity cost of figuring out the exact right problem to solve is inaction, and inaction is often worse than making a poorly-informed judgement.
Definitely a legitimate consideration. There's always a balance between exploring and exploiting, with an equilibrium point somewhere. My experience is biased by many situations where exploration was unduly limited.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Working with limited information means making decisions that might turn out to be bad ones down the line. I agree with your statement, but the opportunity cost of figuring out the exact right problem to solve is inaction, and inaction is often worse than making a poorly-informed judgement.
Definitely a legitimate consideration. There's always a balance between exploring and exploiting, with an equilibrium point somewhere. My experience is biased by many situations where exploration was unduly limited.
> exploration was unduly limited.
Or was just not done in good faith. Which is why having a culture of openness and honesty and acceptance of failure (to an extent) is important to building an effective engineering culture.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#6Engineers solve problems. Doesn't mean all problems are defined properly. That's why part of the hype around design thinking is about solving the right problem before solving the problem right .
And a bit of a big ask connecting some SV scooter sharing start up to old school civil engineering.
From experience working for a leading hydrodynamics organisation you don't mess around with nature lightly ok you can do costal defence but you just move the problem around.
Oh and normally its the technician who fixes the "engineers" math :-)
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#7It seems like author is studying water crisis in Mexico City. Based on problems here - author states that no problems are solved - just transformed. Though one should think that bridges, tunnels, trains etc. was solving problems.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Working with limited information means making decisions that might turn out to be bad ones down the line. I agree with your statement, but the opportunity cost of figuring out the exact right problem to solve is inaction, and inaction is often worse than making a poorly-informed judgement.
Definitely a legitimate consideration. There's always a balance between exploring and exploiting, with an equilibrium point somewhere. My experience is biased by many situations where exploration was unduly limited.
Agreed, and in the author's instance that makes sense but generalizing the problems faced in a specific region that is known for not-so-great government to engineering as a whole is ignoring a lot of context to decision-making, good or bad.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#9This seems like a misleading title. The article itself is pretty great and I would encourage folks to read it.
The engineers did solve one problem, that of the flooding in the metropolitan city center and they did it pretty well. The transformation the author mentions is the side effect caused by hauling all that water away instead of letting it sink into the ground and replenish the water table. That's another problem, and now the engineers can solve that too.
Damming rivers across the US kickstarted the US economy after the Great Depression but also lead to unintended consequences (depleted water supply downstream, silt buildup near dams etc.). It is the nature of engineering to solve one problem at a time; only an Oracle could forsee all possible consequences of engineering works.
Re: Engineers Don't Solve Problems (2018)
#10The engineers that build the new drainage system in 1975 did indeed solve the problem. The new problems are a result of bad city planning.