Blind faith: engineers cannot afford it

Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
Let me share a story from my first technical internship when I was in high school back in the 1970s. I was working in the engineering department of a pump company. Our analytical tools were simple calculators – and a new “computer”, with keyboard, screen, and printer.
Only one of the [...]

Dog sledding as a model for team management

Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
I am not about to cast myself as a business “self-help” guru. Those guys crack me up. If they had the business savvy to be successful, why are they flogging “how-to-succeed-in-business” books and audio tapes. They are good at selling books and tapes, but I’m not sure how much one [...]

Commercial software for academic purposes

Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
Primum non nocere. “First, do no harm.”
This phrase is a basic principle of the medical profession. The practitioner is reminded to carefully consider if the application of their craft might do more harm than good.
I wish that university professors and administrators would keep this phrase in mind when deciding on [...]

Designers and naval architects: to a degree

Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
The topic of engineering licensing pops up every now and again, as does the question about the need for a formal university degree in an engineering discipline. I was recently asked what I thought about it, and frankly, I didn’t have much of an answer. It seems to me that [...]

An unexpected lesson in success [Part 2]

Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
Last spring, I was asked to adjudicate a student design competition, where one of the review questions in determining which group was most “successful” was to determine if the groups “Exceeded”, “Met”, or “Did not meet” expectations. My immediate question was, “What were the expectations?”. During our interviews with the [...]

An unexpected lesson in success

Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
This blog entry finds me returning from the 2007 U.S. Field Hockey National Festival. A fun week, and one that provided a surprising opportunity for me to reflect on the nature of success – by observing stark contrasts.
My daughter and I both play field hockey. Aside from the game itself, [...]