• “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
 — Albert Einstein
• We are looking for individuals willing to appear as guests on this podcast, sharing insights and stories from their engineering journeys. If you are so inclined, you can contact us by emailing a message to admin –at– theengineeringcommomons dot com.
• The manner in which people perceive and interact with the world is often assessed using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
• Citation: M. H. McCaulley, E. S. Godleski, C. F. Yokomoto, L. Harrisberger and E. D. Sloan, Applications of psychological type in engineering education, Engineering Education, 73, 5, (1983) pp.394–400.
• According to McCaulley (1983, not 1990), the majority of engineering students are introverted (I, 56%) rather than extroverted (E, 44%), sensing (S, 53%) rather than intuitive (N, 47%), thinking (T, 74%) rather than feeling (F, 36%), and judging (J, 61%) rather than perceptive (P, 39%).
• Showing his advanced age and terminal lack of hipness, Jeff makes a reference to former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who left TV in 1992 and passed away nearly a decade ago.
• Citation: T. P. O’Brien, L. E. Bernold and D. Akroyd, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Academic Achievement in Engineering Education, Int. J. Engng Ed., Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 311–315, 1998.
• According to O’Brien et al. (1998), the only preference from the Myers-Briggs assessment that has a statistical influence on academic grades is that of being an intuitor (N) rather than a sensor (S).
• A majority of engineering professors are intuitors (N), while most engineering students are sensors (S). See R. M. Felder and L. K. Silverman, Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education, Engr. Education, 78(7), 674–681 (1988).
• Percentage of intuitors by discipline: Physics (63%), Geological (62%), Aerospace (60%), Metallurgical (54%), Mining (40%), Mechanical (39%), Industrial (39%), and Civil (31%). See prior citation: O’Brien et al., 1998.
• Jeff references an article titled, How many lightbulbs does it take to change an engineer? It suggests that, when introducing change into an engineering organization, one should give engineers time to assimilate the reasons (for the I), give them a model for change (for the N), provide concrete evidence (for the S), offer a reason for change (for the T), and present a clear process for change (for the J).
• The group seems to agree that the best way to learn a subject is to teach it to someone else.
• Carmen cites an article titled, Are Young Engineers Unprepared?
• A discussion ensues concerning the need for computer models to match experimental data.

Thanks to Leo Grübler for the photo titled “bauchgefühl.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Besides whatever form of music happens to pass through his headset, Carmen enjoys listening to numerous podcasts, including: Nerdist, with Chris Hardwick, and Roderick on the Line, with Merlin Mann and John Roderick.
• You can read about Carmen’s latest workplace prank on his blog, FakeEEQuips.
• Adam likes to listen to podcasts about beer, courtesy of The Brewing Network. He also tunes in to The Amp Hour, and How Stuff Works.
• Brian listens to bands KMFDM and Tool via Pandora. On the podcast side, he enjoys The Bugle, with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman, and How Did This Get Made? He also listens to Quackcast, Skeptic’s Guide, and Astronomy Cast. On the history front, he consumes Binge Thinking and Hard Core History.
• Adam explains how brewing beer has helped him in his work as a civil engineer.
• Brian rides his motorcycle to get away from office stress.
• Cooking has become a spare-time activity for Carmen, although his dishes do not sound lo-cal!
• When reading, Carmen enjoys the Deadly Sin series by Lawrence Sanders, as well as Star Wars Expanded Universe novels.
• Jeff relies on his Twitter feed and RSS reader for news, while Brian turns to Fark and Reddit. Brian gets defense industry news from The Dew Line and Alert 5.
• Carmen turns to Ars Technica for tech news.
• John D. Cook’s blog, The Endeavour, is one of Jeff’s favorites.
• Adam is currently reading a book by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. titled, The Design of Design.
• The book Guns, Germs, and Steel is recommended by Brian. Neither he nor Jeff has made it all the way through the tome Gödel, Escher, Bach. Brian also recommends The God Particle, by Leon Lederman.
• Carmen works out at the gym to relieve stress, while Jeff runs on his treadmill.
• If you’re interested in cooking, you may enjoy the websites Cooking for Engineers and Serious Eats.
• Stories of travel adventures will have to wait until a future episode.

Thanks to Will Morlow for the photo titled “Take me to Mars, please.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Adam has used “soft” skills more than “hard” skills thus far in his engineering career.
• On the other hand, Carmen makes heavy use, at least on occasion, of the “hard” skills he learned in his engineering education.
• Adam notes that the ABET criteria for civil engineering requires a focus on the areas of management, business, policy, and leadership not required by other engineering fields.
• Jeff highlights a presentation by Richard Miller, the president of Olin College, that discusses the challenge of balancing hard and soft skills in the engineering curriculum.
• A thesis by Kristen Wolfe discuses the skills that mechanical engineers from MIT use five years after graduation, which tended to be more collaborative than technical.
• Conflict with co-workers seems to be a common reason for dismissal, so hiring firms are spending more time checking the collaborative skills of potential employees.
• In accessing soft skills at career fairs, Carmen finds that many engineering graduates have trouble presenting themselves in a professional manner.
• Carmen got better at interviewing by going on multiple interviews; a case of practice makes perfect? He aspires to be like Jim Williams and Bob Pease.
• Adam and Carmen offer suggestions for improving one’s social skills, mainly by getting into situations where you have to deal with others on a regular basis.
• Schools should focus on the hard skills, Carmen claims, because engineering students can pick up the soft skills elsewhere.
• Jeff asks whether an engineering education should be “just in case” or “just in time.”
• Some research indicates that a minority of engineering graduates remain in science and engineering five years after graduation.
• Adam was rewarded in his school work for recognizing when an answer was incorrect.
• Carmen and Adam both felt like they benefited greatly from participating in co-op programs.
• Where are engineering graduates supposed to learn “tools,” such as CAD systems, or simulation software? There’s no clear answer, but many employers expect their new hires to have experience with specific software packages.
• We may be entering an age of hyperspecialization (PDF of article from Harvard Business Review.)

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Thanks to Dean Jackson for the photo titled “NooNoo studying calculus.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Brian has experienced the glassy-eyed look of others listening to his engineering stories.
• Our guest for this episode is Ann McMahon, an aerospace engineer who advises educators on how best to share science and engineering with K-12 students.
• Ann originally wanted to be an astrophysicist, but ended up in the aerospace industry after acquiring degrees in mechanical engineering.
• After a career with McDonnell Douglas, our guest started volunteering in her son’s classroom; this led to an interest in educational matters.
• For the past decade, Ann has been working with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Science Resources Center as a National Faculty member for a program called Leadership Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER).
• Some existing programs for introducing engineering into the classroom include Project Lead the Way, and Engineering is Elementary.
• Brian wonders if engineering will ever be taught as its own subject; Ann is hopeful that schools are moving their curricula in this direction.
• “Wicked” problems are complex issues that have no “right” or “wrong” answers; and each possible solution presents even more potentially unforeseen consequences.
• In comparison, “tame” problems are definitively right or wrong, and lack the complexity of real-world issues.
• Having right or wrong answers, rather than evaluating tradeoffs, misses the essence of the engineering profession.
• It will likely take time for educators to determine how to assign grades in the absence of easily-defended solutions.
• An effort is being made in many classrooms to emphasize non-cognitive skills, such as collaborating, taking on the perspectives of others, arguing from evidence, and getting along with other team members.
• Susan Cain has recently released her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.
• The concept of an “object world” is introduced in Designing Engineers by Louis L. Bucciarelli.
• Ann recently gave a TEDx talked titled Engineering Empathy (use password tedxgladstone).
• We learn best when we are supported by relationships with important others who help us stretch to master new challenges and cope with potentially overwhelming situations.
• Relationships that a child has with a teacher and peers at school are influenced by the child’s earlier experiences.
• Our ability to learn is influenced by our mental state, as indicated in the following diagram.
  
• Ann believes that engineering offers unique opportunities for students to acquire important cognitive and social skills, including a chance to practice emotional regulation.
• Design competitions are great for some students, but others may not thrive in such an environment.
• Sharing what we know, at an appropriate level, is the best way to convey our interest in engineering with students.
• Ann can be reached at annpmcmahon *at* gmail.com; or found online at AnnPMcMahon.com.

Thanks to PiK Yeoh for the photo titled “Child-craft.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Co-host #1 is Adam, a civil engineer who works for a Department of Transportation in the Upper Midwest.
• Co-host #2 is Brian, an electrical engineer who has spent a good deal of his career doing hardware design for the aerospace industry.
• Co-host #3 is Carmen, an electrical engineer in the analog semiconductor business.
• Adam never had any doubt that he wanted to become an engineer. He fell in love with traffic engineering, so became a civil engineer.
• Civil engineering seems to be a field with good employment prospects, as the U.S. transportation infrastructure needs a lot of updating.
• Brian started out in journalism, but found an engineering professor who sparked an enduring interest in embedded systems.
• Carmen enjoyed enjoyed the robots classes he took in high school, leading him into electrical engineering.
• Working with an experienced engineer during an internship made Carmen realize he wanted to focus on analog design.
• Brian and Carmen don’t have any current interest in being managers, although Jeff wonders if that might not change in the future.
• Software packages are making it easier for non-engineers to perform engineering functions.
• Jeff recalls that W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. limits the number of employees in each of its divisions.
• Jim Williams, author of Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design, has noted that development time remains the same, even though the number of features per device continues to increase.
• A discussion ensues about the advantages and disadvantages of complexity in engineering design.
• In his book, The Black Swan, author Nassim Taleb discusses why it is so hard to anticipate what will go wrong with a process or system.
• Jeff quizzes Adam about intersections, highway design, and asphalt durability.
• Carmen’s blog is Fake EE Quips, and his twitter handle is @FakeEEQuips.
• Brian’s twitter handle is @B2theory.
• Although he hasn’t posted anything in a while, Jeff’s blog is Engineering Revision. He can be found on Twitter as @sheltoneer.

Thanks to Tc Morgan for the photo titled “Ignite the moment…” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Jeff and Chris didn’t receive much leadership training in their engineering classes. Jeff picked up his knowledge on the job, while Chris benefited from some training in high school, and a program offered by his college fraternity.
• Engineers tend to feel that leadership activities are not a core part of their duties, even though they spend a lot of time collaborating with, and overseeing the work of, others.
• Our guest is Jim Stroup, author of the book Managing Leadership.
• Having spent a good portion of his adult life in the U.S. Marines, Jim has been exposed to a wide range of leadership issues, and he moved into management consulting after retiring from the military.
• Jim’s book makes the case that true leadership emerges from the individuals within an organization, rather than being handed down from the top of the organization.
• When working with executives, Jim finds that initial problem statements rarely capture the core issues that need to be addressed. Does this sound like an engineering assignment you’ve recently faced?
• Stories of “hero” leaders, with mythical powers, are promoted in the media, as it makes for a more dramatic narrative than describing how hundreds of nameless employees may have toiled away for years making the organization a success.
• Individual leadership is the notion that leadership descends through the organization, emanating from a single person. Our guest finds this an untenable concept, as significant leadership capabilities are found at every level of an organization.
• One of the best examples of an individual leader is Steve Jobs of Apple Inc., as he took action to create a new company and new products, and as an owner had the authority to do so.
• Unfortunately, many “charismatic” leaders take on roles of authority that are not theirs to exert.
• Leadership promotes forward movement, causing resources to centralize around an objective, and to advance the realization of that objective.
• Jim observes that organizational leadership naturally occurs when a group of individuals collaborate for a common purpose.
• The notion of an “individual leader” got its start in the 1970s and 1980s; organizational executives were simply thought of as managers before that time.
• It’s often difficult for executives to communicate freely with individuals throughout an organization; intermediaries often impose themselves to make sure that an executive is only exposed to well-run aspects of the operation.
• Our guest suggests that solving your boss’s problems is a good way to establish the proper leadership/management relationship.
• Organizations don’t always need to be flat; but they should always be effective. Leadership skills can be exhibited in both flat and hierarchical institutions.
• A hospital is a great example of a self-organizing alliance, with health practitioners from various fields joining together to address the particular needs of each patient.
• Managers can delegate authority to get things done, but cannot delegate responsibility for the actions of their subordinates.
• Mary Parker Follett, an early management consultant, was one of the first to make the distinction between authority and responsibility in an organization.
• Jim makes the point that managers can allow leadership functions to performed by subordinates. While managers retain the responsibility for leadership taking place, it is not incumbent on them to perform those functions themselves.
• Managers do, however, have to make decisions. While it is beneficial to gather input from the ranks, it is the manager’s job to decide on which path to take toward meeting the organization’s objectives.
• Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan, has challenged anyone to prove that any CEO has done anything that changed the direction of any organization by a single degree.
• Jim’s advice to young managers: Individuals want to contribute to the progress of your organization. Find ways to facilitate their ability to effectively and efficiently do their jobs.
• Jim Stroup has a website and blog at ManagingLeadership.com. He can also be found on Twitter as @jimstroup.

Thanks to GrowWear for the photo titled “Leadership.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Chris isn’t sure what he’ll be doing in a month, but says it probably won’t include hosting The Engineering Commons podcast. (A collective gasp rises up from the audience!!)
• Jeff quizzes Chris for a bit about his career objectives, and the role podcasting plays in advancing his personal and professional interests.
• Exploring a wide variety of opportunities, and steeling himself for the possibility of massive industry changes, Chris has developed a number of online venues (in addition to this podcast), including The Amp Hour, Engineer Blogs and Chip Report TV.
• Chris currently considers himself a “starter,” but not a “finisher.” Jeff thinks he’s being too hard on himself.
• Apparently the human brain loses plasticity as it gets older, making it harder to forget the old information, and thus blocking the absorption of new data.
• Is Chris suffering burnout, or merely changing priorities? He’s previously written about nearing the burnout stage.
• An observation about consulting is, “Why work 8 hours/day for someone else when you can work 16 hours/day for yourself?
• Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, is about when to persevere, and when to quit.
• Jeff runs through a list of the Top 10 Symptoms of Developer Burnout, just to verify that Chris is making an informed decision.
• There’s also a list of the Top 10 Tips for Avoiding IT Burnout.
• Chris reveals that he’s known to do yoga late at night, and recommends the site DoYogaWithMe.com.
• A program that adjusts the color temperature of your computer screen to match the local time of day is called f.lux.
• Women engineers report a higher level of burnout than do their male counterparts.
• According to a recent survey from the ASME, the average male engineer earns $96,000 annually, while the average female engineer earns $77,000.
• Based upon a recent search of available positions on Indeed.com, the average electrical engineering job is going for $84K. California jobs average $94K, while those in Ohio are averaging $80K.
• Jeff mentions an old movie, The Seven Year Itch, in noting that it’s not unusual for individuals to grow dissatisfied with their career situation approximately 7 to 10 years after graduation.
• Our episode on economic value with Professor James Trevelyan highlighted the differences between skills taught at school and those used on the job by practicing engineers.
• A Money Magazine article about setting priorities appears focused on financial decisions, but has some applicability to career decisions.
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, is a book that Chris frequently references.
• Jeff recalls getting stymied by the chore of correctly assigning priorities to all the tasks he listed in his Franklin planner.
• Jeff and Chris discuss options for the future of this podcast, including the possibility of finding a new co-host. Chris has posted a video about podcast creation.
• While Amazon lists a book, Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences, for $210, our little podcast remains free of charge!
• There will be a three week break until the next podcast, due to some scheduling hiccups. However, Chris will still be co-hosting our next episode, which will discuss leadership.
• Individuals interested in possibly taking a run at co-hosting this podcast with Jeff can send email to admin -=at=- theengineeringcommons.com.

Thanks to Elf Pvke for the photo titled “Bloomington, IN, 5/10.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

Thanks to giveawayboy for the drawing titled “You unlocked all the channels in me.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Chris has been busy refactoring electronic schematics; Jeff is preparing for a mechatronics course he will be teaching.
• Despite our perceptions of time being quite variable, we often talk about work we need to do, or the distances we need to travel, in terms of the quantity of time that these tasks will consume.
• As Albert Einstein put it, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT’S relativity.”
• Nearly all analysis problems one faces in engineering school are unaffected by the issue of calendar time. On the other hand, many real-world engineering activities are heavily dependent on meeting time deadlines.
• One method for judging the temperature dependence of reaction rates is the Arrhenius Equation.
• Accurate time estimation is important for project management.
• Chris likes the concepts of Agile Management. One of these involves predicting one’s progress for the next two weeks.
• Team cohesiveness is always important for acquiring honest assessments of a project’s status and future timeline.
• Seasonal issues play a big role in the areas of maintenance and purchasing. Far reaching events, from Chinese New Year to Speedweeks, can influence engineering schedules.
• Time is money. Need we say more? However, the conversion rate between these two assets can vary widely.
• Some ways to get things done more quickly:
  1. Make social connections, both inside and outside of your employer’s organization.
  2. Plan ahead, even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable to do so.
  3. Pay the price, when you’ve got the budget and you’ve run out of other options.
  4. Ask for help… EARLY!
  5. Broadcast progress on a regular basis.
  6. Manage expectations.
• Time can’t be managed; its passage cannot be accelerated or slowed. We can only control where our attention is focused.
• Some projects just won’t go away, not matter how much you wish they would fade into oblivion.
• Chris is anxiously awaiting delivery of his new CNC equipment. More about this in the next episode!

Thanks to Matthew Kirkland for the clock photo, taken at the Old Town Hall in Prague. Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Chris enjoys the lack of interruptions that the holiday season brings to his workplace.
• From Episode 1, “Jumping Off,” Chris took away the notion that engineering is messy. Jeff harped once again about his “Rule of Pi” for estimating time and costs.
• Episode 2 covered the topic of “Feedback.” It sometimes requires some real digging to ascertain what is motivating the end user of a product or service.
• In our third episode, titled “Compromise,” the topic of engineers and their emotions was first raised; this now seems like a reoccurring theme for the podcast.
• Listener Sophi Kravitz has a website about leaving the corporate life and going off on your own, titled The Super Green Dot Project.
• We talked with Jim Tappel about “Design Thinking” in Episode 4. Both Chris and Jeff remain a bit fuzzy about what differentiates design thinking from other customer-focused approaches. However, Jim offered some great stories about his time with design firm IDEO.
• “Recruitment” was the subject of Episode 5. Guest Jim Heilman noted that networking is a crucial skill for finding new employment opportunities.
• We discussed “Longevity” with Ian Dees in our sixth episode. Chris was impressed by Ian’s effort to provide useful information to the engineers that picked up his projects. Jeff enjoyed the discussion of weighing system complexity against user benefits.
• Episode 7, “In the Zone,” covered how engineers can get into a creative state of mind.
• We talked about “Influence” in Episode 8. Chris reports the discussion caused to “squirm” just a little bit.
• We’ll be offering a survey of our listening audience in 2013. Please participate!
• “STEM Education” was covered in our ninth episode. There is a great loss of potential engineers as students traverse the standard path of engineering education.
• We talked with Greg Wilson about his “Software Carpentry” program in Episode 10. His focus on the practical implications of software coding was of interest to both Jeff and Chris.
• Episode 11 covered the subject of “Patents” with Dave Gevers. It was of interest to Chris that patents can be obtained with a minimal level of legal assistance. Jeff was intrigued by the distinctions between “personal” and “corporate” patents.
• Karl Stephan was our guest for Episode 12, which highlighted the subject of “Ethics.” Jeff appreciated the distinction between “macro” and “micro” ethical issues.
• In Episode 13, we covered “Free Agency,” talking with Stephen Kesich about his experience as a contract engineer.
• The skills and talents that allow individuals to become engineering “Superstars” was the subject of our fourteenth episode. While Chris and Jeff did this episode “on the fly,” it turned out being well-received.
• “Talent” was the subject of Episode 15. Chris liked the message that is talent is developed, not entirely innate; he found this a hopeful message. Jeff noted that young people may not develop a passion until they work hard enough to develop a skill set.
• We discussed “Critical Thinking” in Episode 16, talking with Jeff Ellis about rational decision making. Jeff found the “Principle of Reciprocity” to be a valuable concept. Chris likes the idea of being on a quest for truth. Alas, Jeff Ellis has recently shut down his website, called The Thinker.
• In the seventeenth episode, Chris and Jeff discussed the “DIY” movement with Steve Hoefer. Steve’s sonar glove project really impressed Chris. On the other hand, Jeff was happy just to find out what the show was about, as his internet connection had dropped out early in the recording session.
• Engineering disasters were the topic of Episode 18, titled “Failure.” The balance between innovation and technological advancement was of interest to Chris, while Jeff noted the asymmetric relationship between the individual success and the success of the profession.
• We talked with James Trevelyan in Episode 19, which we called “Value.” This discussion was wide-ranging, but focused on the economic benefit engineers bring to the workplace.
• Jeff is a regular listener of the Security Now podcast hosted by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte.
• Chris tries to catch episodes of This American Life, RadioLab, and Innovation Hub. He also likes the Economist podcast he gets for free on his Android device.
• Books mentioned on The Engineering Commons in 2012:
  • The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Reis
  • iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It, by Steve Wozniak
  • The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder
  • New Rules for the New World: Cautionary Tales for the New World Manager, by Eddie Obeng
  • Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, by Tim Brown
  • What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles
  • Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink
  • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini
  • Making Software: What Really Works, and Why We Believe It, edited by Andy Oram and Greg Wilson
  • Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, by Robert Glass
  • Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, by Daniel Pink
  • How to Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed, by Robert E. Kelley
  • The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), by Seth Godin
  • Managing Leadership: Toward a New and Usable Understanding of What Leadership Really is-and How to Manage it, by Jim Stroup
  • The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How, by Daniel Coyle
  • So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love, by Cal Newport
  • To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, by Henry Petroski
  • Impossible Engineering: Technology and Territoriality on the Canal du Midi, by Chandra Mukerji
  • Designing Engineers, by Louis L. Bucciarelli
  • Scientific Studies, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, by Martha C. Nussbaum
  • Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being, by George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton
  • People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts, by Robert Bolton

Thanks to Tom Bricker for the fireworks photo. Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• While the word “value” has many meanings, Chris has an immediate desire to interpret it in terms of dollars and cents.
• Engineers obviously provide some economic value, as employers continue handing out paychecks to their engineers.
• Jeff has run across the Big Beacon Manifesto, which describes an idealized goal for engineering education.
• Our guest is James Trevelyan, a professor of Mechatronics at the University of Western Australia.
• Relatively few studies of engineering practice have been conducted, perhaps because such investigations require a merging of anthropological and technical skills.
• Unlike medical students, most engineering students don’t get a chance to work “in the field” before receiving their degrees.
• Tacit knowledge has been relegated to second-class status since the times of the Greek philosophers, with messy realities being considered less “pure” than Platonic forms embodied by explicit knowledge.
• Engineering education moved from being practice-based to science-based around 1950, following World War II.
• Since practical knowledge is no longer being handed down in large companies, much of the tacit knowledge of engineering is being lost.
• An example of lost knowledge is the inability of the U.S. space program to recreate the Saturn V rocket.
• Engineering students start leveraging useful skills, such as social networking, while still in school, but they consider the use of such talents as only “semi-legitimate.”
• Jeff recalls an MIT study indicating engineers learn most of their day-to-day working skills in industry.
• Regardless of experience or title, about 60% of an engineer’s time is spent in direct interactions with other people.
• One explanation for why engineers exhibit such a high level of interaction may be that the engineering profession requires distributed cognition.
• James references a book about constructing the Canal du Midi in Southern France, which required a collective effort.
• Engineers largely succeed or fail on their ability to get individuals with needed skills and knowledge to contribute those assets at the right time, and in the proper manner.
• James wrote a paper on engineering collaboration, titled “Technical Coordination in Engineering Practice” (pdf), in the July 2007 issue of the Journal of Engineering Education (vol. 96, no.3, pp. 191–204).
• Engineers spend approximately 30% of their time coordinating the activities of others.
• Engineers have shorthand methods of communicating technical ideas, as depicted in the book, Designing Engineers, authored by MIT professor Louis L. Bucciarelli.
• James refers to a paper he recently presented at the Frontiers in Education 2012 Conference, held in Seattle, Washington. It is titled “Understandings of Value in Engineering Practice,” and should soon be available to those with a subscription to IEEE Xplore.
• German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe identified that as we think about something, our ideas representing that thing shift and move. In his book Scientific Studies, Goethe writes, “How difficult it is…to refrain from replacing the thing with its sign, to keep the object alive before us instead of killing it with the word.”
• We need to be aware that others, especially those from other disciplines, may assign entirely different meanings to words and phrases. Even across related engineering fields, similar words may elicit concepts that diverge in crucial respects.
• Engineers are typically unaware of the economic value they bring to an enterprise.
• Engineers produce significant value by reducing the project risk perceived by financial investors.
• In her book Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, American philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes the case that today’s college education has become overly focused on economic opportunities, at the expense of critical and empathetic thinking.
• A framework for understanding why individual investors perceive similar conditions as presenting differing levels of risk is expectancy value theory.
• Chris mentions Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, which suggests that people are strongly motivated by autonomy, purpose, and mastery, but not so much by economic gain.
• In Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being, authors George Akerloff and Rachel Kranton discuss how social identity influences economic decision-making.
• When possible, it is beneficial to talk to both customers and end-users.
• James suggests that listening is a very important skill for engineers, and one that can be learned.
• The first chapter of People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts, by Robert Bolton, contains useful instruction on learning to listen.
• Mobile phones have been an engineering success in many developing countries.
• Management skills are an important part of engineering work. However, most managerial training offers only an abstract introduction to the practical capabilities needed in industrial practice.
• As we discover more about how individuals learn, we may need to rebuild the intellectual foundations of engineering, so as to allow a broader distribution of engineering knowledge, and a deeper understanding of engineering methods.
• James Trevelyan can be reached via the email address listed on his website.

Thanks to peasap for the photo titled “George is Keeping an Eye On You!” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• All things fail at some point. Engineers advance their own knowledge, and that of the profession, by analyzing these failures.
• As a guideline for our discussion, we reference the book, “To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design,” authored by Duke University professor Henry Petroski.
• Well-known engineering failures include:
  • A DC-10 crash in 1979 that was eventually attributed to maintenance issues.
  • Collapse of a suspended walkway in 1981 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Space station Skylab falling out of orbit prematurely in 1979.
  • Various missions to Mars failing to reach their intended destinations.
  • A partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in 1979.
  • The 1940 wind-driven collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge. (video)
  • Design of the Ford Pinto fuel tank in the late 1970′s.
  • Loss of NASA’s space shuttle Challenger in 1983 due to an O-ring failure.
  • Unintended acceleration in Toyota cars from 2009 to 2011.
  • Nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daichi power plant in 2011.
• Electronic failures, such as the XBox red ring of death, don’t usually endanger human life.
• Chris makes the case that improved tools (CAD, FEA, etc.) and methodologies (six-sigma) have served to reduce the number and frequency of engineering failures.
• Jeff counters that good tools don’t necessarily produce good results.
• Even with powerful tools for analysis, engineers can be surprised by black swan events.
• A 2009 report card from the American Society Civil Engineers gives the nation’s infrastructure a grade of “D.”
• Failure often teaches lessons that cannot be learned from textbooks.
• A single problem denotes an engineering failure, while an absolute engineering success requires a complete lack of problems.
• Chris has been working on mean time between failure (MTBF) calculations.
• Because of the wide number of possible avenues for engineering failure, it is important that engineers be open to outside review of their work, and to reviewing the work of others.
• It is important that engineers remain humble when designing a complex system.
• Chris and Jeff discuss whether engineers should consider themselves the most likely source of design errors.
• Innovative design requires stepping outside the security of known procedures and methods.
• A myriad of options are available when designing a system, but the number of unexpected interactions go up with system complexity.
• We learn about the nature of a design problem by iteratively moving from design concept to analysis, then back to concept as we discover what works and what doesn’t work.
• Keeping track of “bugs” is an important part of improving a design.
• Safety factors for aerospace design may be in the range of 1.2 to 1.4, while elevator cables are designed with a safety factor of 11.
• Testing is an important part of reducing uncertainty.
• Accelerating failure can be a competitive advantage.
• Construction of the Crystal Palace is given as an example of engineering success, housing the Great Exposition of 1851 in London, England.
• Joseph Paxton, designer of the Crystal Palace, was inspired by the shape and structure of giant lily pads.
• Accepting the concerns of critics, Mr. Paxton conducted public testing of his structures.
• Metal fatigue problems caused several crashes of the de Havilland Comet aircraft. This was a case where state-of-the-art analysis proved insufficient.
• Learning from failure is an important part of the engineering profession.

Photo of the Challenger explosion provided by NASA. Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Since many engineering fields don’t require a license, there are few barriers to interested individuals learning and applying engineering theory.
• Our guest for this episode is Steve Hoefer, a prolific inventor and maker, whose work is documented on the Grathio Labs website.
• Steve was raised on a farm, so he learned problem-solving skills from an early age.
• Although having a desire to write science-fiction, Steve minored in computer science while in college.
• Steve’s first computer was a Texas Instruments TI-99, while Jeff was introduced to home computing on a Tandy TRS-80, nicknamed the “Trash-80.”
• After deciding that the college scene wasn’t meeting his needs, Steve moved out to San Francisco to find a job building web sites.
• Steve started freelancing in 1996, and hasn’t looked back since. His inventions include the secret knock gumball machine, and a sonar glove.
• Clients turn to Steve’s problem-solving skills when they’re uncertain as to whether a solution actually exists.
• Being a generalist has provided Steve with useful “cross-pollination” skills and insights.
• Steve references a chart about knowing what you know.
• Makers can be limited by issues they don’t know that they don’t know.
• On the other hand, engineers may be limited by a lack of application knowledge that makers possess.
• Steve is of the opinion that the maker movement may produce more engineering jobs, rather than decreasing the need for traditionally trained engineers.
• Portfolios are important in conveying your skills and excitement to others.
• Steve finds Stack Overflow a useful resource for finding answers and discovering possible collaborators.
• Listeners can follow Steve on Twitter as @grathio, or contact him by email via steve ..at.. grathio.com

Thanks to Steve Hoefer for permission to use his photo of a “Quick And Dirty IR Camera Remote.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• It’s challenging to accurately perceive reality from within the confines of the human mind.
• One approach to overcoming such limitations is called critical thinking.
• Our guest for this episode is Jeff Ellis, who writes about critical thinking on his website, The Thinker Blog.
• Critical thinking has been defined by Tim Van Gelder as “the art of being right.” This means adjusting one’s opinion willingly to the most defensible and rational viewpoint.
• Jeff Ellis is an aerospace engineer who currently works at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He became interested in critical thinking as a means for avoiding and mitigating project failures.
• Our guest believes that critical thinking is “the most important skill a person can have.”
• Overestimating one’s own abilities is a common cause for turning away valuable advice and information.
• The principle of reciprocity states that we should respect the reasonableness and the goodwill of those with whom we disagree.
• Critical thinking requires that we attempt to overcome the limitations of our human nature.
• We have emotional attachments to our opinions, which makes it difficult for us to shift our viewpoint.
• Common human biases include the confirmation bias and hindsight bias, as well as political biases.
• There are many cognitive biases that are part of the human condition.
• We still don’t know if some brains are pre-wired for engineering, or if engineering education develops what we recognize as stereotypical engineering attitudes.
• Chris really likes the blog post titled Critical Thinking for Engineers.
• Young engineers tend to transition too quickly from problem definition to solution generation, since creating things is the “fun” part of engineering.
• Along a similar vein, young engineers can become too enamored with their first solution.
• Some people take advice about critical thinking well, while others are offended that their opinion is being challenged.
• Jeff Ellis wishes critical thinking skills were taught in college, as opposed to being left for workplace training. He also feels that the nation’s top liberal arts schools produce excellent critical thinkers.
• Real world complexity means that there is rarely a single clear “textbook” answer. Thus, rational evaluation is needed.
• Dealing with “alpha-geeks” can be a challenge, as Jeff Ellis outlined in his post, Castles and Tents.
• Being able to handle disagreement in a congenial manner is an important skill when working in a team environment.
• Civility is an important component of critical thinking.
• Resources for learning more about critical thinking can be found at thinkerpedia.net
• Jeff Ellis has the handle @twiticalthinker on Twitter, and an email address of jeffellis1 ..at.. gmail.com.

Thanks to Mary Harrsch for the photo of Rodin’s bronze, titled “The Thinker.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• A top-notch engineer is skilled in both the theoretical and practical realms. So how are these talents acquired?
• Exposure to engineering operations seems to be an important component in creating an outstanding engineer.
• In this episode, we reference Daniel Coyle’s book, The Talent Code.
• Mr. Coyle suggests that world-class skills can be acquired through substantial deep-practice, continued passion, and knowledgeable coaching.
• Practice causes additional insulation, called myelin, to form around neural pathways, allowing neural signals to pass more quickly and with greater strength.
• Deep practice consists of focused concentration and repetition of a particular skill that is not yet refined. Such sessions are said to be mentally and physically exhausting.
• Several books reference 10,000 hours of deep practice being required to become a first-class practitioner. This “rule” is based on a paper titled, “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance,” by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson.
• Repeated practice is difficult for engineers, as they are often asked to carry out new tasks that have little in common with prior assignments.
• Deliberate practice requires problems to be “chunked up” into understandable blocks of content that can be internalized.
• Processes need to be slowed down, and frequently repeated, for solid learning to occur.
• Jeri Ellsworth taught herself electronics by trying tons of things, and accepting that failures will occur.
• People who have to “grind” on a solution often understand the problem better than those who get a solution on the first attempt.
• Engineers often rely on their own passions to drive educational and career advancement.
• Typical career paths take engineers away from technical operations just about the time that they reach the 10,000 hour mark.
• Apprenticeships were often used in the past to convey skills from one generation to the next. Chris makes the case for reviving engineering apprenticeships.
• Great teachers have outstanding task-specific knowledge.
• Good instructors are frequently gifted with a strong theory of mind, and can perceive a student’s difficulties.
• Honest feedback from mentors is needed for improved performance, and must be provided in a timely manner.

Thanks to Bjornmeansbear for the rocket photo, titled “It’s not Rocket Surgery.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

https://plus.google.com/b/118196286611011383106/events/csih1m2qt6lveqf89onjtufklkg

• Neither Jeff or Chris have been particularly successful at figuring out how to advance their careers in large organizations, so they may not be the best at describing how one moves upward through the corporate structure.
• A recent episode of This American Life talked about teaching networking skills to schoolkids, suggesting that engineers could also learn the relationship skills needed to move up the organizational ladder.
• Engineers often find themselves having to take on managerial duties mid-career if they want to see their salary increase.
• People want comfort and familiarity in their business dealings, so they are attracted to those who make them feel good about themselves and their situation.
• Many organizations require advancing engineers to complete Six Sigma projects.
• Organizations are rarely meritocracies, much to the chagrin of technically-oriented engineers.
• A recent study at Harvard showed that bosses are less stressed out than their employees, mostly because they have more control over their activities.
• Chris found an article titled “How to be a Star Engineer.” For those with access to the archives of IEEE Spectrum, the article is on pages 51–58 of volume 36, issue 10, from October, 1999. The text of this article is currently floating around online as a PDF file.
• The book associated with this article is How to Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed, by Robert E. Kelley.
• Strategy 1: Blazing Trails — Demonstrate initiative, by seeking out new responsibilities, undertaking extra efforts for the benefit of others, and filling the gaps between job descriptions.
• According to the Peter Principle, employees tend to rise to their highest level of incompetence.
• Strategy 2: Knowing Who Knows — Build a professional network that provides access to needed support at crucial times.
• Chris has found that having curiosity and providing value are useful in building relationships.
• Strategy 3: Proactive Self-Management — Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses, then work to improve your value to the organization.
• Strategy 4: Getting the Big Picture — Seek an understanding of the perspectives and values of other groups and functions within the organization.
• Strategy 5: The Right Kind of Followership — Be a follower that makes your manager successful, rather than one who simply follows orders.
• Strategy 6: Teamwork as Joint Ownership of a Project — Look to improve the structures that support and enhance group dynamics, in addition to being a “team player.”
• Seth Godin has written a book called The Dip, which proposes that superstars have the ability to quickly escape dead ends, while knowing when to stick with important projects.
• Strategy 7: Small-L Leadership — Approach leadership as a strategy for influencing others to unite on a substantial task, rather than issuing commands from above.
• Jeff likes the book Managing Leadership by Jim Stroup, which makes the argument that leadership emanates from the organization, rather than from senior management.
• Strategy 8: Street Smarts — Having political and social savvy is quite beneficial in moving upward through an organization.
• Strategy 9: Show and Tell — Getting noticed, for good reasons, is important for moving up in a company. Getting noticed in a manner that promotes a common theme about your talents is even better.
• There are good reasons to stay at a company for a decade or more. Even hard-charging, well-respected CEOs have trouble transferring their skills to new organizations.

Thanks to Elisabeth Audrey for the photo titled “Don’t Worry.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Our guest is Stephen Kesich, a recently graduated mechatronics engineer who is now residing in Southern California.
• Stephen reports that his classmates experienced difficulty finding full-time employment in their respective engineering fields.
• Knowledge of specific CAD software, such as CATIA or SolidWorks, is often important in landing a job in the field of mechanical design.
• Networking played a key role in helping Stephen find employment, as a friend’s father offered him an engineering job.
• Chris also found several of his engineering jobs through networking, despite his initial dislike for the concept.
• While a cooperative education program wasn’t in place at Stephen’s school, he managed to construct his own industrial connections.
• Stephen found LinkedIn to be an important avenue for making engineering connections.
• Finding housing for short-term projects is difficult, as month-to-month leases can be “massively” expensive.
• What Color is Your Parachute? is a classic job-search book that recommends many of the networking steps that Stephen has implemented on his own.
• Chris mentions a xkcd strip that provides a “cheat sheet” about which sports are in season.
• Non-disclosure agreements cover the intellectual property that contract employees access.
• Chris and Jeff haggle over the differences between contractors and consultants.
• Despite enjoying his contract work, Stephen looks forward to someday having a steady job.
• Daniel Pink wrote about free agent employment in his 2001 book, Free Agent Nation.
• Health insurance is generally not offered to contract employees.
• If you’re not a full-time employee, and work in the US as an independent contractor, you may receive a reporting of your earnings via a Form 1099.
• Jeff asks about the prevalence of Google-style interview questions.
• Chris likes to ask interviewees about their hobbies, believing a resume is best read from the bottom up.
• It’s often a difficult decision whether to remain a generalist, or become a specialist in your engineering field.
• Going through a site like Quirky is a new way to develop a product.
• Maintaining an online presence is likely to be of growing importance, as employers search for engineers who are already up-to-speed on a given subject.
• Chris is currently reading The Startup of You, by a co-founder of LinkedIn.
• Stephen can be reached through comments to this post.

Thanks to Ed Yourdon for the photo titled “Laptop Man.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson

• Our guest is Karl Stephan, professor of electrical engineering at Texas State University.
• Both Chris and Karl have enjoyed the BBQ at The Salt Lick, which Chris claims is the “world’s best.”
• Karl was first inspired to consider the ethical aspects of engineering by J.P Moreland.
• A leading voice for engineering ethics is the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT).
• Surveys of engineering schools, conducted by Karl a number of years ago, revealed that ethics didn’t receive a lot of emphasis.
• The subject of ethics concerns one’s professional obligations, a duty to follow codes of behavior that are deemed important for a particular field.
• Texas A&M has offered a well-regarded engineering ethics course for a number of years.
• Joseph Herkert, of Arizona State University, divides ethical issues into two categories: microethics and macroethics. Karl has a blog post about this catagorization.
• Microethics involve local situations and dilemmas, while macroethics consider larger societal implications of technology. Most engineers have to deal with microethic issues.
• “Hot button” issues for engineering ethics include implanted chips, energy policy, computers and communications, privacy, security, and military technologies.
• New engineering grads face the ethical choice of selecting a company for whom they are going to work. Money is not the only issue to be considered.
• Chris recalls a TED talk by Daniel Pink (that has since been animated), identifying that people are most motivated by the opportunity for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Daniel Pink’s book on the subject is Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
• A new type of legal entity that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems is called a B Corporation.
• There are no “rules” for engineering ethics, just guidelines. Even great moral dilemmas, such as whether to go to war, have no rules, but rather a set of considerations related to the morality and justness of the cause.
• Jeff recalls a recent Radiolab episode that discussed how people have trouble making color distinctions when there is no word available for that range of hues. He speculates that engineers may have trouble distinguishing ethics nuances unless they’ve discussed such issues.
• As an example of the clarifying power of words, Karl references a book by Yves Simon that highlights the differences between “authority” and “authoritarianism.”
• Engineering ethics usually only becomes a subject of public discussion when things go wrong.
• “Near” failures are often a clue of impending “actual” disasters. The Challenger O-ring failure is such an example.
• Risk assessment is related to the field of engineering ethics.
• “Causes” of engineering failure may include organizational culture, societal emphasis, and external occurrences, as well as technical decisions.
• Whistleblowers are almost always fired, and often lose professional contacts.
• There is no guarantee that a society will continue to produce engineers.
• The most common personality types for engineers, as determined by a Myers-Briggs test, are ISTJ for students, and INTJ for professors and consulting engineers.
• Ethical situations don’t frequently arrive with a large warning sign. That’s why it’s important to think about such situations ahead of time, so you know what to do when a crisis arises.
• Karl’s writings can be found on the Engineering Ethics Blog, and he can be reached by email.
• More information can be found at the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Research, the National Science Foundation’s Ethics Center, the Texas A&M ethics course, and the National Institute for Engineering Ethics.

Thanks to Suzanne Hamilton for the photo of a facepalming statue. Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson