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Peru – Traffic
It’s Awful! Traffic in Lima is unimaginably awful. Certainly worse than anywhere in the United States! And, according to Daniel, much worse than it was when he left 36 years ago. Why? Lots of Cars Lima is more populous and much more prosperous than it was 36 years ago. Metropolitan Lima’s population has doubled to…
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Peru – Tourism
This has NOT been a tourist trip. We came down here for Daniel’s immigrant visa interview, so it was always primarily a business trip. Almost as soon as we arrived, we realized that it was also a chance for Daniel to reconnect with family he hadn’t seen in 36 years and meet the younger relatives…
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Peru – Shopping
Shopping with Netita Netita is a city girl. She grew up in Lima and Chiclayo. She doesn’t even have a driver’s license, let alone a car. She gets around the city by walking, taking public transportation and using taxis. One evening, the touch screen on my cell phone stopped working! These days, cell phones are…
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Peru – Crime
My Perception I am in the habit of taking a walk in the morning. Somewhat to my surprise, I find that Surco is a very pleasant place for morning walks. The urban landscape provides endless novelty, and the frequent parks and tree lined boulevards make for a shady and restful journey. I do have to…
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SE for Medical Devices
This post discusses four aspects of systems engineering in the medical device field that may not be covered by academic coursework. It is based on a talk that I gave to system engineering students at the University of Utah on December 2, 2024. Topic 1: Regulation Medical devices are heavily regulated by government agencies. In…
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Reuse: a Creative Use of Systems Thinking
Reuse provides many benefits to the systems engineer, but it requires a creative mindset that can see how to incorporate existing components into a new whole. What is Reuse? In systems engineering, reuse is the practice of incorporating components that have been used in other products into a new design. We can reuse components acquired…
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Is Fashion a User Need?
While writing a post on the virtues of reuse, I realized that there is a tradeoff between reuse and fashion. Both are user needs; one is pragmatic and rational; the other is emotional and social. (Note: The car in the photo is a 1957 Chrysler 300. My grandfather owned one of these. Grandma always felt…
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The Ephemeral and Enduring
Note: This post is based on a guest lecture I presented the systems engineering students at the University of Utah on April 17, 2023. Some skills that I acquired during my career as a systems engineer served me well for a few years and then became obsolete. Other skills have served me well my entire…
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Lessons Learned from Mentoring Modeling
The Wasatch chapter of INCOSE met with systems engineering students at the University of Utah on September 8, 2022. It was a pleasure to share some our knowledge with the students. Judging by the quality and quantity of their questions, the students also got a lot out of the event. Four of us gave presentations.…
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Working with the Worlds of the Workplace
Systems engineers encounter many different worlds within the workplace: product design, management, sales, testing, manufacturing, service and human resources. If we understand the structure and values of each of these worlds, we can work more effectively with the people that inhabit them. This post was inspired by ideas presented in the book The Dawn of…