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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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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…
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Doing and Not Doing
There is a natural cycle to all productive work: Preparation, Doing and Not Doing. A task is iterated through these three states until it comes to completion. All three states are essential for success, but we often skimp on Preparation and neglect Not Doing entirely. Preparation Preparation includes learning, training, research, investigation, observing others, periods…
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Leading a Design Meeting
TYPES OF DESIGN MEETINGS Working Design Meeting You meet with a group of peers to figure out solutions to design problems. You brainstorm ideas, then discuss back and forth to evaluate and modify them. A really good working design meeting is so intellectually stimulating and so much fun that you often spend way more than…