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Applied minds : how engineers think
Madhavan G., W. W. Norton&Company, New York, NY, 2016. 272 pp. Type: Book (978-0-393353-01-3)
Date Reviewed: Feb 25 2019

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a while; however, I have never had a chance to read it, thinking that being an engineer myself I know “how engineers think,” so why bother? I only recently started browsing it to find out more because I came across a certain quotation attributed to the book: “there is no widely accepted ̺engineering method’” (p. 22). This sparked my interest, since I could hardly disagree more with such a statement. There is obviously firm consent among engineers about the meaning of the engineering method, which, briefly speaking, relies on an engineering process composed of natural phases to develop a product, that is, from product requirements specifications, to design, to implementation and testing, although there may be many variations.

But giving the author the benefit of the doubt, I continued reading to find out more about the views leading to further, perhaps more essential, conclusions. And I did not have to read much further, since already on the next page the author states with confidence: “The engineering mindset has three essential properties.” These three properties are then explained. The first is “the ability to ‘see’ structure when there’s none.” As one of the examples, the author quotes George Heilmeier, a co-inventor of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), on his approach to innovation. According to the author, this kind of approach “helps ask the right questions in a logical way.” I must say I could not agree more with this kind of thinking, although I would rephrase the first property of the engineering mindset to be “analytical thinking,” which is critically useful in all phases of the engineering process, but fundamentally so in selecting the right design.

Madhavan then discusses the second property: “adeptness at designing under constraints.” Indeed, this is an important consideration, although I doubt it can be attributed exclusively to engineers. Nevertheless, another point mentioned by the author is worth emphasizing: “Constraints ... don’t permit engineers to wait until all phenomena are fully understood and explained,” so they could begin engineering a new product and successfully complete it. While I wholeheartedly agree with this observation, I must say that the example given in the book, that is, releasing software before it is known to be free of defects, is rather misleading. As a software engineer, I can tell you with high certainty that, in the case of software, it is simply neglect and striving for profit. It has nothing to do with engineering constraints whatsoever. A much better historical example is that of Nicola Tesla, who without having complete access to theory in understanding several electrical phenomena was nevertheless able to make a number of inventions and develop respective products.

The third property of the engineering mindset is a little more controversial. As formulated in the book, it “involves tradeoffs--the ability to make considered judgments about solutions and alternatives.” In my opinion, it is principally no different from the second one, since both concern selecting and making alternative decisions, based on available information, to meet project or product objectives. Furthermore, while the author is extremely confident that “structure, constraints, and tradeoffs are the one-two-three punch of the engineering mindset,” I would say that the matter is much more complicated than this simple count.

My concerns are confirmed throughout the rest of the book, where subsequent chapters also tackle making choices, only under different names: optimization (chapter 2), efficiency and reliability (chapter 3), flexibility (chapter 4), constraints (chapter 5) and adaptability (chapter 6). Only chapter 7, “Prototyping,” comes to the essential point of the engineering method, which is the engineering process.

Overall, the book is an interesting read, although I would question its fundamental approach to make it valuable to engineers. It is heavily based on quotations from others, but not the kind of quotations we are used to in science or engineering. It is filled almost exclusively with journalistic quotations, which may have value to a layperson but not the type of value that would convince an engineer.

On a positive note, the author deserves credit for making a clear distinction between science and engineering: “If the core of science is discovery, then the essence of engineering is creation.” Although personally I would be more modest, since if the purpose of my activities was “creation” I would be an artist. For engineering, it is sufficient to say that its essence is construction.

Overall, my time spent reading was not wasted and I would recommend the book to anyone who would like to find out what someone else thinks about engineering as a profession.

More reviews about this item: Amazon, Goodreads

Reviewer:  Janusz Zalewski Review #: CR146444 (1905-0165)
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