The Next Generation of Engineering
By Dave Robie
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-robie-phd-10448b1/
Week 1
1. Introduce the next generation of thinking.
2. Leverage Ari Wallach
https://www.ted.com/talks/ari_wallach_3_ways_to_plan_for_the_very_long_term
3. How do we plan for the long term: three techniques
a. Trans-generational thinking – how to we prepare the next generation to solve
problems
b. Futures thinking – one future or many. How do we invest and diversify in
multiple strategies to develop answers of the future?
c. Telos thinking – to what end: Where do we want the next generation to be? To
what end do we build the next great team that will solve any problem
https://www.elsevier.com/rd-solutions/industry-insights/other/10-major-engineeringchallenges-of-the-next-decade
Week 2
1. Why did I come to the private sector?
2. What has happened?
3. Can we learn from these mistakes? Successes?
4. Are we unique? Is there a better way?
5. What are the top 10 issues facing engineering and tech development?
Week 3
1. Teams – the Nobel Prize
2. What is accomplished in engineering without a team.
3. Teams within teams.
4. Teams following teams – the handoff
5. Better teams? Tools methods and techniques
Week 4
1. Lean thinking. Six sigma for the mind (for design)
2. What did Demming do for manufacturing
3. How can we apply it to design
4. What is design – the definition, the initial analysis, the concepts, the design-analysisrequirements cycle.
5. Human Factors
6. The transformation of the cockpit (and the reactor control room)
7. How can we apply this today
Week 1
1. Introduce the next generation of thinking.
2. Leverage Ari Wallach
https://www.ted.com/talks/ari_wallach_3_ways_to_plan_for_the_very_long_term
3. How do we plan for the long term: three techniques
a. Trans-generational thinking – how to we prepare the next generation to solve
problems
b. Futures thinking – one future or many. How do we invest and diversify in
multiple strategies to develop answers of the future?
c. Telos thinking – to what end: Where do we want the next generation to be? To
what end do we build the next great team that will solve any problem
https://www.elsevier.com/rd-solutions/industry-insights/other/10-major-engineeringchallenges-of-the-next-decade
The next generation of engineering
Every morning, I wake up and try to determine what city I’m in (Yes, I travel a bit). Next, I
rummage through the suitcase to find some marginally clean gym clothes and head to the
hotel’s fitness room. I am religious about this practice as a humble effort to keep both mind and
body healthy. With respect to the body, the gym addresses the issue. However, with respect to
the mind, I take the hour to read, listen and watch a myriad of science and engineering topics
across the web. I commit to providing my list of favorites in the near future.
This week I found a interesting TED talk by Ari Wallach. Ari is futurist and he was requesting his
TED crows to think about the future; to you think about the problems that we have to solve;
and I think past the short term. He gives three simple steps, but transformation steps, to think
about the future. The first he calls transgenerational thinking. How do we prepare, predict and
act on problems that are so big that they can’t be solved within “The Dash” (– referring to the
hype in between your birth and death on your tombstone). The second step refers not to the
future but futures (plural). There is no single future and there is no single solution. The
possibilities are endless and we need to assess many outcomes. How do we think about think,
plan and prepare for many futures? Finally, Ari addresses Telos thinking – to what end? Are
starting with the end in sight? Do we look far enough down the road? Do we avoid the noise of
today so we can address challenges of not only our generation, but the following generations?
A great video.
In turn, how can we apply this to engineering? To our engineering teams? To educational
institutions that build our next generation of engineers? To the innovators of America that work
to solve many difficult and challenging problems that face not only our generation but the
future generations? What kind of transgenerational tools, techniques and skills can we leave
our engineers with today and in the future. What kind of futures can we create for our science
and engineering teams. How will they work? How well they interact? How are they design and
how they built? And finally, to what end? How do we want to leave the next generation of
engineers better prepared to address problems with not are not yet defined? And how will they
do it with clarity acuity efficiency and timeliness? I look forward to reading your thoughts and
ideas in the comments.
Engineering Hubris:
(https://xkcd.com/319/)
Engineering Successes:
The ability to land rocket boosters makes them reusable, substantially reducing the cost of
launches. SpaceX
And failures (hubris is a bitch)
The Vasa Disaster – Overconfidence Kills
Source: Jorge Láscar/Wikimedia Commons
The Vasa was Sweden’s move to impress the world with its new ship in 1626. It boasted of 64
canons that could fire at least 650 pounds of ammunition just from one side, and the ship
was 226 feet in length.
However, despite the bold statements and the bated breaths, Vasa did not even manage to
escape from the Stockholm harbor the moment it sailed in 1628. It was awkward and topheavy. A nautical mile from the port, it sank.