According to a bloke I used to work with, Julian Williams, onetime Technical Director of Fisher & Paykel and apparently a bit of an NPD guru, was of the opinion that there are only about half a dozen fundamental principles underlying all of engineering, regardless of dicipline. Having given it a bit of thought, I’m inclined to agree, though I’m not sure I can get it down to only six. Also, I got the impression he was talking about it at the pure-technical level; I’m not that clever, I can only make it work at a more philosophical level
In my view a deep, gut-level appreciation for these principles and their implications is what separates a really top-level engineer from a journeyman. There’s more to engineering than the technical skillsets: being able to describe an object class in C++ or knowing the processing conditions for Rynite FR530 isn’t enough to make you an engineer, just a high-level technician. In this occasional series of posts I’ll try to capture these fundamental principles.
None of this, incidentally, says I’m putting myself forward as an exemplar of a top-level engineer – just that I’m trying to figure out what makes one.
From Mr. Williams’ perspective “What are the half a dozen (6) fundamental principles underlying all of engineering”?
Comment by Smith — January 15, 2009 @ 7:00 am
I haven’t a clue. Williams was associated with F&P in the 70s and 80s and is now well retired if not dead: I’ve never met him. I got the concept from someone who’d worked with him way back when.
Comment by Dave — August 1, 2009 @ 12:49 pm