Guru Madhavan — Applied Minds: How Engineers Think
Realizing that sometimes my mind scatters when facing problems, I decided to find ways to apply a systematical thinking. One book I encountered was from Guru Madhavan. I have observed in the my daily work, that engineers usually have a very systematical thinking approach. In reference to that, and seeing that Guru Madhavan was trying to peel the systematic thinking of engineering in particular, I settled myself to give this book a try.
I would say, after finishing the books, it gives me some knowledge on the usual terms or jargons people usually referring to. Some of it very new to me, some were like “ohh, that is a very fancy term”, which is my very basic goal of reading this book. I need to speak their language first — in hopes that afterwards, I can apply the mind-set by practice.
Here are some of the things I highlighted from the book.
Engineers help create solution spaces — suites of possibilities that offer new choices, conveniences, and comforts — that redefine our standard of living.
Agility was crucial; swiftness, essential.
The core of the engineering mind-set is what I call modular systems thinking. Systems-level thinking is more than just being systematic; rather, it is about the understanding that in the ebb and flow of life, nothing is stationary and everything is linked.
A specific technique in modular systems thinking, for example, includes a functional blend of deconstructionism (breaking down a larger system into its modules) and reconstructionism (putting those modules back together). The focus is on identifying the strong and the weak links — how the modules work, don’t work, or could potentially work — and applying this knowledge to engineer useful outcomes. A related design concept exploited especially by software engineers, is stepwise refinement.
One not only has to understand the pieces and their interdependencies, but also really understand the totality and what it means.
The first is the ability to “see” structure where there is none. … able to visualize — and produce — structures through a combination of rules, models, and instinct.
A structured system-level thinking process would consider how the elements of the system are linked in logic, in time, in sequence, and in function — and under what conditions they work and don’t work.
The second attribute of the engineering mind-set is the adeptness at designing under constraints.
Changes that look easy at first frequently necessitate other changes, which in turn cause more change… You have to find a way to keep the old thing going while creating something new. The pressures are endless.
The third attribute of the engineering mind-set involves trade-off — the ability to make considered judgements about solutions and alternatives.
If the core of science is discovery, then the essence of engineering is creation.
Optimization has two basic components. The first component is an objective focused on maximizing or minimizing an outcome variable that is usually a function of something else. Optimization also includes a constraint, consisting of limitations to which the objective is subjected.
They “prefer to get going immediately and then iterate and refine the approach”. This is to help support Google’s primary mission: “solve really large problems”.
Being data driven is a precondition for optimization. Understanding user needs is another critical component.
Notion of backward design — the ability to preimagine the desired outcome and work in reverse to achieve that goal.
Matrix thinking — comparable to the moving around of ideas across the rows, columns, and diagonals of conceptual matrix — to define an orderly process of spotting, incubating, and combining ideas from various walks of life, and then converting them into practical solutions.
Deep craft — the ability to know intimately the various functionalities and how to effectively combine them. “It consists in (knowing) what is likely not to work, what methods to use, whom to talk to, what theories to look to, and above all of how to manipulate phenomena that may be freshly discovered and poorly understood.”
Failure is inevitable, but keeping a system as safe as possible is, at best, what any machine or human can do.
Adapt, improve, and apply.
“One has to think globally but act locally.”
“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Deadlines and constraints don’t surpress innovation, they direct it.
The world of engineering is full of constraints. Negative constraints are imposed by the physical limits of matter. The opposing concept is positive constraints, self organized scenarios that permit new possibilities without the limits of negative constraints.
As the Japanese notion of wabi-sabi makes clear: everything is imperfect, everything is impermanent, and everything has room for improvement.
Even more, nothing on earth has only benefits. Every positive thing can also have bad outcomes.
