Engineers have been the go-to people to solve problems or implement pre-decided solutions. Engineers build edifices architects design, install equipment which executives prefer, and fix things that were creating problems no one else could solve.
Engineers deal with the complicated technical stuff like designing rockets and constructing skyscrapers, repairing nuclear reactors, setting up oil drilling rigs in the middle of the ocean, or refitting a ten-kilometre bridge. When there are problems managers can’t handle, they call engineers.
Well, not all the time, unfortunately.
Managers, sometimes (if not a lot of times), try to fix problems on their own, which often are the ones they think they don’t need engineers or they feel they can solve on their own (many managers are engineers by college degree).
It can be a simple thing like a household electrical circuit breaker. A house’s circuit breaker trips, and the owner tries to reset the breaker. But the breaker trips again, prompting the owner to call an electrician. The electrician changes the breaker with one that’s of higher amperage capacity or one that has a higher limit for electrical current. The breaker no longer trips. But a few years later as the owner installs more appliances, the breaker not only trips but the wiring short-circuits and causes a fire which burns the house down. The fire department cites faulty electrical wiring as the official reason. The owner in response blames the electrical engineer who certified the house’s electrical schematic plan when it was constructed many years ago, long before the incompetent electrician changed the breaker.
Managers engage engineers when they think they need them. Just like we’d go to doctors or lawyers when we either need urgent medical or legal assistance respectively.
If we don’t think we need them, we don’t call them.
That leaves a lot of problems unsolved or not altogether fully solved. Many solutions are temporary and don’t last long. When engineers aren’t involved in tackling problems they’re positioned to solve, many so-called solutions turn out to be not the best ones.
And this isn’t limited to simple issues like a faulty house electrical circuit breaker.
The SARS-CoV-2 or CoVid-19 pandemic which began late 2019 and continued to rage through 2022 is a prime example of neglecting engineering as an approach to solving a crisis.
Many people saw the pandemic as a medical problem, to be addressed and solved by doctors and scientists. But as doctors and nurses treated patients and scientists developed vaccines and anti-viral drugs, no one was solving the bigger problems the pandemic was bringing.
Managers combatted the CoVid-19 virus via lockdowns, border closings, and mandatory protocols like wearing masks, prohibiting gatherings, and limiting employee attendance at workplaces. The solutions were close to draconian which led to shortages, unemployment, and a resulting worldwide economic recession.
And just like the house that burned down by an overloaded circuit breaker, many businesses closed.
And just like the owner of the burned-down house, executives blamed Just-In-Time, Lean, and other previously favoured management concepts for the failures. They finger-pointed those gurus and consultants who had helped set up their businesses’ efficient low-inventory operations even though many never fully adopted the ideas in the first place. Executives did not accept that engineers could have helped solve their problems.
Engineers solving problems is the paradigm organisational leaders need to pursue and accept. Engineers, not managers, solve problems.
The world has changed in that products and services are no longer 100% tangible. Entrepreneurs are cultivating ideas as much as they are introducing products. Engineers can and are instrumental in making those ideas into realities.
But do the entrepreneurs and executives ask engineers for help?
Unfortunately, no.
Technology firms hire software developers to program state-of-the-art information technology (IT) applications.
Mass-market companies engage 3rd party service providers to handle their logistics.
Industrial investors employ finance executives to work out the best options for wealth accumulation.
Executives & entrepreneurs don’t get that engineers are more than competent and able to build & improve systems & structures just as, if not more than, effectively as software programmers, logisticians, & finance executives.
Engineers after all don’t just invent. They also innovate.
Both invention and innovation are what turn ideas into realities. And engineers can do both.
Engineers approach ideas the same way they do with problems. Whether it is an idea or a problem, engineers define it, lay out options, evaluate each option via predetermined criteria, and recommend the best course of action. They do the job of figuring things out as well, if not better, than any other professional.
This is the rationale for engineering in a world that is especially trending toward a digitised information age. Where ideas have overtaken inventions in whatever industry, engineers would still be more than helpful in bringing them to fruition.
Engineers are needed and it would be a shame if leaders ignore them.
Ellery's Essays 