Engineering

Engineering is the foundation for good analysis. You do not necessarily have to be an engineer to be an analyst, and sometimes engineers do not make good analysts because they lack other important skills required in the process. But engineering principles form the basis of what we would like to call formulaic analysis. In engineering the basic equations for various applications have already be derived and committed to books or tables to be picked up and reused when an engineer is confronted with a problem. It is the engineer’s job to pick what formula applies and then to use it correctly. To do this incorrectly, as a Primitive Pete, results could be catastrophic. This is why engineering has levels of expertise and in some disciplines, such as civil engineering, a Professional Engineering licence is required. These are when applications of safety and human life depend on the engineer doing his job correctly.

Nothing of this sort exists in the wide open discipline of analysis. We are free to call ourselves analysts with absolutely no certification whatsoever. We are not calling for certification or stronger safeguards in the problem solving profession because we believe analysis is so much more than the engineering/formulaic side to the field. It is, however, at the end of the day, the best approach for cranking through a known problem and getting to a solution. So once the problem is properly defined and we know how to approach it, let the engineers take over and crank out the solution. It is important to point out that there are a few rules that should be followed.

This blog is not the rule book for how to solve problems or to do the correct engineering but we should mention a few good habits to an effective formulaic approach in order to do the job correctly. If we fail in applying the right technique and then fail in executing the technique correctly, we will never find the correct answer and hence we will produce nothing close to the truth. So here just a few rules you should follow:

Establish the objectives of your study as early as possible. As engineers we learn to state the problem, state what is given, then list our assumptions, then you can begin listing tools for consideration.

Plan your study. Your study plan does not have to be perfect. We always say a study plan will be complete when the study is complete.

Decompose the study into bite size pieces. And then break each piece into the smallest component for which a solution might be possible.

Obey physical laws. Rule out early that which falls into the realm of the supernatural. These might very well have been considered during the scientific and artistic phases of your work, but when it’s time to make something fly, engineers will have to design and build it.

Put processes into place that are both verifiable and and can be repeated many times. This distinguishes you from the artists who may only have to build something once or the scientist who many only have to repeat his experiment a few times.

Always have some form of review in place where a Grey Beard analyst can take a look at what you plan to do.

Finally, document everything that has been done so it can be repeated and stand up to scrutiny later.