“It’s all about the people.” This little but significant truth turns up in many different domains, and Ditch Day is no exception.  It’s an oft-forgotten secret of Ditch Day that as much effort as the seniors put into a stack, at the end of the day it’s the group dynamics... [Read More]

Whenever I spend a lot of time in lab, I inevitably run into some bizarre equipment-related challenge, and can’t help but think of how Hayek’s knowledge problem manifests itself in engineering land. The knowledge problem isn’t unique to engineering – there is distributed, circumstantial knowledge that can’t be easily transferred... [Read More]

I want to draw a distinction between mental tinkering and planning. It’s kind of subtle because to an observer they both look the same – you’re just doing work in your head and maybe on a piece of scratch paper. However, I think the difference is huge. My distinction is... [Read More]

I’m currently reading Freedman Dyson’s excellent book, Infinite in All Directions. The title is apt, as that’s roughly the scope of the (science focused) subjects Dyson writes about. I wanted to share a very astute rule of technological thumb he introduces, and I find very compelling.  I dub it the fragile... [Read More]

To continue the thoughts on prototyping, here’s a really important question you should ask yourself: How many times will this be used? How many people will use it? This is a really important one because these numbers should heavily influence your approach to the project. It’s also one branch point... [Read More]