Engineers on Design Thinking

Our last discussion revolved around the purposes of various kinds of endeavor: art, science, engineering, and design; and whether it is proper to talk about different kinds of thinking that each of these employs.   This week’s readings (five of them, ranging from 2 to 8 pages each) are all written by engineers, reflecting on design, and—I think—on design thinking in engineering.  Based on these short articles, what (if anything) can we say about how engineers approach design that might distinguish their approach?

Also this week, to complement these readings, in a short radio interview engineer and author Henry Petroski discusses the difference between science and engineering.