Category Archives: engineers on design thinking

A few thoughts after this week’s class On Innovative and Routine Design I discussed this in “Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of Software” (20 years ago). It’s online at http://marian.shaw-weil.com/displaypaper.php?PAPER_ID=197 Unfortunately, IEEE wouldn’t let me include very many citations, but … Continue reading →

I found it interesting to see a similar thread of thought throughout these readings.  Despite some obvious conflict between authors, there seemed to be a strong consensus on the knowledge of the designer.  One must possess a broad and strong … Continue reading →

I read a discover article recently where the general public was polled concerning current problems in astrophysics.  The average of thier answers tended towards being surprisingly accurate to the thinking of the top scientists.  This begs the quesiton of what … Continue reading →

Already off and running, these discussions have me quite perplexed based on my previous assumptions on what design thinking was. I really have never thought of the design process as it applies to other professions as we have been exploring. … Continue reading →

Design is a process that includes the procedures of identifying a problem then acting on an idea in order to create a new improved solution to the problem. Often times, people mistaken designers as the only people who design. Designers are … Continue reading →

While reading through the articles of the past week, saying how the engineer/designer, who in some readings were artists as well, is not limited by the need to have a definite answer like the scientist; I began to wonder why … Continue reading →

I found our class discussion last week about the difference between different types of thinking very interesting. What I couldn’t help but notice was that even though we all had different opinions, everyone in the room fell under one category … Continue reading →

There is one fundamental difference between an engineer’s thinking and an architect’s. An engineer draws upon past experiences when presented with a “problem” to solve, while an architect  must start with a blank slate, always cognizant of goals and limitations. … Continue reading →

Architects are not themselves the concept of architecture and engineers are not themselves the idea of engineering. This sounds obvious, but it is an essential distinction when talking about what the fields mean. Architect is a vocation, a social role. … Continue reading →