The verb 'to engineer' is used here to mean 'to use a range of strategies for achieving successful outcomes in situations of complex uncertainty'. Professional engineers will typically engineer the design of an aircraft or a bridge. Busineses are 'engineered' (or 're-engineered'). The strategies used have universal application in complex problem solving. They are not confined to the practice of engineering.
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The UK Covid-19 Task Force A successful government project Queensferry Bridge A well managed infrastructure project The development of an optical scanner (p22) How to develop an innovative product |
Figure 1 shows some features of an engineered process.
Key issues are competence, i.e. the skills of those inolved and governance, i.e. how responsility, authority and accountabiliy are allocated.
Competence is shown as having two main components:
- Disciplinary expertise i.e. the abilities of those involved to carry out specific tasks. It is common to require expertise from several disciplines
- Ethos - the principles that guide the actions of the participants.
Whereas 'what you know' might be described in term of disciplinary expertise, ethos is 'how you think'. Ethos is a crtical issue in engineered processes.