A Letter from Chris Suarez
ENGINEERING vs DESIGNING
Things don’t always turn out as we intend them to. When they don’t, it’s easy for us to be disappointed. Disappointed in the situation, the results, ourselves. Why? Because we were certain that our plan was going to work. We were sure that steps we took would lead to the outcome. We were convinced that we had engineered the solution just perfectly. So when the project doesn’t quite meet our expectations the disappointment can often lead to giving up. It causes people to quit jobs, give up on relationships, break partnerships, walk away from something that seemed to matter so much to them.
The problem wasn’t the attempt. The problem was our “engineering.” Engineering as a science serves the purpose of figuring out the one best solution for the problem at hand. It frames the problem as having one solution. It is a Point A to Point B solution. We engineer foundations. We engineer mechanical equipment. We engineer roads and bridges. These are all inanimate things designed for one purpose.
When early New Yorkers wanted to build a bridge across the East River, they brought in one of the best engineers of the time - John Roebling - to engineer what is now the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a very specific end goal and needed a very specific solution. It was a win-lose, literally. If he engineered the bridge successfully, they would have a means of safe travel from Brooklyn to Manhattan. If it was improperly engineered, many would lose their life. History confirms he engineered a successful bridge, as 125 years later it still carries 150,000 pedestrians and vehicles across the river every day. The engineer actually was killed in an accident on site as the project just began. It took the life of 20 others over the course of the 14 years and $320 million (in today’s dollars) that it took to build. The bridge was a win or lose. Pass or fail. And that is why bridges are engineered.
Engineers are quite different from designers. Anecdotally, engineers often work alone and think using logic and math. They often work on life and death projects. Designers prefer to work on teams or in collaborative environments while thinking creatively and in possibilities. They often work on projects to make life just a little bit better. Engineers are primarily left-brained while designers are typically right-brained.
When it comes to setting goals, planning our future, defining personal achievement, or even thinking about purpose and fulfillment, beware of falling into the trap of trying to “engineer” our way there. We can begin to think that there is only one way from Point A to Point B. In our minds, we’ve engineered the entire thing. Our business must look a certain way. Our relationships look a certain way. The I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed. Reaching the end goal is life or death. If we engineer our life, we are bound to be disappointed.
Does that mean we just let things happen as they happen? Hardly. But life is meant to be designed.
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, both Stanford professors, have done much work on this topic and field of study. They propose that the design process is built on the premise of “prototyping” - designing possibly hundreds of different prototypes before choosing the best option to create.
Along our journey life is meant to be prototyped. It is a series of unexpected events, challenges, surprises, twists. Life is not a Point A to Point B path. If we think like a designer, we won’t believe that there is just one solution, one outcome. We won’t be disappointed when life doesn’t look or feel exactly how we thought it would, when we thought it would, with whom we thought it would.
The short story here is that we need not over-engineer our life. If we get too stuck on a highly engineered plan, always trying to correct and adjust to get back “on track”, we will miss the experiences and nuances and possibilities. The key to a well lived life is the process of design and redesign.
If we get stuck in engineering mode, we will continually go back to that same plan, that same drawing. We will be convinced if we just push a little more, if we just tighten that screw, if we just measure again, it will all work out. But life shifts. Futures change. People adjust. Life isn’t about the one best solution. But engineering is.
Design mode however allows us to openly look at where we are, consider where we thought we’d be, think about our preferred future, and begin to prototype. I am grateful that there are two brilliant professors at Stanford committed to teaching young men and women - and future leaders - about life design.
Lives, futures, and people change. Designing allows us to change with it.
Chris