The Art of Engineering Balance (Part 2)

In Part 2 I will dive into the core practices and principles that must be at the centre of all engineering projects, which will help keep focus and balance. The practices I will touch on are simple, achievable, and aren't time-bound or costly. They are suggestions you can start doing today.

In Part 1, we looked at engineering imbalance in the form of over- and under-engineering. We looked at the consequences of both, and some examples of the middle ground.

Why Start with 'Why'? Defining the Purpose

Simon Sinek taught us how to start with 'why'. But why is it important? Without starting with why, you risk beginning a project without focus and purpose. Even the best-engineered project can go off track—leading to misaligned goals, wasted resources, or missing the mark entirely. Who is this for? What problem are we solving? What are our non-negotiables?

Imagine the end goal is to engineer a bridge. Focusing only on the structure limits the possibilities to just that—a bridge.

Take Action:

• Revisit the ‘Why’ Regularly: Keep the why front and centre throughout the project.
  • Ask: Should the bridge serve as more than just a crossing? Should it also accommodate pedestrians or water traffic?
• Innovate with Purpose: Use the why to guide innovation.
  • Ask: Could the bridge double as a renewable energy source, integrating solar or wind power?
• Focus on Big Picture Thinking: Link decisions back to the 'why' to avoid getting bogged down in specs.
  • Ask: How can we future-proof the bridge for geographical and geological changes?
• Communicate the ‘Why’ Clearly: Share the purpose with the team and stakeholders to drive motivation and ensure alignment.
  • Remember: Utilise team meetings and 1-1s to communicate the why and ensure focus throughout the project.

Starting with 'Why' leads to:

• Clarity in purpose: Starting with the why ensures every decision stays aligned with the ultimate goal.

• Freedom to innovate: A clear purpose encourages creativity and sparks imaginative solutions.

• Avoids tunnel vision: It helps maintain focus on the bigger picture, rather than getting stuck in technical specs.

• Emotional connection: When the why resonates with the team and users, it drives commitment and deeper understanding.

Emotion: The Driving Force

Emotion goes hand in hand with 'why' in engineering. It’s the difference between a good piece of technology and a magical one. The iPod vs. Microsoft Zune shows us the difference between engineering with emotion vs. without. Emotion drives and motivates the team, whether you’re building mountains or molehills.

Emotion is a powerful tool, but it’s important to set boundaries. Failures and setbacks are part of the process, but we can’t get too attached to any single detail. But what can we do?

Take Action:

• Motivate Through Meaning: Ensure the project resonates emotionally with both the team and the end users.
  • Ask: What meaningful change are we delivering? What excites us about seeing the solution come to life?
• Balance Passion with Practicality: Use emotion to drive innovation but keep it in check to avoid tunnel vision.
  • Ask: Are we too attached to certain aspects of the project? Are we straying away from the initial why?
• Foster Emotional Buy-In: Emotion drives creativity and innovation, but it’s often overlooked in engineering.
  • Remember: If you can’t get behind your project, nobody can. Utilise team workshops and 1-1s to align emotional engagement.

Emotion Enables:

• Purpose and Inspiration: Emotion fuels passion for the project’s deeper meaning.
• Motivation through Challenges: Emotional investment helps teams persevere during tough times.
• Accepting Failures: Emotion turns setbacks into valuable learning opportunities.
• Embracing Change: It fosters flexibility and adaptation.

People: The Heart of Every Engineering Process

People are at the core of every engineering process, so lead them well. Your team’s skills, creativity, collaboration, and personal experiences can be the difference between an iPod and a Zune. The introduction of AI to the engineering ecosystem is exciting, but it’s important we don’t get too caught up in the AI and lose focus on the people. Focusing on people fosters creativity, challenges norms, and drives development.

Take Action:

• Create a Bigger Picture: Inspire your team by connecting their work to a larger purpose.
  • Ask: How does our work contribute to the future of humanity, sustainability, or solving real-world challenges? How will we make our mark?
• Build Trust and Psychological Safety: Foster a transparent environment that welcomes ideas, challenges norms, and encourages contribution.
  • Ask: Are we fostering trust through transparency and honesty? Do team members feel safe to voice their thoughts?
• Build Emotional Ownership: Help your team see the impact of their work beyond the task at hand.
  • Ask: Can your team point to the project and say, "I worked on that" with pride?
• Challenge the Status Quo: Empower your team to question existing processes and look for improvements.
  • Ask: Are we regularly encouraging our team to challenge norms and innovate, or are we too focused on maintaining the status quo?

People Drive:

• Innovation and Creativity: People fuel groundbreaking ideas and fresh approaches to problem-solving.
• Theory with Practice: Teams combine conceptual thinking with hands-on testing to refine and perfect solutions.
• Delivery Efficiency: Engaged teams work cohesively to streamline processes and meet deadlines.
• Adaptability: People enable projects to adjust and grow, staying relevant throughout the development lifecycle.

Data: The Key to Engineering in 2024

It’s 2024, and there’s more data than ever. Even our data has data. And if you’re not using it, you’re falling behind. Data can accelerate research and enhance development, and when used correctly, the ROI is outstanding. Leveraging data enables engineers to make more informed decisions, optimise performance, introduce automation, and focus more on real challenges.

Take Action:

• Utilise Existing Data: Leverage the data you already have to speed up decision-making.
  • Ask: Are we maximising our existing datasets? Can we use past data to inform current decisions?
• Generate Your Own Data: When gaps exist, create the specific data needed to guide your project.
  • Ask: What key areas need more precise data? How can we gather data efficiently to supplement existing information?
• Make Informed Decisions: Use data to prioritise areas that deliver the highest impact.
  • Ask: Which parts of the project could benefit from more data analysis? How can data inform the next steps to boost efficiency or results?
• Stay Focused: Avoid getting lost in data; set KPIs and metrics. Use them as a tool, not the sole driver of decisions.
  • Ask: Are we too focused on data at the expense of action? How can we balance data analysis with timely decision-making?

Data Will Drive:

• Research & Development: Data drives informed decision-making to push innovation forward.
• Automation & Efficiency: Use data insights to optimise processes and reduce manual effort.
• Testing and Validation: Leveraging data from testing helps refine reliability and optimise performance.
• Performance: Data provides measurable insights to track progress, process and refine strategies.
• Regulatory Compliance: Data ensures adherence to industry standards and regulations, reducing risk.

Compliance: Engineering with Safety and Security in Mind

Just like there’s a reason behind every seemingly obvious sign or warning label, there’s a reason for compliance, standardisation, and regulation. Compliance is a non-negotiable pillar of any engineering, despite often feeling like a hurdle. Some compliance may not be required on paper but are in practice.

Compliance should be considered from the start—especially for Cyber Security. While nothing is stopping you from spinning up a website, if you don’t have security in mind from the outset, you’re going to have a bad time.

Take Action:

• Embed from the Start: Build security and compliance into your project from the start, rather than trying to patch issues later.
  • Ask: Are we integrating security protocols from day one? Have we considered all compliance needs upfront to avoid rework?
• Plan for Compliance Early: Don’t let compliance be an afterthought—integrating it early saves time and prevents expensive mistakes.
  • Ask: How can we include compliance into our initial designs, rather than scrambling to meet standards later?
• Use Compliance as Guidance: Compliance laws often stem from past mistakes. Treat them as valuable lessons, not a burden.
  • Ask: What can we learn from previous compliance issues in our industry? What is the purpose of the compliance?

Compliance Will Drive:

• Security & Safety: Compliance safeguards systems and users against potential risks.
• Technical Boundaries: It ensures that engineering stays within safe, reliable, and tested limits.
• Industry Standards: Compliance aligns projects with established regulations and best practices, ensuring accountability and trust.

Strategy: Final Assembly

All these principles—why, emotion, people, data, compliance—are tied together by strategy. Without a clear strategy, even the best projects and intentions will crumble. These pillars can easily be lost under project stress, but it’s crucial to set and stick to strategic boundaries:

Key Strategic Principles:

• Stay strict on the vision, and lenient on the details.
• Accept failures as opportunities for growth.
• Keep the customer at the centre of every decision.
• If you’re not adding and removing constantly during the development phase, you’re not developing.

Conclusion

Balanced engineering isn’t about choosing between complexity or simplicity — it’s about applying core principles to hit that sweet spot where innovation, functionality, security, and sustainability intersect.

The Concorde shows us that while over-engineering can push boundaries, it can also lead to inefficiencies and lost opportunities. Titan reminds us that when safety is paramount, under-engineering falls short. Both technologies with a bit more balance, could have become long-lasting, exceptional feats of engineering.

By keeping core principles front and centre from start to finish, we can maintain engineering balance throughout the project. These principles are so accessible and achievable, that we can start implementing them today.

Even the smart fridge taps into the core principles. As long as people are comfortable with having cameras and microphones in their homes — thanks, Amazon — the smart fridge will keep feeding into consumerism, so maybe it’s not entirely pointless after all…!

Which of the principles are you going to implement today?

-Murray

Click here to go back to part 1