In Applied Minds: How Engineers Think, Guru Madhavan observes: “Engineers help create solution spaces — suites of possibilities that offer new choices, conveniences, and comforts — that redefine our standard of living…Therein lies a paradox: engineering is omnipresent but invisible . It tends to be discussed only when an airplane crashes, a bridge buckles, a building crumbles, or a technology fails.”

Madhavan provides dozens of examples of how those who hadmastered engineering principles then applied them to solve or prevent serious problems in all dimensions of human initiative. For example, in his classic work, Toyota Production System, Taiichi Ohno, introduces a brilliant process by which to improve efficiency. It begins by asking a simple question: [begin] Why? [end]. Here is a brief excerpt from Madhavan’s book:

* * *

1. Why did the machine stop?
There was an overload and a fuse blew.

2. Why was there an overload?
The bearing was not sufficiently lubricated.

3. Why was it not lubricated sufficient try?
The lubrication pump was not pumping sufficiently

4. Why was it not pumping sufficiently?
The shaft of the pump was warn and rattling.

5. Why was the shaft worn out?
There was no strainer attached and metal scarp got in.

* * *

You get the idea. Drill down from symptoms to a root cause by asking a series of “Whys?” and sometimes you must ask more than five. Concurrent engineering requires an understanding of “circles of causality” that link multiple influences on the given system or situation.

Guru Madhavan is a biomedical engineer and senior policy adviser. He is a senior program officer in health and medicine at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC. Applied Minds was published by W.W. Norton (August 2016)