If you want to change any aspect of the world you live in,
how would you go about doing it? You would need a method that would maximize your chance of success. You would also like to
minimize risk, minimize cost, and perform the work in a timely manner. You would also like an acceptable level of quality
in the final product. This is the 'method' that Koen discusses in his book. Every day each one of us makes changes in the
world around him, even if small, and we use a method to accomplish this.
p.xi"This book is about the universal method. It is about what you
do, what I do, what every human has done at every minute of every day since the birth of humanity. Would you change any aspect
of your world? If so, you need a universal method to guide you along the steps you must take."
Intelligence is just one of nature's many methods that has evolved to its present state because
it has helped a species survive. There is nothing magical about it. If the survival chances of the species did not improve
with it, it is not likely that intelligence would have evolved to its present state.
p.1"You and I are participating in a magnificent experiment to see whether Nature's latest wrinkle,
the human species armed with its new weapon, intelligence, has survival value."
Here is Koen's definition of heuristic:
p.28"A heuristic is anything that provides a plausible aid or direction in the solution
of a problem but is in the final analysis unjustified, incapable of justification, and potentially fallible."
If you work in the profession of engineering, you will see that each engineer you work with has
accumulated a set of heuristics which he or she uses to solve problems. No two engineers approach the problem in
the same way. In design reviews, each engineer brings up his particular viewpoint for consideration, and the lively discussions
reflect the varied viewpoints.
p.49"The individual engineer, in his role as engineer, is defined by the set of heuristics he uses in
his work, including the heuristics he has learned in school, developed by experience, and gleaned from the physical world
around him... No two engineers are alike."
There is never an approach that is true in engineering. One thinks in relative terms -
an approach is better than others, it is the best approach, it is likely to succeed, seems to be the better use of
resources, etc. Engineers often operate in a sea of ideas, with a clock ticking. When time runs out, an approach has to be
selected (usually by consensus of a design team), a plan or a design is developed, and work continues.
p.61"As we have already have seen, the engineer's best solution to a problem is found by trade-offs
in a multivariant space in which criteria and weighting coefficients are the context that determines the optimal solution.
There is never an implication that a true, rational answer even exists. The answer the engineer gives is never the
answer to a problem, but it is his engineering best answer to the problem he is given - all things considered."
Koen claims that everything in engineering is a heuristic. Heuristics are simply levers that offer
paths of progress towards a solution. An engineering project has objectives, and there are limiting factors
that conspire to prevent the project from reaching its objectives. The engineer must understand all of this, and use heuristics
to maneuver around (or through) the (perceived) limiting factors so that the project can reach its objectives. When one path
is blocked around a limiting factor, we much select another path.
p.62"Specifically, I claim that: 1. The engineering solution to a problem has no reality apart from
the heuristics used to obtain it, and 2. Everything in engineering is a heuristic."
Sometimes engineers use the same heuristic for different problems, and this often can identify the
engineer who used it.
p.67"The engineer uses hundreds of these simple heuristics in his work, and the set he uses is a
fingerprint that uniquely identifies him."
Here is Koen's definition of the Engineering Method. The Engineering Method is the process
that engineers use to solve problems, or to bring about a desired change in the current state of the world:
p.94"The engineering method is the use of heuristics to cause the best change in a poorly understood
situation within the available resources."
