Expérimentation de vie

It has always been thrilling for me to experiment and learn, especially in the game of life. Science and fiction have always fascinated me, and the most interesting or may be embarrassing, is the way people relate each other. However, this time, I am sharing something similarly weird.

Driving is one thing that has always hooked me in. Now if I say I am passionate about driving and I am crazy about cars, you would start asking about the prices, engine stuff or may be about F1, which I am not so informative at. For me passion is mostly in experiencing stuff, than just mere knowledge.

Coming to the point, I travel about 15kms one way from my home to office, and there are more than one ways to go. If you are new to Bangalore, let me tell you that it is heaven but for pathetic traffic. There are 2 major routes through which I can come to my office. The first one is through the main roads, and there are around 13 traffic signals. The alternative route is having around 9 signals, but the roads are narrow, and around a kilometer more than the former one. Every time I travelled the second route, I used to feel it was a long one, and consumed more time, because I never stopped, but I was also slow (due to narrow roads). So now I did an experiment, to see which route worked out better for me – and surprisingly found out that with respect to both mileage and my total cost of travelling, the latter route worked out to be beneficial. In-fact my mileage increased nearly by 25%, and my total cost of travelling decreased by 20%.

So if this was the experiment, the analysis started later. What is it in the second route that it benefitted me? This was the road which was narrow, but the biggest advantage was the number of signals was less by approx 20%. On the contrary, the main roads (of the 1st route) were broad, and it was easier to overtake (comparatively) and speed up too. There was one significant thing that came out this exercise (after some introspection), in the first route, I used to halt and proceed, continuously; where as in the second one, there wasn’t much halting, and I used to proceed at almost a constant pace (though that pace was slower than the first one). So zero speed was the major culprit.

This is so relevant to human body and mind too. I am sure for most of them who start some new activities, like jogging, have this starting problem – it is so difficult to get out of the bed and go for jogging. Again getting out of zero is the problem. Similarly once you start jogging, and mid way (may be after 10-15 days) you are not able to continue for a few days, again we are struck. On the other hand, just in-case you can’t go for a full fledged jog, due to lack of time, try going for a smaller jog rather than stopping fully; it would be a lot easier to go for a full jog from a lesser one, than starting all over from zero.

It is such a co-incidence, that the power of zero is exhibited in physics too – The force required to get a body from rest to motion is more than the force required to keep the same body in motion. (To put it in a geekier manner - Force to overcome Static friction is more than the force to overcome kinetic friction).

Anyone interested to read more about the power of zero, I suggest read “Predictably Irrational”.

The more I experiment, the more I realize there are few major forces (I don’t know what those are) on which things work. Now I may be wrong!!!

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong."

-  Albert Einstein 

A paradigm shift for Engineering...

This 15th September commemorates the 150th birth anniversary of Sir M.Visveswaraya, one of the most  revered engineer across the globe. I have a lot of respect for this individual, not because he was an engineer, but he was a professional who thought about public good, in each of his deeds. I strongly recommend reading about his life and achievements. You wouldn’t get a better day than 15th Sep, to celebrate Engineer's Day.

But somehow, I feel off-late engineering as a degree has been degraded a lot, thanks to easy availability of seats, and selling of seats to people who can afford it, not who deserves it.  But there is always a question of why engineer's degree is not in sync with the work he is doing. And once you have done engineering, why should you do MBA..? Trust me - these are valid questions…

Here is my analysis -

Engineering is not a subject, not a degree; it is paradigm of looking at things, it is the attitude which molds your thinking, and problem solving abilities. It is not about why a diode works in a particular manner, it about if a diode is working in a particular manner, how can you utilize this capability to form a half wave rectifier or full-wave rectifier circuit. It is about how creatively you look at getting the half-wave rectifier or full-wave rectifier with the least number of diodes. It is the way you look at issues as cause v/s effect phenomenon.

Engineering is also not about just finding solutions to problems, it is also about working backwards - have a required solution/ end product in mind and then decide the how things should evolve in order to obtain the solution, or to put it simply - reverse engineering. So what is this?? This is the way you look at things - Management books call it Top-Down (forward engineering) and Bottom-Up (reverse engineering) approach.

In a series resistance structure, if one resistance fails, the whole current flow collapses; this is similar to how a typical hierarchical structure in an organization works, if one level fails to execute, the flow of information may be skewed, leading to wrong decision making. In a parallel resistance structure, even if one resistance fails, the circuit still continues to run, as the current is still passing through the other branches of resistance. Similarly, in an silo mode of management, even if one the branches of the company is not working correctly, the company still continues to thrive, because there are other supporting branches. Now the challenge for management is how best can it use this parallel and series structure of management to enhance optimal performance.  The challenge for engineer is also the same, but with resistors. So engineering is not about resistors, but how best you arrange them - this is the paradigm shift that is required.

This is one of the several examples which I can quote to say that my engineering attitude has helped me develop a totally different outlook towards issues, and ways to solve them.

So if you are a mechanical engineer who worked for a software company, in banking domain, and now with a MBA degree, looking out for a consulting job - there is nothing wrong, as long as you can prove people that engineering is a paradigm and attitude, not (just)a degree.

Happy Engineers Day!!!