The Engineer Animal

By virtue of the kinds of stories I write for the Crier I often find myself talking to engineers. A veritable multitude of engineers. This is just fine, because I’m married to an engineer, my father-in-law is an engineer, nearly every male in that family is an engineer, and I can see the engineer mind in my son.

So, I ‘get’ engineers.

And there are two subgroups of the engineer animal.

One group takes the view that any imperfection in a design could cost people their lives. A poorly designed bridge will collapse. Imperfect applications of materials can cause concrete panels in tunnels ceilings to fall. A road built fast and loose will eventually sink, causing damage to automobiles and expensive repair. These engineers, like my husband and most of the engineers I talk to, are unique creatures. For example, it took my husband many months to build-in bookshelves, not because the project was hard but because the walls in our old house list way off center. When he was done with the shelves, however, the walls looked straight.

The desire to achieve perfection can be maddening. One engineer I know attempted to replace a simple valve in his shower and ended up ripping up the entire bath, putting up new everything and retiling. His wife may have wanted to commit seppuku, but that bath is beautiful.
Yes, these engineers fold their socks in a particular way, turn out the contents of their pockets in a meticulous fashion every day, and spend a tremendous amount of time planning any little project. If the design is not right, they reason, the execution will fail.

The second group of engineers includes the software wunderkinds of the world. They work fast and churn out product quickly, getting it to consumers sooner rather than later, then offering patches to correct problems. Their aim is less the design than the functionality. As long as it works, it does not necessarily matter how the programmer got there. And problems that appear down the road may be remedied, relatively inexpensively. Getting it right the first time, perfection, can mean missing the market, losing out to a competitor, or shortchanging customers.

Both kinds of engineers have their rightful place in the technological world today. But, when one crosses to the other side, woeful things can happen. Generally, when a design perfectionist engineer ends up at an internet start-up, the engineer leaves because he is burnt out or because the company finds him too slow. On the other hand, when the functionality oriented engineer ends up writing code for a military application, well, sometimes people die. As an engineer, it is important to know into which basket you fall.

I’ve tested my theory lately with engineers and so far, its resonating with every one, from the civil engineer that designed the new photo simulations for the Verizon Wireless cell phone towers at the South Fire Station (and my husband checked his proportions), to former DPW Director Toma Duhani, to even my father-in-law.

Likewise, remember this analogy when looking down the road at the upcoming budgeting process facing the Town of Tewksbury or even the design of the Lowell Junction Interchange. Careful planning and thoughtful design must punctuate the process for both undertakings.

Tewksbury’s budget task force, meeting often these days, will present its recommendations to the town in January. Then come the weeks of wrangling with numbers with the Board of Selectmen looking to implement efficiencies the task force recommends and the salesmanship of a probable override request, and perhaps even more fees. The only real question that remains is the bottom line figure. How much will it cost and how much can we save?

Simultaneously, the Lowell Junction Interchange collaboration moves forward. Environmental impact reports will come. Some sort of agreement between the towns on the shape of the interchange will emerge. Companies like Simon and RJ Kelly will push forward with their visions of mixed-use developments for their parcels of land. Resident must chime in here as well. Too often, a collective solipsism appears as apathy and ends up with folks missing the boat on opportunity.

Therefore, Tewksbury and Wilmington, start hitting those meetings. Listen to the developers, become part of the process, and heck, speak up about the changes you want to see. Change is on the horizon.

And to those readers in Tewksbury, begin by voting on Tuesday for Selectman. Three men have poured their time, energy, and money into this race. The decision may not be an easy one though I have tried to show their priorities and differences in the article this week. I’ve talked to them all and they are knowledgeable men in our community. I won’t make a recommendation, each voter must decide for him or herself. The most important part is showing up.