Time was, when engineers had to learn to read and write.

Communication between various parts of an organization relies heavily on the ability of persons in positions of responsibility to communicate clearly and precisely in writing, and to understand what's been written by others.

Somehow, the impression that engineers didn't have to be able to communicate in writing and that managers didn't have to think analytically, has become a part of our culture. It started many years ago, of course. I remember there was a cafe in Cambridge which had menu pages for "MIT students who couldn't read" and others for "Harvard students who couldn't count."

When I was a youngster, senior engineers were ultimately promoted into management because they thoroughly understood the processes over which they'd then have dominion, knew other senior functionaries within the organization, and had a solid grasp on the philosophies on which the company operated.

Today, engineers are considered to be interchangeable parts in a process that doesn't have to be understood by the management at all. Engineers are hired for a job and let go once the job is completed. "Senior" simply means highly paid, and certainly doesn't imply any sort of length of experience or wisdom. There was a time when engineers were sought out because of their experience and accumulated wisdom. Those days are in the distant past. Todays engineer figures that if he hasn't ascended into a management role by the time he's 30 he's a failure.

Unfortunately, the business school was, back in the old days, where the guys who couldn't "cut it" in the engineering, pre-med, or sciences programs intended to train people to do useful work, ended up. The ones who couldn't "cut it" in business school went to pre-law or poli-sci. The extra cost of law school was a penalty that dad had to pay as penance for the sin of raising such an idiot. They ultimately became the lawyers, judges, and politicians.

"Smart" managers are the sort who figure out that a plastic gear in the power windows of the <insert car brand here> will save $7 per unit, collect a $5 million dollar bonus, then move to the <other> car company to do similar "work," by the time the first auto-maker figures out that those plastic gears break in cold weather and cause a huge recall expense.

People have forgotten that engineer is a personality type, not just a job title.

Isn't it time that engineers not only learned how to read and write, but also learned to do it?

RE