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Studying the engineer's day

Direct observation techniques were used to study the tasks, communication nets, and work patterns that characterize an engineer's day. Using qualitative research techniques, four students spent weeks in engineering organizations observing and recording. Issues of concern that arose, included management's fear that work would be disrupted, ethical concerns relating to the subjects privacy, and the observer effect. The initial study was done during the summer of 1996 and consisted of direct observation of five consulting engineers for a one week period. The exploratory survey revealed that the engineer's work consists mainly of many short cycle tasks, many of which involve communication and interaction. What emerged is a picture of people actively communicating, mostly searching for and exchanging pieces of information. The work process seems to consist of getting and transmitting the right bits, and history is easily as important as physics. These observed patterns are interesting when contrasted with the stereotype of engineering work that projects a solitary figure with limited communication skills who uses advanced physics and mathematics while working for long uninterrupted periods on complex problems.