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Asked by amuletspade to Al, Emma, Ivanka, James, Omar on 16 Mar 2012.
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James Vokes answered on 15 Mar 2012:
When I’m writing code it’s usually part of a much bigger project. Usually there are bit and pieces of code that I need to write that have been written before e.g. Say I had to write code that told me what the average of a list of numbers was. I’m probably not the first person ever to write that sort of code. Excel does it for example so what I can do look at other people’s code in the project to see how they did it and copy it (This sort of thinking was what programming was built upon). Obviously it’s not simple as the example but it does work out like that.
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Omar Mustufvi answered on 15 Mar 2012:
Yes, it is a very good idea to benchmark your ideas so that you know you are on the right path but this can also limit creativity so there is a fine balance needed. We have teams of engineers who work on competitor testing (which means they get to drive a lot of cars!) and they are important for us to be able to set the engineering requirements for our cars.
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Al Bartlett answered on 16 Mar 2012:
hello amuletspade,
Yes – always. I suppose that you could argue that the engineers are in competition with each other to see who can do the best job but it also serves a very useful purpose. By comparing our work with each other’s, we always maintain a high standard of craftsmanship which makes sure that the task is always completed to the highest possible standard – This is very important in the aviation industry.
Brilliant question!!
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Emma Bould answered on 17 Mar 2012:
Me too – I compare my work with other engineers all the time! It’s a really good idea to check you haven’t made a mistake but also to make things better!
Every ship does things slightly differently because everyone thinks slightly differently. Sometimes if I am doing something for the first time, I will send my peers on other ships doing the same job, an email asking how they do it. It means you get the benefit of the lessons they learnt when they did it for the first time….. that’s how we improve things.
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Ivanka Brown answered on 19 Mar 2012:
Yes all the time. At the beginning of the project, the experienced engineers generally have a fair idea of how we will solve the problem we have been given. They will have provided a ‘concept design’ to the client and given them and indication of how much it will cost them to design and build it. If the client likes this the best and can afford it, our team will get to design it. At the beginning meetings we discuss what was submitted and if anyone can see a better way to do it we get an opportunity to do so. As the design progresses we have at least monthly meetings with the team to ensure that the team agrees that the work is going in the right direction. Even when the design is almost complete the contractor (who will build the design) may have further proprietaty skills that he wants to add to the mix and we do a “Value Engineering” meeting will everyone to check there isn’t a cheaper, sleeker, more efficient design.
There is a lot of collaboration.
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