WORK

I’m a systems and software engineer. I specialize in model-based and simulation-heavy approaches to complex system design. As often as possible, I try to include business outcomes as factors while creating models and deciding how to present outputs.

 

 

LEARN

I’ve just started a project to take a microflyer RC plane and turn it into an intrumented drone that can do something automated. Maybe land. Maybe just fly in a straight line. We’ll see how it goes.

 

It’s mostly for fun. It’s been years since I’ve done a hardware engineering project like this for myself. I’ll also use it as a way to show some of my preferred methods in things like project management, requirements analysis and model-based systems engineering. I kept running into the problem that all my professional work examples are proprietary. 

 

So this’ll be a fun side hobby and a portfolio builder. I’ve already got an arduino board and some sensors to play around with. Seveteen year-old David is jealous how easy it is to do such projects these days…

 

 

READ

On the technical side, I’ve been working through Marcello La Rocca’s Advanced Algorithms and Data Structures, a succinct overview of useful algorithms such as gradient descent and simulated annealing. It’s written in pseudocode, but there are so many open source implemenations that it's easy to scrape some code together and play around. It’s great to have a review of some algorithms I haven’t examined in depth since grad school.

 

I’ve taken a two-pronged approach to the stress-inducing state of the world: simultaneous escapism and distraction.

I’m reading Lost Kingdom by Serhii Plokhy to explore the historical roots of the war in Ukraine. I’ve always loved how historians can take a long view on almost any conflict. Mr Plokhy seems to be a master of the genre, though this is the first of his books that I’ve read.

 

On the other hand, I’m working through Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth series of books — space opera at its best. It’s big, bombastic and sometimes ridiculous. Exactly as it should be. Unlike a lot of recent sci-fi I’ve read, his prose his grounded. It feels like he’s confident in the story he’s telling. He lets the actions of his characters do the work.

 

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING LEADER — FOCUSED OPTIMIZATION & MARKET ORIENTATION

My diverse skills and experiences help me find effective approaches to difficult system optimization problems, from engineering viable products to organization design.

 

I started my career integrating and creating spacecraft simulations to present possible design approaches to managers and clients. I've also worked on squishier subjects, such as technical communication and marketing strategy in an international business environment. Whatever I’m working on, my approach is similar – deconstruct complex systems into chunks that can be addressed directly with a clear, coherent strategy. I focus on the end product, the market, and how each step can lead to something better for end users.

 

I combine quantitative and qualitative approaches whenever possible. I understand the broader context and the needs of stakeholders, using data where possible. My focus inevitably shifts towards those methods that will best meet the goals of the project at hand. Clear writing, data visualization and statistical simulations could each be part of what I bring to a project.

 

Establishing a productive work environment is essential for me. I work hard at developing a pragmatic approach based on accountability and mutual respect. I thrive in multicultural environments that require me to understand new ways of thinking and adapt. I’m also always looking for a reason to learn a new language – I already speak French and Polish fluently.

SYSTEMS THINKING – LEADING FROM THE MIDDLE – JOINING HIGH- AND LOW-LEVEL THINKING

I’ve worked for over 15 years designing and optimizing diverse technical products. The biggest were manned spacecraft designs for NASA — on the contractor side of Orion and Dream Chaser. My simulations and analyses helped make sure the designs worked as intended. I was also often the person who presented conclusions to management, customers and subcontractors. 

 

I’ve managed engineering teams and been accountable for fruitful cooperation between teams. For each project, but especially the aerospace design ones, this involved plenty of compromise and haggling. For the spacecraft to function properly and still fit on a rocket, everyone had to walk away unhappy and yet somehow satisfied. 

 

Curiosity drove me away from large American aerospace contractors towards other challenges. Most of all I wanted to  to get better at communication and system analyses in new environments. I wanted to work internationally and be closer to the market applications of the technologies I was working on.

 

My main challenge as an engineer was to separate reliable numbers from those based on questionable assumptions. As one saying goes, “All simulations are wrong, some are useful.” Some engineering design problems didn’t have a technical source. All the data in the world wouldn’t have helped. These problems required analyses of a different sort – analyses I had no way of doing in the context of American aerospace contractors.

 

Working in marketing gave me that chance to explore different approaches.  There were even more shaky assumptions than in engineering, many not based on hard data. Being able to separate the useful from the inane is essential in marketing. Good data helps, as does thorough problem decomposition and a coherent strategy that all stakeholders agree on.

 

In the end, I believe that engineering is the best place for my skill set. That said, my detour in marketing gave me the chance to develop skills that the traditional aerospace path couldn’t give me. These skills will be essential as I work on designing new technologies with, hopefully, more long-term potential than some of the spacecraft I worked on in the past — even if those spacecraft were very interesting to work on.