Traditionally, the more complex a mechanical device was, the more highly trained its operators were. Big machinery was always isolated from the public and was operated by trained professionals in uniform. The information age changed everything, and we now expect amateurs to manage technology far more complex than our parents ever faced. As more and more of our tools and systems get silicon brains, they are placed into the hands of untrained amateurs. Twenty-five years ago, trained human operators handled long-distance phone calls at our verbal request. Today, the most complex international calls are handled directly by any untrained amateur pushing buttons. Just a couple of decades ago, even gas pumps were operated only by trained service-station attendants. Today, every individual is expected to be able to perform the gas-pumping transaction, as well as the associated financial transaction, using a credit or debit card. Twenty years ago, only trained tellers operated banks. Today, you operate your bank by using a gas pump or ATM. The engineering process doesn't discern between the creation of a complex system that will be operated by a trained, paid professional and the creation of one that is to be operated by an indifferent amateur. The process of engineering doesn't have concepts to deal with that human stuff. It concentrates on the implementation issues: What is it made of? How will it be constructed? What controls will be needed to give input to all possible variables? |