Ben Waber reviewed The Things We Make by Bill Hammack
A Case Study Heavy Treatise against Techno-Determinism
4 stars
This could probably be a paper rather than a book, but by including a bevy of detailed case studies Hammack demonstrates why it's important to distinguish engineering from science, their differing methods, and the implications for how we think about and shape innovation. The crux of the argument is that engineering uses rules of thumb, which are informed by observation of the world or science, to build things. That process doesn't have a predetermined end point, and random factors can throw technological development in directions wildly different than its progenitors intended or imagined. I think the line between engineering and science is much blurrier that Hammack argues, and the lack of scientific rigor in his analysis really shows in his overreliance on case studies (see what I did there?). That being said, this is still an important dive into the narratives we build around the technological development process. Highly recommend
This could probably be a paper rather than a book, but by including a bevy of detailed case studies Hammack demonstrates why it's important to distinguish engineering from science, their differing methods, and the implications for how we think about and shape innovation. The crux of the argument is that engineering uses rules of thumb, which are informed by observation of the world or science, to build things. That process doesn't have a predetermined end point, and random factors can throw technological development in directions wildly different than its progenitors intended or imagined. I think the line between engineering and science is much blurrier that Hammack argues, and the lack of scientific rigor in his analysis really shows in his overreliance on case studies (see what I did there?). That being said, this is still an important dive into the narratives we build around the technological development process. Highly recommend