Web Blog Post 2: Paper Followup

On the recently written paper, there were three concepts that stood out prominently.

First, I used the idea that scientific progress cannot always result in something true or something useful. As engineers, we have an obligation to be concerned about the practicality of something in contrast to scientists, who are often interested in the concepts and theories involved for their own sake. Because these scientific results and theories could be wrong, it can cause an inconvenience in engineering processes such as, say, manufacturing. By pointing out the difference between what can be called scientific progress and engineering progress, engineers can avoid errors, and therefore bad communication, with scientists, and vice versa.

Another concept used in this paper was the idea of imperfect communication. Despite the best efforts of a project leader, communication errors can often result from imperfectly imparted knowledge or a vague procedure. This can be an unavoidable part of communication, so steps must no be taken to simply avoid it, but to also correct it, and through this, avoid bad communication and improve it overall.

Finally, the last concept I used in the paper was the importance of non-written communication. Despite using writing to exchange ideas in such a way that they can be greatly expounded upon, such as in the case of exchanging mutually read papers, verbal and graphical communication are used far more often. Presumably, engineers talk to each other on the job more than they write e-mails to each other, such as when explaining a process to an intern or a fellow engineer, so verbal communication skills are more important in a collaborative environment. It is also essential that engineers be able to explain their products to someone who might not be as knowledgeable, such as during meetings, and during these, graphical communication skills, as in charts and figures, and verbal communication skills, such as when being asked a question, are used more than writing. Practicing and mastering many forms of communication, not just the written word, helps in developing an effective way to spread ideas, cultivating good communication.

These three ideas are the most important concepts introduced in my paper.