1.2
You Have to See it to Solve it
1.2.1 Introduction to Problem Solving
A question that I am asked by students and 60 year old engineers alike goes something like this, “Why is geotechnical engineering and engineering in general so difficult? When are the codes and requirements going to be simplified like they were in the good old days?” Give me a chance, and I’ll answer these questions, but I need to build my case for the answer.
Did you ever notice that there is one person in the group that almost always disagrees with your opinion, conclusion, report, presentation, problem solution, etc? Sometimes they start by saying, “I’m just a Devil’s Advocate here, but ….” Personally, I don’t want to give the Devil or his attorneys the credit for this phenomena, I believe that skepticism is a natural human trait that at least 10 to 15% of your students, clients, or associates will possess at any given moment. No matter how hard you try to convince these people that you have considered all of the important problem variables, they always seem to come up with new variables for consideration. How do they always manage to complicate your work?
I have come to believe (but cannot prove) that all problems in engineering have at least 10 to 15 variables that could be measured, analyzed, and used in their solution. The ideal or perfect solution to a given problem is a function that considers the impacts and interactions of all of these 10 to 15 variables. This hypothetical perfect solution considers ...
