Awkward Engineer - Blog

Book Summary: Built to Last

I read Built to Last with the knowledge that Jim Collins had worked with Jeff Bezos in Amazon's early days, and it's clear to me after reading thi...

Book Summary: When Coffee and Kale Compete

When Coffee and Kale Compete is going on my recommend list. It takes a lot of ideas from other books and clarifies and refines them. It even calls ...

Book Summary: Turn the Ship Around

Hi all, I want to highly recommend Turn the Ship Around. In a nutshell, the book is about intentionally designing systems into an organization or c...

Collegiate Level Popsicle Sticks with the AwkEng

Hi all, Today's post is about designing a collegiate level course in popsicle stick bridge building. The idea has been in my head for years, but th...

The AwkEng is an Art Sleuth

Hi all, Today's post is about art and a proud dad moment. I do have a short list of posts I want to write, including one on Voltmeter Clock BOM scr...

The AwkEng Thinks About Vickrey Auctions

Hey all! Today's post is about Vickrey Auctions, and figuring out how to make it feasible to run ultra-small batches of Clocks.  The Voltmeter C...

The AwkEng Thinks About Pay Scale Systems

Hi all, Since reading Radical Candor, I've been thinking about performance reviews and pay scale systems. The punchline is that I don't think that ...

The AwkEng Sets Up a High Efficiency Work Cell

The AwkEng Sets Up a High Efficiency Work Cell

Hi all, Today's post continues the previous Yak Shaving theme from reorganizing the basement, but this time it's with the intention of revisiting t...

AwkEng Kicks off the Year with a Mini Book Report

Hi all, I'm kicking the year off with a not so mini book report of stuff that I've read in the last several months, listed in order of recommend...

The AwkEng Sees the Forest and the Trees

The AwkEng Sees the Forest and the Trees

Hi all, I'm still forming some ideas in this post, but wanted to share some hacks for Trello and thoughts on leveraging user story maps. The punchl...

The AwkEng Keeps in Touch

Hi all, Today's post is about the system I use to keep in touch with former coworkers, colleagues, clients, and others. The punchline is that this ...

The AwkEng Builds a Basement Inventory System, Part 2

Hi all, Yak Shaving continues this week with development of a basement inventory system. Admittedly, I could probably look for an off the shelf sol...