Welcome to The Systems Engineer
In my high-school yearbook, a friend wrote: “He talks about history in chem
istry class.”
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was already doing what I do now — putting things in context. When we learned about chemicals, I asked: where and when was this used? How does it connect to the bigger picture?
That instinct followed me into electronic engineering, where I kept asking: how do these components interact with software? How does this function connect to that one? Today, we’d just call that a system.
Now, I create system models for a living. I add functionality step by step, aiming for a coherent representation of the whole. But here’s what I keep seeing:
People know their function well. But they’re less clear about what information they need from others — or what they provide in return.
This shows up everywhere:
Engineers who can’t see how their component affects the rest of the system
Video calls where people don’t know how to turn on their camera
Self-checkout machines that feel confusing
EV charging stations with cryptic error messages
The system might work. But people don’t feel in control.
That’s the problem I’m interested in: systems that work technically but fail to give people understanding.
Because not understanding a system isn’t just a user problem — it’s a development problem too. It leads to systems that are incomplete, or systems that never reach their full potential because nobody sees the whole picture.
What I want to do is make systems visible.
Not just functional. Visible. So that engineers building them and people using them can both see:
What the system does
How the pieces connect
Why it’s designed that way
If we design systems with understanding in mind, we don’t just build better systems.
We build systems people trust.
