New article on the Aides-mémoire newsletter!
Using Carl von Clausewitz’s idea of friction to explain why systems that look perfect on paper fail in reality.
Friction isn’t noise. It’s the system speaking.
#SystemsEngineering #Complexity
www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-di...
In England and Wales, there were 262 homicides involving a sharp instrument (knife/broken bottle) and 22 involving a firearm in the year ending March 2024, according to Home Office data. Seems like regulation and rule enforcement makes a difference.
On the helipad. Harder to get Saigon style pictures now...
After the midterms, probably early 2027, as the complete lame duck phase starts. He can have time to organize before the primaries while distancing himself from the craziness, and yet he is there long enough to ensure the pile of shit he aims to inherit is not at its worse.
He continues to let them do that. The issue is that the path for achieving that is legally really hard, i.e., basically rewriting the Spanish constitution.
You can always expose and shame them. Doesn't work on shameless people, but you definetly have the agency to do it anyway (or to be a coward and not do it).
Essayists?
This is only a concern if you consider your own population an adversary that needs to be kept in the dark. Your real adversaries do this just as easily, they just don't publish it.
The most important thing is doing a lot of it while getting feedback as you go along. I'm sure people that have mastered that ability can be hired to facilitate the process.
Anecdotally I have heard that multimodal slop machines are also good at providing artistic feedback. YMMV
Ukraine would be happy to sell them cheap gas. Or even allow Russian gas to be transported over Ukraine pipelines (with a fee). They just need Hungary to stop funding Russia while they are at war. A quite reasonable ask. If Hungary prefers funding Russia, then of course they are enemies.
For the curious: "que te jodan" is the literal version, "que te den por culo" is the most used, "vete a freír espárragos" is less vulgar and funniest one when translated ("go fry some asparagus")...
Snow-covered view of the European Spallation Source from The Loop in Science Village, Lund (Sweden).
The snow is here.
Not great news for Venezuela.
Loose definition + weak oversight = built-in abuse
The key takeaway: Tracking how engineers use risk tools over time reveals how to use which design supports to build robust systems.
Full paper here 👉 doi.org/10.1017/dsj....
Big thanks to Massimo & Ola for their guidance, and to the great participants from Volvo Cars & Volvo Trucks, your discussions and good spirits made this research possible!
#VolvoCars #VolvoTrucks
✅ Use risk assessment tools early: catching indirect interactions early reduces nasty surprises later.
⚠️ But don’t overdo it: we found that low-intensity, long-term use is more effective than short bursts of intense analysis.
#ResearchInsights
🚨 New research out! We tracked how engineers use tools to understand risk propagation in complex systems (like trucks).
The insights are surprising 👇
#RiskAssessment #SystemsThinking #EngineeringDesign
In complex, high-stakes systems, this is how we contain the entropy.
This is how we move forward without delusion.
This is what Systems Engineering is for.
It’s a form of humility:
We admit we don’t know everything at the start.
But we commit to making good decisions anyway; by design, not by accident.
A mature SE process treats requirements as living constructs.
Not contracts to lock down, but frameworks to evolve as reality unfolds.
At ESS, requirements for neutron flux, shielding, or control latency shouldn’t be fixed specs.
They should be negotiations, between physics, engineering, safety, and cost.
SE helps keep that negotiation disciplined and productive.
This process includes:
Translating vague goals into testable behaviors
Resolving requirement conflicts across domains
Establishing traceability to anchor decisions
Managing inevitable change with rigor
Systems Engineering doesn’t solve this with a perfect list of specs.
Instead, it gives us a process for converging on clarity over time.
Stakeholders don’t always know what they want.
Engineers don’t yet know what’s possible.
And projects are boxed in by budget, compliance, and deadlines from day one.
In complex systems (think particle accelerators, automotive platforms, control systems) early requirements are rarely complete or stable.
They’re often ambiguous, conflicting, or just… aspirational.
One of the most persistent myths in engineering is this:
"If we just define the requirements well enough up front, everything else will fall into place."
Tempting idea. Also, deeply wrong.
So no, Systems Engineering doesn’t find “the best solution.”
It finds the right compromise.
And in complex systems, that’s not settling; that’s mastery.
#SystemsEngineering #EngineeringLeadership #ProjectManagement #ProductDevelopment
In the end, SE is about informed decision-making.
Not making everyone perfectly happy, but ensuring rational, transparent, and defensible trade-offs.
It keeps systems viable, valuable, and verifiable.
Metaphor time:
SE is like conducting an orchestra where:
The score changes mid-performance
The musicians interpret it differently
And the sponsor keeps revising what “success” sounds like
You can’t control every note; but you shape the harmony.