‘In this smart, insightful and fascinating book, Madhavan shows how engineers turn problems into opportunities’ WALTER ISAACSON

PENGUIN BOOKS

APPLIED MINDS Guru Madhavan is a biomedical engineer and senior policy adviser. He conducts research at the National Academy of Sciences and has been named a distinguished young scientist by the World Economic Forum. He lives in Washington DC. Twitter: @BioengineerGM

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK ‘Demonstrates how engineers transform the impossible into the possible and what we can learn from them’—M.S. Swaminathan ‘This delightful book explains how the designed world of machines and systems interacts with the social world in which we use the tools that engineers give us’—Alvin Roth ‘Reminds us that behind today’s global challenges are solutions and opportunities waiting to be realized’—Klaus Schwab ‘A compelling explanation of the engineering perspective’—Vinton Cerf ‘A completely engaging survey of what engineers do—and why you wish you could do it, too’—Washington Post ‘The heroes of Guru Madhavan’s compact book about the logical habits of engineers are not the usual suspects of the iPhone era. With barely a mention of Wozniak or Jobs, the author takes us back to an earlier time so that we can witness the solving of problems that have long since gone away’—Wall Street Journal ‘A delightful book that will appeal to readers interested in human innovations’—Library Journal Review

PENGUIN BOOKS USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia New Zealand | India | South Africa | China Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

First published in Allen Lane by Penguin Books India 2015 Published by Penguin Books 2016 Copyright © Guruprasad Madhavan 2015 All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 The views and opinions expressed in this book are the authors’ own and the facts are as reported by them which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same. ISBN 9780143427452 For sale in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives only

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. www.penguin.co.in

To my parents and grandparents, and to the late Chuck Vest—who got me started.

We taste the spices of Arabia yet never feel the scorching sun which brings them forth. —Dudley North (1602–1677)

CONTENTS

Prologue

INVISIBLE BRIDGES

1

One

M I X I N G A N D M ATC H I N G

15

Tw o

OPTIMIZING

36

Three

ENHANCING EFFICIENCY AND RELIABILITY

59

Four

S TAN DAR D I Z I N G W IT H FLE X I B I LIT Y

78

Fi ve

SOLUTIONS UNDER CONSTRAINTS

94

Six

CROSSING OVER AND ADAPTING

118

ix ■

■

■

C O N T E N T S

X ■

■

■

S e ve n

PROTOTYPING

137

Eight

LEARNING FROM OTHERS

158

Fa d e - O u t

A M I N D - S E T F O R T H E M U LT I T U D E S

181

Sources and Resources

191

Acknowledgments

231

Index

237

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

Prologue

INVISIBLE BRIDGES

1

Nob od y k n e w where she came from. It was a celeste-blue afternoon in April 1980, and

the Boston Marathon was on. The streets were flanked by scores of horse-mounted police officers and hundreds of medical responders. A small aircraft skywrote “Fun and Game.” The 26-mile course featured four substantial inclines, but the killer was Heartbreak Hill. A half-mile stretch some 6 miles from the finish line, it usually ended the race for several hundred of the five-thousand-plus runners. Around half past two, the legendary Bill Rodgers crossed the finish line first for the third straight year, at two hours and twelve minutes. Several minutes later, amid the cheering and hubbub, a young woman in her midtwenties, clad in a

1 ■

■

■

A P P L I E D

M I N D S

white-and-yellow Adidas running suit, sprinted to finish first among women at two hours and thirty-one minutes. Her name was Rosie Ruiz. She had set a new record for Boston, becoming the thirdfastest woman in the history of marathons. The cheering continued as other lead runners trickled in. One TV journalist immediately announced the time as “a new American record.” An interview with Ruiz followed. R e p or t e r : What was the time in your first ever marathon, and where was it? Ru i z : It was two hours, fifty-six minutes, and thirtythree seconds in New York last year. R e p or t e r : You improved from two hours and fifty-six minutes to two hours and thirty-one minutes? Ru i z : I guess so. R e p or t e r : What do you attribute that improvement in time to? Ru i z : I don’t know. R e p or t e r : Have you been doing a lot of heavy intervals? Ru i z : Someone else asked me that. I’m not sure what intervals are. What are they? R e p or t e r : Intervals are track workouts that are designed to make your speed improve dramatically. If you went from a 2:56 to a 2:31, one would normally expect that you do a lot of speed work. Is someone coaching you or advising you? Ru i z : No, I advise myself. 2 ■

■

■

I N V I S I B L E

B R I D G E S

R e p or t e r : It was a fantastic performance, Rosie. Congratulations. Rosie Ruiz, the mystery woman winner. Race officials were skeptical. Ruiz didn’t look tired or sweaty, nor did she possess a marathoner’s physique. No one had spotted her at any of the six checkpoints spread over the course. What’s more, no one could locate her on the videos at any point during the event—watched by 1.5 million people and covered by more than six hundred reporters. One eyewitness said, “I just saw someone stumble out of the crowd in front of me, across the street just on Commonwealth Ave., probably about half a mile from the finish. She was in track clothes and wearing a number, but I thought someone had just stumbled into the race; maybe somebody who was a little crazy or something.” Several others agreed. A quick background check revealed that Ruiz was a Cuban immigrant who worked as an administrative assistant in a metal commodities firm in Manhattan. Marathon officials soon found that Ruiz had run only one other marathon before—the 1979 New York City Marathon, a qualifying race for Boston. A news photographer later recalled that Ruiz had cheated in that marathon by taking the subway to Columbus Circle and running from there toward the finish line in Central Park. Ruiz’s breathtaking 1979 fakery led to her “win” at the Boston Marathon, where she ran only the last mile or so. Ruiz maintained her position by looking “as sincere as a nun” and was ready to take a multitude of lie detector tests. After 3 ■

■

■

A journey inside the minds that build our world Engineering comes in many forms. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa—the world’s tallest building—looks nothing like Microsoft’s Office Suite, and digital surround sound doesn’t work like a city-wide telecommunication grid. Yet these engineering feats have much in common.

Applied Minds explores the unique visions and mental tools of engineers and reveals the enormous—and often understated— influence they wield in transforming problems into opportunities. Guru Madhavan’s account pairs the innovators of modern history— Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Steve Jobs—with everything from ATMs and the ZIP code system to the disposable diaper. He peeks into the inner workings of complex systems and celebrates the men and women who shape our world. Anecdotal, insightful and ultimately visionary, Applied Minds charts a path to a future where we might apply strategies borrowed from engineering to create useful and inspired solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

Non-fiction

Cover design by Anderson Newton Design

ISBN 978-0-143-42745-2

MRP `399 (incl. of all taxes)

For sale in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives only