One of the most entertaining aspects of working with engineers is that whenever anything breaks -- no matter how mundane -- dozens of people will circle around to offer advice on how to fix it. If a door hinge wobbles or a swivel chair lever bends everyone will stop doing their real work until someone comes up with a good way to do the repair. Only a few people will stick around to implement whatever solution is agreed to, however, because thinking of the plan is the fun part. I like to be the guy who actually does the fix.
Get your Tim Geithner TAX CHEAT! stamps!
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Uh... yeah? This is an easy one.. It's called "Male Answer Syndrome". I don't think it's just to do with engineers; it's more to do with guysand their need to come up with *something*, no matter how crappy that something is.. it's biological. In that kind of wolfpack situation they can't just sit there with their mouths shut.
(THIS is what my girlfriends (engineers and otherwise) and I learned while at a school with lots of male engineers and thereby way too many cases of MAS..)
However, I don't want to discount that yeah, it is entertaining.. a situation arises amidst a pack of guys, it's only a matter of time before they justify the construction of a Rube-Goldberg machine to fix what superglue could have fixed in thirty seconds.. it is pretty funny actually..
m: Good point, maybe this is just a guy thing. 95% of my co-workers are male, so that could account for my observations.
Michelle’s right about the biologic side, and her post perfectly epitomizes "Female Answer Syndrome", that is, stand back, offer nothing until a solution is in play, then bitch about the length of time, quality of work, how it SHOULD have been done….It is pretty funny actually..
Jim wins :)
No way! If girls have a solution, they think about it, do the math, *listen* to others so they know if if their carefully thought-out plan has been proposed already.. You boys are just noisy! (and you smell)
woot!
m: Who's scruffy-looking?
wha? I never said anyone was scruffy lookin.. (are you calling me scruffy lookin?) But since you're asking, I'd like to start out the list by saying that jim and McGroarty are scruffy lookin.
That’s not true! My pelt’s sleek and shiny as a mink, maybe I’m a bit smelly but you can’t help it if you run with the pack. And I’m gentleman enough to not attack you or the other catpack members without provocation; else, I’d ask the time limit for “do the math” ,“listen” and “carefully thought out plan”. Best estimate from the wolfpack is we would be watchin the mortar dry on the last two stones of The Great Wall while you’re still “thoughtfully” deciding how to stack the first two. I might think that, but I’d never say it.
m: It's a Star Wars reference. I'm sure a quick Google search will reveal the context.
Now why'd you have to go and bring up the Great Wall? That was still back in those days we ladies were binding our feet and cooking your chickens and washing your socks. I don't blame myself too much for not having made a contribution there; HOWEVER, the whole point is that you with the MAS would have found mortar to be too simple; instead you would have had to have gotten motors and PICs involved.
On a project that big sure we would, but without that creativity how would we progress? Your observations have missed MAS other side. In a pinch our all time favorite solution to everything from fixing little delicate crystal figurines to ship masts. Duct tape -miles of it - simple, elegant, beautiful to behold (they make it in colors too) and no body parts permanently stuck together (never used superglue without mishap). The whole Wall would still be standing if we'd had it then. And not exactly Rube-Goldberg.