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Chris and Jeff review the episodes of 2012, and share some of the background stories that didn’t make it to the original podcasts.

• Chris enjoys the lack of interruptions that the holiday season brings to his workplace.
• From Episode 1, “Jumping Off,” Chris took away the notion that engineering is messy. Jeff harped once again about his “Rule of Pi” for estimating time and costs.
• Episode 2 covered the topic of “Feedback.” It sometimes requires some real digging to ascertain what is motivating the end user of a product or service.
• In our third episode, titled “Compromise,” the topic of engineers and their emotions was first raised; this now seems like a reoccurring theme for the podcast.
• Listener Sophi Kravitz has a website about leaving the corporate life and going off on your own, titled The Super Green Dot Project.
• We talked with Jim Tappel about “Design Thinking” in Episode 4. Both Chris and Jeff remain a bit fuzzy about what differentiates design thinking from other customer-focused approaches. However, Jim offered some great stories about his time with design firm IDEO.
• “Recruitment” was the subject of Episode 5. Guest Jim Heilman noted that networking is a crucial skill for finding new employment opportunities.
• We discussed “Longevity” with Ian Dees in our sixth episode. Chris was impressed by Ian’s effort to provide useful information to the engineers that picked up his projects. Jeff enjoyed the discussion of weighing system complexity against user benefits.
• Episode 7, “In the Zone,” covered how engineers can get into a creative state of mind.
• We talked about “Influence” in Episode 8. Chris reports the discussion caused to “squirm” just a little bit.
• We’ll be offering a survey of our listening audience in 2013. Please participate!
• “STEM Education” was covered in our ninth episode. There is a great loss of potential engineers as students traverse the standard path of engineering education.
• We talked with Greg Wilson about his “Software Carpentry” program in Episode 10. His focus on the practical implications of software coding was of interest to both Jeff and Chris.
• Episode 11 covered the subject of “Patents” with Dave Gevers. It was of interest to Chris that patents can be obtained with a minimal level of legal assistance. Jeff was intrigued by the distinctions between “personal” and “corporate” patents.
• Karl Stephan was our guest for Episode 12, which highlighted the subject of “Ethics.” Jeff appreciated the distinction between “macro” and “micro” ethical issues.
• In Episode 13, we covered “Free Agency,” talking with Stephen Kesich about his experience as a contract engineer.
• The skills and talents that allow individuals to become engineering “Superstars” was the subject of our fourteenth episode. While Chris and Jeff did this episode “on the fly,” it turned out being well-received.
• “Talent” was the subject of Episode 15. Chris liked the message that is talent is developed, not entirely innate; he found this a hopeful message. Jeff noted that young people may not develop a passion until they work hard enough to develop a skill set.
• We discussed “Critical Thinking” in Episode 16, talking with Jeff Ellis about rational decision making. Jeff found the “Principle of Reciprocity” to be a valuable concept. Chris likes the idea of being on a quest for truth. Alas, Jeff Ellis has recently shut down his website, called The Thinker.
• In the seventeenth episode, Chris and Jeff discussed the “DIY” movement with Steve Hoefer. Steve’s sonar glove project really impressed Chris. On the other hand, Jeff was happy just to find out what the show was about, as his internet connection had dropped out early in the recording session.
• Engineering disasters were the topic of Episode 18, titled “Failure.” The balance between innovation and technological advancement was of interest to Chris, while Jeff noted the asymmetric relationship between the individual success and the success of the profession.
• We talked with James Trevelyan in Episode 19, which we called “Value.” This discussion was wide-ranging, but focused on the economic benefit engineers bring to the workplace.
• Jeff is a regular listener of the Security Now podcast hosted by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte.
• Chris tries to catch episodes of This American Life, RadioLab, and Innovation Hub. He also likes the Economist podcast he gets for free on his Android device.
• Books mentioned on The Engineering Commons in 2012:
  • The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Reis
  • iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It, by Steve Wozniak
  • The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder
  • New Rules for the New World: Cautionary Tales for the New World Manager, by Eddie Obeng
  • Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, by Tim Brown
  • What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles
  • Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink
  • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini
  • Making Software: What Really Works, and Why We Believe It, edited by Andy Oram and Greg Wilson
  • Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, by Robert Glass
  • Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, by Daniel Pink
  • How to Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed, by Robert E. Kelley
  • The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), by Seth Godin
  • Managing Leadership: Toward a New and Usable Understanding of What Leadership Really is-and How to Manage it, by Jim Stroup
  • The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How, by Daniel Coyle
  • So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love, by Cal Newport
  • To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, by Henry Petroski
  • Impossible Engineering: Technology and Territoriality on the Canal du Midi, by Chandra Mukerji
  • Designing Engineers, by Louis L. Bucciarelli
  • Scientific Studies, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, by Martha C. Nussbaum
  • Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being, by George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton
  • People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts, by Robert Bolton

Thanks to Tom Bricker for the fireworks photo. Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson