James Rogers | R&D Engineering Series – Interview 1 of 6

Being an Engineer · 9 Jun 2023 · 41m · Episode 22

What this episode covers

James Rogers, an R&D engineer with a master’s in additive manufacturing, discusses the unique mindset required for research and development, emphasizing the need to embrace ambiguity and failure as learning opportunities. He contrasts R&D work with sustaining engineering, highlighting challenges like analysis paralysis, the planning fallacy, and the difficulty of navigating office politics. Rogers also shares insights on his career, including his work on Disney Imagineering projects and the importance of tolerance stack-up analysis and rapid prototyping in mechanical design.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • IDology · 27m

    IDology #7 - Tips on outsourcing R&D and product design work

    Rafał Piłat and Anita Rogoża of Mindsailors discuss the strategic value of outsourcing Research and Development (R&D) to external design studios. They detail specific projects, including a medical catheter requiring manufacturing feasibility analysis and a mobile heart sensor where they redesigned a painful mounting mechanism for elderly patients. The conversation also covers bypassing existing patents for shower drainage systems and highlights failed R&D attempts, such as non-compliant plastic scaffolding planks, to illustrate the importance of clear briefs and regulatory awareness.

  • Making It · 59m

    Episode 074: They’re not gonna take away your birthday

    Hosts Bob Clagett, Jimmy Diresta, and David Picciuto answer Twitter questions, discussing technical challenges like David's walnut coffee mug resin coating and Bob's CNC machine setup. They debate the definition of a 'maker' and share strategies for overcoming fear, such as ignoring negative feedback and focusing on health and perspective. The episode also covers practical shop advice, including tool maintenance and the balance between form and function in design.

  • Making It · 59m

    Episode 135: Get Jimmy a 78 ft 2×4

    Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, and David Picciuto discuss how their distinct personalities shape their creative processes and business decisions. Jimmy describes himself as goal-oriented and impatient, illustrating this with an anecdote about physically retrieving lumber on a TV set rather than waiting for assistants. Bob identifies as productivity-focused, using metrics to track daily output, while David prioritizes satisfaction and the joy of systematizing workflows over the final product. The group also explores how they handle external feedback, with Bob actively differentiating his work from peers like Adam Savage to avoid criticism, and David striving to move from a reactive 'no' to a proactive 'maybe' mindset.

  • Thoroughly Considered · 50m

    113: I Wasn’t Expecting Therapy Today

    Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost of Studio Neat discuss the production challenges of the Keen safety razor, specifically the assembly of tiny M1.4 screws and the surprising color preference data where orange leads black. They also reveal they have hired Jacob, a junior designer/engineer, to help scale operations, leading to a deep discussion on the psychological dynamics of receiving feedback, the importance of separating personal identity from design work, and the distinction between design as service versus art.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 04m

    305: Humans Have a Terrible Spec Sheet (Repeat)

    Amanda Wozniak, a principal engineer at Amazon Robotics with a background at Analog Devices, the Wyss Institute at Harvard, and NxStage, discusses her career in biomedical engineering and hardware development. She explains the gap between academic theory and practical engineering, detailing how parasitics and non-ideal component behavior often cause circuit failures that textbooks ignore. Wozniak also shares insights on navigating the FDA regulatory process for medical devices, the challenges of managing complex robotics projects, and the importance of avoiding burnout by recognizing engineering as a team sport rather than a solo endeavor.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Being an Engineer. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.