# S5E36 Callye Keen | How to Accelerate the Speed of Engineering, Episode 2

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2024-09-06
- Length: 1h 05m
- Episode: 36
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2
- Listen: https://teampipeline.us/callye-keen-accelerate-engineering/

## Summary

Callye Keen, founder of K-Form and Red Blue Collective, discusses strategies to accelerate engineering projects by addressing bottlenecks like poor Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and corporate bureaucracy. He advocates for 'failing fast' through rapid prototyping and buying competitor products to reverse engineer solutions, rather than relying solely on CAD. Keen emphasizes the importance of psychological safety, cross-functional collaboration using 'T-shaped' teams, and leveraging digital tools like Notion and Slack to maintain a single source of truth for distributed teams.

## Chapters

- [0:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=57) Introduction and Bottlenecks
- [5:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=316) Managing Corporate Bureaucracy
- [10:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=656) Asking for Help and Autonomy
- [17:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=1051) Failing Fast and Prototyping
- [23:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=1430) Psychological Safety and Team Skills
- [35:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=2109) Cross-Functional Collaboration
- [42:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=2556) Digital Tools and Communication
- [56:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=3395) Lessons from Failed Acceleration
- [1:01:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2#t=3705) Final Advice: Make Things

## Topics

- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Prototyping & iteration](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/prototyping)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Hiring & workforce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/hiring-and-workforce)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- K-Form (company)
- Red Blue Collective (company)
- SolidWorks (tool)
- Onshape (tool)
- Notion (tool)
- Slack (tool)
- Altium (tool)
- Fusion (tool)
- McMaster Parts (company)
- PDX (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [How Soft Skills Drive High-Impact Engineering Teams w/ Aaron Moncur](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2025-08-26-how-soft-skills-drive-high-impact-engineering-teams-w-aaron-moncur) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Episode 274: Fold time back on itself](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2020-08-28-episode-274-fold-time-back-on-itself) (Making It)
- [The Future of Design Collaboration for Engineers](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-08-23-the-future-of-design-collaboration-for-engineers) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [082: Smooth Product Flow from Visual Design to Engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-06-30-082-smooth-product-flow-from-visual-design-to-engineering) (Product Startup)
- [452: I Wish I’d Thought of That](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2024-08-23-452-i-wish-id-thought-of-that) (Making It)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-09-06-s5e36-callye-keen-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-2. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Being an Engineer.