Defining Success

Picture two engineers who build the exact same water pump in two different villages. Five years later, the first engineer returns and finds the pump broken and abandoned. The second engineer returns and finds that the pump is also gone, but in its place is a new version, patched together with local wood and scrap […]

CE in the Different Flavors of Engineering

Contextual Engineering is a vast and growing discipline of engineering, encompassing technical design, technology, and its relation to people and place. It uses contextual principles to understand how entities work together, problem solve, develop, and interact. Depending on the discipline or “flavor”, every contextual engineer approaches engineering design in the same way. The decision making […]

Agency + Power Dynamics

“Well, what if you go talk to [the organization], they’ll listen to you.” Martha replied casually. I had just asked her how she would go about making change in her community. We had just talked about things she loved about her community: how peaceful it is, how much she enjoys talking to her neighbors, how […]

Trust-Building

On trust, stakeholders, and what engineering school doesn’t teach you Imagine a stranger coming and knocking on your door asking about the electrical devices you have inside. Would you answer? I know I wouldn’t. And yet, countless engineers and designers go around the world, entering communities they don’t know, making all sorts of assumptions, gathering […]