The skill we rarely teach: Engineering Judgement

I often imagine what the design process will look like 10 years from now. We are moving towards a world where digital engineering and AI can do in minutes what might previously have taken months or years. That is undoubtedly exciting, but what does it mean for the role of the engineer? What happens when we become too reliant on the technologies intended to help us?

As engineers, we spend years developing technical competence. We learn mathematics, engineering principles and, increasingly, how to work with digital engineering and AI. Yet one capability receives far less deliberate attention, despite sitting behind almost every significant engineering decision we make: engineering judgement.

Engineering judgement allows us to interpret imperfect information, balance competing priorities and make decisions when there isn’t a single correct answer. It cannot be learnt solely from textbooks, captured within a design standard or generated by an AI model. It develops through experience, mentorship, reflection and