4 ms·

The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis (1995)

111 points by gamble 15y ago

alexkearns 15y ago
Beautifully-written article - wouldn't usually spend half an hour reading about construction engineering but the article really drew me in.
- stretchwithme 15y ago
  Agreed. I read the whole thing too. A big, career threatening problem occurred, but instead of taking the easy way out, the architect did the hard, right thing and it all worked out. We all have these moments when we have to choose between cowardice and courage. This is a good example to keep in mind.
  - evangineer 15y ago
    A gripping read indeed! I like how the engineer went to use the story as a case study to his students to show that you have an obligation to do the right thing and that there doesn't have to be harmful consequences for the whistleblower. It seems to me, that everybody involved including the Citicorp executives demonstrated huge amounts of character and integrity which says a lot about the corporate culture of 1978. I don't imagine the current top ranks at Citicorp would be so exemplary in their behaviour.
    - jordanb 15y ago
      It also demonstrates the view people had of commercial banks in the late 1970s that the public would buy an explanation like "we're the type of people who wear a belt and suspenders." If any bank tried to claim today that they're so incredibly, overbearingly cautious, they'd mocked as being obviously full of shit.
    - stretchwithme 15y ago
      I agree. We've been subsidizing some pretty cancerous behaviors in banking. People with real character don't get rewarded the way they used to. Its sort of incompatible with a culture now focused on figuring out ways to assign risk to the taxpayer.
d_c 15y ago
Thank god for readability.
- whimsy 15y ago
  Don't thank God. Thank Arc90.
btilly 15y ago
And this is why I dislike the way that software people misuse the word "engineer". Engineer means something. It means, "The person who signs off on the design and who is liable if the design sucks." If you're not legally liable for your software, you shouldn't be called a software engineer. In fact in some states misusing the word engineer is against the law. For instance see http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/eng_req.htm http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/eng_req.htm where it says that using the word engineer in your title is against the law if you are not, in fact, an engineer.
- jordanb 15y ago
  Engineering is reportedly the world's second oldest profession, yet licensing has only been around since the mid-19th century, so I don't think it's particularly fair for the licensing regimes to make a claim of exclusivity on the word. I've met many Electrical Engineers over the years. Some of them are licensed PEs, many are not. The vast majority of the EE projects do not involve a risk to human life and therefore are not required to use PEs. I've never noticed any angst on one side or the other over the use of the word "Engineer" to describe EEs who don't have their PE. I also have met computer programmers who do write software that involves a risk to human life. They are every bit as meretricious and dedicated to building defect-free systems as engineers in any other discipline. Arguably, there's no pressure to enact a licensing regime because there have been so few incidents in which software has actually hurt people. That's a testament to the professionalism of the computer engineers who write life-critical systems.
  - hollerith 15y ago
    >Engineering is reportedly the world's second oldest profession What an odd thing to say. Reported by whom (besides you)? Tinkers, blacksmiths and mechanics have been around for a while. Are you including them in your definition of engineer? (James Watt was a mechanic.)
    - blrs 15y ago
      I don't know if engineering is the world's second oldest profession, but its interesting to know what google says is the world's oldest profession: prostitution!
tel 15y ago
Before the city officials left, they commended LeMessurier for his courage and candor, and expressed a desire to be kept informed as the repair work progressed. Given the urgency of the situation, that was all they could reasonably do. "It wasn't a case of 'We caught you, you skunk,'" Nusbaum says. "It started with a guy who stood up and said, 'I got a problem, I made the problem, let's fix the problem.' If you're gonna kill a guy like LeMessurier, why should anybody ever talk?" I was waiting for this line throughout the first 2/3rds of the story. The story began almost framing LeMessurier as criminally incompetent, failing on a flourish and retiring to his private island to consider it, but he not only acted with incredible responsibility but discovered flaws in NYC's building test codes and typical practices concerning joint construction while building an effective response team to fix it. I suppose it makes the whole thing more dramatically structured to insinuate a little bit of character transformation and reveal, but that guy deserves the kind of acclaim that was reserved until the last few paragraphs.
norova 15y ago
Use the link below to view the story in a more readable form: http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.duke.edu%2F~hpgavin%2Fce131%2Fciticorp1.htm&format= http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.duke.edu%2F... [viewtext.org]
joezydeco 15y ago
One nuance of the story that I think is the most interesting is that the problem wasn't discovered until LeMessurier decided to look back on his completed design and re-review some parts of it out of intellectual curiosity. Sometimes when I'm nostalgic, vain, or super-bored I'll go back and read code that I've written. Sometimes I find something that I've forgotten and once in a while I'll find bugs. Having that curiosity (or is it just excessive pride?) is a good thing in my opinion.

111 points by gamble 15y ago

Beautifully-written article - wouldn't usually spend half an hour reading about construction engineering but the article really drew me in.

stretchwithme 15y ago
Agreed. I read the whole thing too. A big, career threatening problem occurred, but instead of taking the easy way out, the architect did the hard, right thing and it all worked out. We all have these moments when we have to choose between cowardice and courage. This is a good example to keep in mind.
- evangineer 15y ago
  A gripping read indeed! I like how the engineer went to use the story as a case study to his students to show that you have an obligation to do the right thing and that there doesn't have to be harmful consequences for the whistleblower. It seems to me, that everybody involved including the Citicorp executives demonstrated huge amounts of character and integrity which says a lot about the corporate culture of 1978. I don't imagine the current top ranks at Citicorp would be so exemplary in their behaviour.
  - jordanb 15y ago
    It also demonstrates the view people had of commercial banks in the late 1970s that the public would buy an explanation like "we're the type of people who wear a belt and suspenders." If any bank tried to claim today that they're so incredibly, overbearingly cautious, they'd mocked as being obviously full of shit.
  - stretchwithme 15y ago
    I agree. We've been subsidizing some pretty cancerous behaviors in banking. People with real character don't get rewarded the way they used to. Its sort of incompatible with a culture now focused on figuring out ways to assign risk to the taxpayer.

d_c 15y ago

Thank god for readability.

whimsy 15y ago
Don't thank God. Thank Arc90.

btilly 15y ago

And this is why I dislike the way that software people misuse the word "engineer". Engineer means something. It means, "The person who signs off on the design and who is liable if the design sucks." If you're not legally liable for your software, you shouldn't be called a software engineer. In fact in some states misusing the word engineer is against the law. For instance see http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/eng_req.htm http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/eng_req.htm where it says that using the word engineer in your title is against the law if you are not, in fact, an engineer.

jordanb 15y ago
Engineering is reportedly the world's second oldest profession, yet licensing has only been around since the mid-19th century, so I don't think it's particularly fair for the licensing regimes to make a claim of exclusivity on the word. I've met many Electrical Engineers over the years. Some of them are licensed PEs, many are not. The vast majority of the EE projects do not involve a risk to human life and therefore are not required to use PEs. I've never noticed any angst on one side or the other over the use of the word "Engineer" to describe EEs who don't have their PE. I also have met computer programmers who do write software that involves a risk to human life. They are every bit as meretricious and dedicated to building defect-free systems as engineers in any other discipline. Arguably, there's no pressure to enact a licensing regime because there have been so few incidents in which software has actually hurt people. That's a testament to the professionalism of the computer engineers who write life-critical systems.
- hollerith 15y ago
  >Engineering is reportedly the world's second oldest profession What an odd thing to say. Reported by whom (besides you)? Tinkers, blacksmiths and mechanics have been around for a while. Are you including them in your definition of engineer? (James Watt was a mechanic.)
  - blrs 15y ago
    I don't know if engineering is the world's second oldest profession, but its interesting to know what google says is the world's oldest profession: prostitution!

tel 15y ago

Before the city officials left, they commended LeMessurier for his courage and candor, and expressed a desire to be kept informed as the repair work progressed. Given the urgency of the situation, that was all they could reasonably do. "It wasn't a case of 'We caught you, you skunk,'" Nusbaum says. "It started with a guy who stood up and said, 'I got a problem, I made the problem, let's fix the problem.' If you're gonna kill a guy like LeMessurier, why should anybody ever talk?" I was waiting for this line throughout the first 2/3rds of the story. The story began almost framing LeMessurier as criminally incompetent, failing on a flourish and retiring to his private island to consider it, but he not only acted with incredible responsibility but discovered flaws in NYC's building test codes and typical practices concerning joint construction while building an effective response team to fix it. I suppose it makes the whole thing more dramatically structured to insinuate a little bit of character transformation and reveal, but that guy deserves the kind of acclaim that was reserved until the last few paragraphs.

norova 15y ago

Use the link below to view the story in a more readable form: http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.duke.edu%2F~hpgavin%2Fce131%2Fciticorp1.htm&format= http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.duke.edu%2F... [viewtext.org]

joezydeco 15y ago

One nuance of the story that I think is the most interesting is that the problem wasn't discovered until LeMessurier decided to look back on his completed design and re-review some parts of it out of intellectual curiosity. Sometimes when I'm nostalgic, vain, or super-bored I'll go back and read code that I've written. Sometimes I find something that I've forgotten and once in a while I'll find bugs. Having that curiosity (or is it just excessive pride?) is a good thing in my opinion.