I've often thought about engineers as artists whose medium happens to be directly and predictably profitable - and so are tamed by management, corporations and

I've often thought about engineers as artists whose medium happens to be directly and predictably profitable - and so are tamed by management, corporations and profit structures for the capture and the directing of their creative potential. There are bountiful comparisons between professionals everywhere on the spectrum from the hardest of sciences through the pliable ones to artists and poets, so I'll spare myself from typing and you from reading a repeated effort. Thinking of engineers this way has impacted the way that I discuss with other engineers about their ideas for projects and how to solve problems. Like a collaborative art piece, it isn't right to 'correct' other artists contributions because their work is more than just a contribution - it's an expression. When collaborating on a joint art project it's wholey important to share the same 'artistic vision'. I find working with other engineers both the most enjoyable and the most productive when a similar type of shared vision can be reached. Finally (and this is whimsical) on more than one occasion in thinking of engineers sharing a spectrum with artists I have been led to both imagine a Sotheby's style auction clearinghouse for 'engineering art philanthropists' where pet projects are traded, sold and hung on walls and imaginary corporations that build giant finger paints but relegate each artist to their own cubicle, have middle management stack rank them, and tally updates on the painting progress during daily scrum.