Notes on engineering judgement, estimation and how falsewrk trains it.https://blog.falsewrk.io/https://blog.falsewrk.io/are-engineering-errors-getting-worse/https://blog.falsewrk.io/are-engineering-errors-getting-worse/Every senior engineer has the same suspicion about today's errors. The data to settle it barely exists, and nobody is incentivised to collect it.Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/empirical-formulas-were-always-ai/https://blog.falsewrk.io/empirical-formulas-were-always-ai/Span-to-depth ratios and rule-of-thumb tables are compressed experience with conservatism baked in to cover what wasn't known. A well-trained model could do the same thing with far less padding.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/how-thick-does-the-slab-need-to-be/https://blog.falsewrk.io/how-thick-does-the-slab-need-to-be/An architect asks the question in a meeting and expects an instant answer. It took an experienced structural engineer and a weekend spreadsheet to actually settle it.Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/is-judgement-just-pattern-recognition/https://blog.falsewrk.io/is-judgement-just-pattern-recognition/The engineer who senses something's wrong before running the numbers has pattern-matched thousands of prior cases. Is that fundamentally different from what a model could do with enough data?Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/mastery-doesnt-come-from-the-job/https://blog.falsewrk.io/mastery-doesnt-come-from-the-job/Leonardo spent twenty years sketching birds for no client. Eiffel ran thousands of wind tunnel tests before anyone asked him for a tower. The pattern holds for engineers today.Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/more-checkers-fewer-errors-game-theory/https://blog.falsewrk.io/more-checkers-fewer-errors-game-theory/Modelling design checking as a game between designer and checkers shows that more checkers, without clear accountability, can let more errors through, not fewer.Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/most-bridge-engineers-never-see-a-uls-event/https://blog.falsewrk.io/most-bridge-engineers-never-see-a-uls-event/Design 30 bridges over a 30-year career and there's still a 77% chance none of them ever experienced a ULS load. "In my experience" is doing more work than it should.Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/skipping-a-generation-of-engineers/https://blog.falsewrk.io/skipping-a-generation-of-engineers/AI is eliminating the grad-level work through which deep domain expertise forms in the first place. The cost of that falls 15-20 years down the track.Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/the-table-you-didnt-calculate/https://blog.falsewrk.io/the-table-you-didnt-calculate/You knew the table was going to tip before you did any maths. Engineering judgement works the same way, and you only get a handful of reps a year to build it.Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/the-way-engineers-get-made-is-breaking/https://blog.falsewrk.io/the-way-engineers-get-made-is-breaking/There's always been an implicit deal in engineering — the firm gets cheap labour, the junior gets the reps. Offshoring and AI are quietly ending it.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/throw-out-the-calc-pack/https://blog.falsewrk.io/throw-out-the-calc-pack/There are two schools of thought on checking someone else's design. One lets you hide behind their spreadsheet. The other doesn't.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/what-happened-when-fea-arrived/https://blog.falsewrk.io/what-happened-when-fea-arrived/Engineers didn't disappear when finite element software took over the stiffness matrix. The job shifted to building a sensible model and knowing when something smelled wrong. AI might be the same transition again.Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://blog.falsewrk.io/whos-training-the-next-generation-of-engineers/https://blog.falsewrk.io/whos-training-the-next-generation-of-engineers/Firms get cheap labour, grads get the reps, everyone eventually gets a well-trained engineer. Offshoring, AI and hybrid work are breaking that deal at the same time.Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT