Engineering Quote by Thomas L. Friedman
““It is fun to be around really, really creative makers in the second half of the chessboard, to see what they can do, as individuals, with all of the empowering tools that have been enabled by the supernova. I met Tom Wujec in San Francisco at an event at the Exploratorium. We thought we had a lot in common and agreed to follow up on a Skype call. Wujec is a fellow at Autodesk and a global leader in 3-D design, engineering, and entertainment software. While his title sounds like a guy designing hubcaps for an auto parts company, the truth is that Autodesk is another of those really important companies few people know about—it builds the software that architects, auto and game designers, and film studios use to imagine and design buildings, cars, and movies on their computers. It is the Microsoft of design. Autodesk offers roughly 180 software tools used by some twenty million professional designers as well as more than two hundred million amateur designers, and each year those tools reduce more and more complexity to one touch. Wujec is an expert in business visualization—using design thinking to help groups solve wicked problems. When we first talked on the phone, he illustrated our conversation real-time on a shared digital whiteboard. I was awed. During our conversation, Wujec told me his favorite story of just how much the power of technology has transformed his work as a designer-maker.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New York Times, 2023
The quote celebrates how advanced design tools empower creative professionals to solve complex problems quickly and collaboratively.
In simple terms: Powerful software lets creators innovate faster.
Leverage modern tools to amplify creativity.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- product development
- architectural design
- game development
- film production
- team brainstorming
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can teams balance tool use with original thinking?
- What risks arise from over‑reliance on software?
Tools can create dependency and reduce human intuition in problem solving.