Wires and Pistons: My Origin Story in Systems Thinking

Before I was optimizing workflows or building self-hosted systems, I was a kid obsessed with audio equipment. My room a hand me down collection of speakers, amps, receivers, CD players, tape decks, and more wires than anyone should reasonably own. RCA cables, 3.5mm jacks, converters, splitters, if it could connect two pieces of audio equipment, I probably had three of them.

My family's nickname for my room stuck: Circuit City.

The Beauty of Physical Systems

What captivated me wasn't just the sound but the system. You could connect almost anything to anything else with the right wire. Every component had a clear purpose, inputs and outputs, and when you got it right, the whole became greater than the sum of its parts. I loved adding components, upgrading pieces, and watching how each change affected the entire system.

This was hardware driven with very little software. What you connected was what you got. No firmware updates, no compatibility issues, just physics and engineering working together.

From Audio to Engines

As I got older, my systems obsession shifted to internal combustion engines. I still believe the internal combustion engine is one of humanity's greatest inventions. It may have been surpassed in utility by the internet (and maybe AI?), but it remains one of the great feats of engineering.

During my early days at Chevron, I wanted to change oil and work on the machines. When I got to college, I took engine classes as electives and dove deep into how they actually work. Compression ratios, the combustion cycle, pistons, crankshafts, push rods, valves, camshafts, distributors, timing, oil, air, and exhaust systems.

I collected reference books and found one that came with a rebuild DVD. I must have watched that thing 100 times, mesmerized by the process of taking an engine apart, resurfacing what needed it, and putting it back together.

Understanding Systems Through Applications

Once you understand how the system works, you can understand the applications. Gas versus diesel. Horsepower versus torque. Some engines are built for efficiency, others to haul heavy loads, others to go fast. The question becomes: what are we trying to achieve, and how do we apply the right configuration to best suit our goals?

I'm drawn to the old motors—carbureted, mechanically timed, mechanically driven. They can be beautifully simple, clean, and basic. There have been great advancements over the years: fuel injection, turbocharging, hybrids, and now electric. But there's something pure about understanding the fundamentals first.

The Systems Thinking Framework

All these systems fit how my brain works:

First: What's the system at large? What does it do? What's the purpose?

Then: Go deep on all the components. How do they work? What are the trade-offs? What are the pros and cons of each piece?

Finally: Design the system. What are we solving for? What constraints do we have—space, time, money? If we're building toward an end goal, how do we start with a basic setup and evolve it over time?

The key is not boxing yourself into a corner with early decisions. Once you install the V6, it's hard to swap out later. If you start with too small an amp, you can't just add bigger speakers—you need to drive them properly. But you can build upgrade paths if you think it through.

Start at the end and work backward. Find the limitations of what you're working with. What must change? What can you live with or work around?

The Thread That Connects Everything

This approach followed me into woodworking, photography, and now into building business systems and workflows. The fundamental questions remain the same: What's the system? What are the components? What are we optimizing for?

I still have a pair of bookshelf speakers in my office. You just can't beat that direct, physical connection. And I still want to build a car—maybe a Chevy C10 or a first-generation Bronco. Second-gen Broncos could be fun too, especially if Senate Bill 712 (Leno's Law) passes and opens up that 35-year rolling exemption.

But that'll have to wait. For now, I'm applying the same systems thinking to digital workflows, and finding that the fundamentals haven't changed much. It's still about understanding the components, designing for your constraints, and building upgrade paths for the future.