Alex

My Saturday morning errand run as a Systems Engineer : 😵‍💫 1. Tire pressures checked. 2. Traffic contingencies mapped. 3. Weather radar audited. 4. Two backup phone cables packed. Flawless! What a safety-critical execution for a 10 mins trip to Wickes. BUT then 👇

Arrive at the till. Reaching into my pocket ... 𝗜 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁! 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗢𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 .. 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗼𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. Turns out two decades of risk-mitigation planning can’t fix zero pre-coffee ☕ brainpower! A Great Saturday to anyone else currently over-engineering the wrong things!

I’m a problem solver, a communicator, a planner, an analyst, and a prover. I’m the glue that binds projects and programs together. I’m the guy you ask how something works or how it’s supposed to work, and how to fix what’s broken. I’m a #systemsengineer

Technical Breadth vs Depth Systems engineers struggle with the need to have: • Broad technical knowledge across many domains • Sufficient depth to make informed decisions As one engineer put it, it's a "mile wide/inch deep job". Maintaining this balance of breadth and depth is an ongoing challenge.

A Flawless Weekend Systems Errand: https://notebook.toth.al/2026/10/03/a-flawless-weekend-systems-errand.html

If you never take any risk you will never lose. But you won’t win either! Calculated Risk is the Ticket.

21 Sept

You have A Good one!: https://notebook.toth.al/2026/09/21/you-have-a-good-one.html

𝗢𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿: Chartered Engineer (CEng), INCOSE CSEP certified, trusted with state of the art and safety-critical systems development and high-stakes projects.

The review board spent months assessing my high-level technical judgement and work experience. Good thing they didn't watch me try to function before my first morning coffee ...

𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱!

𝗢𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿: Chartered Engineer (CEng), INCOSE CSEP certified, trusted with state of the art and safety-critical systems development and high-stakes projects.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Poured boiling water straight into the ground coffee tin instead of the mug, panicked, and created an audit-worthy disaster on the kitchen counter.

Lounging in a coffeeshop today, after having a mock interview call to help a mentee prepare for interview next week. I’m thinking hard to help myself too now … What are the next steps in life? Oh .. the accountability of deliberate choice. Of having the reigns in your own hands .. No?

Officially a Chartered Engineer now! with the @incoseuk (Institute for Systems Engineering (IfSE). No generic "𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥" templates here. Just a genuine sense of pride for a milestone that represents years of getting my hands dirty ... 👇

A huge thank you to the mentors, colleagues and IfSE peers who supported me through the rigorous application and review process. Shout-out to those who worked with me to deliver and put up with my questions. The list could go on, but then I'll never finish this post.

We continuously learn from our mentors, and then pay it forward by mentoring and supporting the next generation. The paper goes on the wall now. Tomorrow we go back into the weeds of delivery.

... delivering safety-critical systems and workflows. Those four letters aren't about academic prestige to me. They represent a commitment to real-world engineering rigour, technical leadership and building things that actually deliver when the pressure is on.

When I was a little child, I had a lot of big dreams. But I can tell you one thing I never, ever imagined I would become: 𝘼 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙-𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙀𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙨.

𝗜𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻. 𝗜𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀. If you haven’t engineered robust, repeatable processes to handle the unexpected: your business isn't actually ready to scale.

𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮?

If the system fails on even one of these "𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴," the consequences in my industry can be catastrophic. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀.

They build their operations for the "𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮." They assume every employee is 100% productive, clients give instant feedback and the supply chain never hiccups. But just like a car on a rainy motorway,your business doesn't fail on a sunny day.

When you are testing safety-critical ADAS systems you quickly realise that teaching a machine to safely read the world is a masterclass in 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀.

What happens when a speed limit sign is partially covered by overgrown branches? What if torrential rain blinds the camera? What if temporary construction signs contradict the vehicle’s camera?

And yet after another gruelling week of on-road EuroNCAP testing across half of Europe, here we are ...

There are two types of architects ... The first type sits in a sterile office, draws beautiful diagrams, hands them over to the build team and washes their hands of the project. When it fails in the real world they blame the builders!

I design the architecture, run the high-risk pilot, establish the governance, and then step away so the operational teams can run it predictably. If you want someone to run your repetitive test suites for the next three years: 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘶𝘺.

But if you are launching a complex new technical system and need an architect to establish the workflow, prove it works in the mud and train your team to scale it: you found me.

I don’t just write theoretical engineering playbooks from a comfortable desk. I take the system out into the wild, stress-test it against the messy reality of European roads, find the breaking points, and write the 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 rules of how to make it work.

But here is a catch: 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻, 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳, 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘀. I am a builder!

I recently got back from an exhausting week of EuroNCAP on-road validation testing across Europe. Staring at speed limit signs for 16 hours a day on minimal sleep isn't "𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦" work.

It’s the brutal, unglamorous 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 of building a complex new ADAS system.

The second type puts on steel-toed boots, steps onto the muddy construction site and lays the first row of bricks themselves. 𝗜’𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲.

2 Sept

Life is unpredictable. There are no guarantees either way. Things just show up (and sometimes make sense) retrospectively. The only thing you can do is keep eyes open and play the chances. The probabilities.

2 Sept

Choose wisely? Choose to pursue the probabilities that have the greatest chance to materialise. And don't be afraid to collapse the wave function.

Ramping Back up .. slow: https://notebook.toth.al/2026/09/01/ramping-back-up-slow.html

𝗔 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸-𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆.

𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀. But receiving a physical, thoughtful note like this is a beautiful reminder of the impact we can have when we take the time to build others up. 𝘈 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘐𝘧𝘚𝘌 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵.

Whether serving as the former Chair and current Secretary of the UK Automotive Interest Group, or mentoring young, ambitious engineers, giving back to this community has always been a massive priority for me. To be honest, you don't do volunteer work for the recognition.

You do it because you remember exactly what it felt like to be starting out: staring at complex industry standards, trying to make sense of the noise, and wishing you had a guide to show you how to actually apply the theory in 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 .. 👇

Yesterday, I received an unexpected surprise in the mail from the team at the Institute for Systems Engineering (IfSE). Alongside my day-to-day work rescuing distressed projects and building system architectures, volunteering with IfSE is incredibly close to my heart.

This should gave been a weekend [half-]funny post, but .. 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰 ... 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆 𝗴𝘆𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?

Systems Engineering requires holding dozens of interacting components in your working memory. When I exhaust my muscles my brain gets a forced reset. The structural complexity of my projects becomes easier to organise.

I return to my desk with clear priorities ready to filter my workload down to the three critical tasks for the week. Now YOU ...

The results of your work today is what your future self will enjoy and take credit for. Or not, it's your choice ...

Scott Adams correctly points out that 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗱 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀. Physical exertion is a reliable system to restore your mental state.

Arnold Schwarzenegger often talks about the absolute necessity of putting in the physical reps to build a solid foundation. Those reps force my brain to completely stop processing the complex systems I manage as a Principal Engineer.

When the workout ends my mental fatigue is gone. 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦?

It actually 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀. I hit the gym this evening for a strength session. My tracker logged 45 minutes and 3+ tonnes of total volume that I moved ... from left to right .. BUT