Innovator and surgeon Thomas Fogarty recently offered his insights on the relationship between physicians and engineers in the medical-device community. You might not recognize his name; he invented the Fogarty embolectomy catheter in the 1960s that some say revolutionized vascular surgery. The device also represents the first less-invasive medical technology.

Fogarty's observations are insightful because they may help engineering managers develop more balanced teams. For example, when he looks at a design department he sees more than generic engineers. Some of them are what Fogerty calls conceptual engineers, people great at ginning up ideas, sketches, and good approximations. They understand physics and chemistry, but they are not interested in the details and minutia needed to complete a product. So when a project gets about 80% done, the concept engineer loses interest and looks for new problems.

He dubs prototype engineers those who can turn ideas from conceptual engineers into workable lab experiments. They are needed to prove that the concept does indeed work the way the concept engineer said it would and to uncover smaller problems that need attention.

Finishing engineers are people that solve the problems the prototypes turned up. Their work enables a functioning concept to go to manufacturing.

Production engineers make devices manufacturable. They recognize that plastic parts need draft and that the wrong tolerances can hobble a new design.

And then there are those who Fogarty calls space cadets. They are, he says, “a little bit out there.” Space cadets are useful because they can identify alternatives to difficult situations that those in the other classifications might miss. But these high-energy characters are difficult to hire and keep.

His observations about industry are just as insightful. For example, like it or not, we are working in the medical-industrial complex. Physicians don't like to hear the term ‘industry’ applied to their calling, but those who are good innovators recognize it is an industry of many different organizations.

Now, you might expect physicians to be passionate instruments of change. But Fogarty says they're not. Physicians must learn such an enormous volume of information and don't have time to question much of anything. Even the Hippocratic oath says do no harm and hints at “stay out of trouble.” So it's difficult to get them to change. But a rare few physicians, he says, have an innovator inside trying hard to bust out.

And those physicians bring value to a project that spans its timeline. But their most important input comes at its beginning when they generate design alternatives. Be patient with them, he suggests, because physicians do not always understand engineering concepts.

Fogarty also emphasizes that fast design iterations are important. “You're going to make mistakes, so make them quick, recognize them, and try something else,” he says. And keep a record of what does not work so others can learn from it.

Finally, Fogarty thinks he has a bead on what it takes to be an innovator in medical-device manufacturing. It's a little bit chilling. “You have to be willing to be an outlier and unconventional, to be criticized, sanctioned, and ostracized. You have to be willing to be sued. Whether you are an individual or a company, innovators are on the spearhead of change. Someone will take a shot at you and in this day and age, it's the legal system.”