New thinking around human factors emphasizes the importance of system design, sound judgement

Designing systems that can maximize human performance requires a new way of thinking than what industries have done in the past, said David Wilbur, Managing Member of Vetergy Group. Speaking at the 2025 IADC Drilling Onshore Conference in Houston on 15 May, Mr Wilbur presented a framework for designing systems that focuses on cultivating adaptability and situational awareness, emphasizing the role of sound judgment and the interplay among the assets within a system, the people operating it and the processes they are trained to follow. In this interview taken from the conference, Mr Wilbur defined what “sound judgment” means in the context of this new framework and why it is a key cog to understanding human performance. He also talked about other components within this framework, as well as the steps companies can take to adopt it within their workflows.