Bridge Engineer · Analog Planner · Podcaster
Analog tools, intentional productivity, and career clarity for engineers who still believe the best thinking happens on paper.
I'm Luis Duque, a licensed bridge engineer. I design infrastructure by day and explore the tools that help us design better lives by hand.
What I make
YouTube
Fountain pen reviews, notebook comparisons, planning systems, and the philosophy of writing by hand. Made for engineers who take their tools seriously.
Watch videosPodcast
Real conversations on promotion, authority, staying human in engineering — the career questions school never covered. Peer-to-peer tone for early-career and growing engineers.
Listen to episodesNewsletter
Analog planning systems, stationery that actually works, and career frameworks tailored for engineers. Free. No fluff. Straight to your inbox every week.
Subscribe free
"The best engineering is invisible — it just works. I want my planning systems to feel the same way."
— Luis Duque, PE
My story
I'm a licensed bridge engineer based in Rapid City, South Dakota — specializing in bridge design. I grew up in the coffee region of Colombia, came to the US for engineering, and found that the discipline of building infrastructure and the discipline of building a life are the same discipline.
Fountain pens, quality notebooks, paper planning systems — these aren't nostalgia for me. They're precision instruments. They slow me down in exactly the right way.
Planning Engineered is my attempt to share that discovery with engineers who feel the same tension: fast digital world, slow analog thinking.
Ríos de Oro
Every morning ritual in my videos starts the same way — Ríos de Oro in the cup before the pen touches paper. Colombian coffee from my family's farms in Caldas, roasted fresh and shipped to the US within a week.
No warehousing. No middlemen. The same coffee my family has grown for over 50 years.
2 minutes · Free
Are you The Architect, The Visionary, The Minimalist, The Sprinter, or The Collector? 8 questions to find out — plus a personalized breakdown of your strengths.
The Architect
Every system has a purpose
The Visionary
The big picture is crystal clear
The Minimalist
One notebook. One pen.
The Sprinter
Deep work is the only work
The Collector
The right pen makes the right plan
Free. No fluff.
Get weekly writing on analog planning systems, stationery that actually works, and career frameworks tailored for engineers. Join 1,000+ readers who still believe the best thinking happens on paper.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time.