Applied Human Systems Engineer
Making human complexity understandable.
An engineer reads a system before changing it. I read human systems the same way: how people perceive, interpret, decide and relate, in a life, a team or an organization. I make that visible, so decisions rest on what is actually happening, not on assumptions.
AI is now part of more and more of these systems. It extends what people can do, and it changes how we think, learn and decide.
Work with me
Two ways in.
Organizations & AI
For leaders and teams adopting AI
AI is changing roles and decisions faster than most teams can read what it changes. I map how your organization actually decides and works, and where AI already sits in it.
- Roles or functions are being redesigned because of AI
- People need reskilling or new roles, and it is not yet clear where each one can grow, inside the company or as an external partner
- The team uses AI daily, without shared criteria for what to delegate
- A change is not landing, despite the training
A conversation of up to two hours with the person responsible, a map of how the situation is organized today, including connections no one had named, and a follow-up conversation to go through it.
If you want to go further: a reading of how the seven dimensions relate in the organization and where difficulties arise, then structured conversations with the people involved. A full process usually takes two to four weeks, with a fixed proposal after the map.
Leaders
For founders, leaders and consultants
For decisions, career transitions and recurring patterns in the work of those who lead and decide.
- An important decision keeps being postponed
- A change of direction in your career or business
- A pattern that keeps repeating in the way you lead
90 minutes of structured conversation, followed by a written report: what was observed, the pattern that organizes it, and questions to work with in the weeks after.
Eight weekly sessions, with a written synthesis after each stage.
This is not therapy or counselling.
How it works
From conversation to clarity.
Not every situation needs every step. Each one is agreed before it starts.
Conversation
90 minutes for individuals; up to two hours for organizations, with the person or team who lives the situation. Recording is optional: only with everyone’s agreement, and with purpose and confidentiality agreed beforehand.
Map or report
Organizations receive a map of how decisions, roles and dependencies connect. Individuals can receive a written recognition report.
Reading
For organizations, a reading across seven dimensions, from perception to integration, to see how they relate and where difficulties arise.
Structured conversations
Sessions with the people involved, translating what each one means by the same words until there is a shared language.
Decisions stay with the people responsible. Often, what looks like right and wrong is different perceptions of the same reality. My work is to make them visible to each other, and to separate what we know from what we assume.
Experience
Engineering mind, human practice.
Testimonials
What people say about the work
“You have a very fast and very targeted capacity for analysis. That makes me feel very comfortable. […] It really needs to be developed further, because it’s done well.”
“You took what is broad and general for us and turned it into an incredible level of specification. It’s like reading the fine print on a product label. A real architect: an architect of thought.”
“I sat with that for a while and did not have a clean answer. That was the point. She was not trying to resolve the relationship in an hour, only to make it observable.”
AHSE
What is Applied Human Systems Engineering?
It is the name I gave, in 2026, to a practice that grew from integrating four fields I have learned and worked in since 2004: technology, education, organizations and human development. Since 2014 I have consciously observed what I learn and the patterns that repeat across these fields. My first book came out of that observation.
What changes from a technical system is what the system is made of: perception and meaning. So the reading starts with what people see and how they interpret it, and follows it through to decisions, action and learning.
AHSE is a practice built from experience, not an academic method.
Within AHSE, I use a seven-dimension metamodel to observe how human processes show up and relate to each other in a specific situation.
Seven dimensions I read
- PerceptionWhat is observed and what is missed
- MeaningHow experience and information are interpreted
- CommunicationHow understanding is expressed and exchanged
- DecisionHow judgments and choices are formed
- ActionHow decisions turn into behaviour
- LearningHow experience changes what we recognize
- IntegrationHow learning stays available over time
Dimensions, not levels
The seven dimensions do not describe where a person sits on a scale of development. They describe aspects of how a person functions, and how these show up and depend on each other varies with the person, the situation and the system they are part of. They do not always follow a linear sequence.
Someone who perceives a great deal may still find it hard to decide. That does not, in itself, mean they lack the ability: what may be missing is clear information, authority or shared criteria. The reading does not classify people or teams. It makes visible what is happening, what is still unclear and where it may make sense to act.
Want to see how this applies to your situation? Book a 30-minute conversation →
About
From software to human systems.
I trained and worked as a computer engineer. Inside technology projects I kept seeing the same thing: what failed was often not the technology. It was how people understood, decided and worked together around it.
So I studied and practised that side for years, with adults, groups, schools and organizations. Today I bring all of this together in one practice, which includes the place AI now holds.
Based in Portugal. Working online and in person, in English and Portuguese.
- Technology: how we keep learning and evolving while technology comes with us.
- Organizations: how we organize ourselves as a whole.
- Human development: how each person grows inside those systems.
- Education: how people learn over time, at school, at work, in health.
- Human integration: where the four meet, and patterns become visible.
Degree in Computer EngineeringInstituto Politécnico de Setúbal
Software engineeringAnalysis, development and testing: Glintt, Banco BPI, Portugal Telecom, Portuguese Parliament (Assembleia da República)
First book publishedI Talk With You: Awakening to Life · written in late 2014, from observing an inner process lived first-hand · second edition 2023 · Amazon
Postgraduate studies in psychology for work contextsISPA, Instituto Universitário
Mindset Upgrade programme at Glintt16 hours of learning and development for an IT consulting team
Independent practiceLong-term paid adult learning programmes, study groups and one-to-one work, and a reflective practice of observing without identifying with what is observed
Second book publishedI Talk With You: From Depression to Enlightenment · English edition 2023 · Amazon
Mind ForumReflective learning programme for senior adults, Universidade Sénior do Seixal
Digital learning in schools
Erasmus+ international trainingDigital mentorship for inclusion; active listening and experiential learning
Working With AIWebinar series on what we delegate to AI and what remains ours
Applied Human Systems EngineeringThe name and structure given to the practice that integrates technology, education, organizations and human development
Certified trainer (CCP, Portugal). NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner.
Recent work
Using AI consciously.
In 2026 I started the webinar series Working With AI: What Is Changing in How We Think, Learn and Decide? It looks at what we delegate to AI, what remains ours, and how to use it without giving up our own thinking.
“Cheila brings humanity into systems and systems into humanity. She creates structure without losing the human side, and I really appreciate that. Before attending her webinar, I viewed AI as a tool that could weaken my own thinking, yet I still used it quite frequently. After the webinar, I started using it more selectively, asking myself whether I actually need it and, if so, how it can add value to my work without taking away my own contribution.”
Questions
Short answers.
How are data and confidentiality handled?
What is said in the conversations is confidential. I use AI tools to help organize information, and I am the one who interprets it. The rules on recording, deletion and use for research are in the Privacy Policy.
Who is this for?
Founders, CEOs, consultants and leaders with long experience of working with people, and leadership teams introducing AI or redesigning roles.
Do you deliver solutions or recommendations?
I deliver clarity: a map, a written synthesis and a facilitated conversation. I do not decide for the organization or the person. Where it is agreed, I can stay involved while they act.
How do we start?
With a 30-minute conversation. If there is a fit, we agree the scope, format and fee together.
Connect
Start with a 30-minute conversation.
Tell me briefly what situation you are in. I will reply with a few possible times.