In addition to the humorous stories of a large, eccentric family, Cheaper by the Dozen tells about Frank and Lillian Gilbreth who were pioneers in the new areas within the field of engineering. Their time and motion studies laid the way for research in rigourous methods of looking at how we do things, and how a redesign of the work can make it easier. This influenced the fields of industrial design, scientific management, industrial engineering and ergonomics. Lillian Gilbreth has been a role model for many female engineers.