Exam 1 Flashcards
Describe benefits of working in groups
1) leverages expertise of each individual
2) tasks can be spread out and divided
3) facilitates checks and balances to ensure accuracy of work
What do design engineers spend majority of their time on
Non-technical work such as documentation and communication
Describe ALL benefits of following a formalized PDP when designing a product
1) to ensure all proper development steps/checks are taken
2) to ensure an efficient process
3) can yield non-obvious result
4) provides an easy structure/method for justification and documentation
Describe difference between solution and design in the context of the course
A solution is anything that solves the problem, but not well.
A design is the best possible solution.
What does it mean to be solution neutral in terms of defining a problem, and why is it important?
Solution neutrality means trying not to think of solutions when first defining a problem. This relates to “what” the product must do and not “how” it does it. This is important because it gives designers full design freedom allowing them to think outside the box.
Generate a comprehensive list of potential “customers” for the DCF815.
- end users (contractors, amateur users, handymen)
- retailers (Lowe’s, Home Depot)
- safety standard organizations
- purchasers (construction companies)
TRUE OR FALSE: It is always beneficial to consider a broader definition of your end users. Why?
False. Designing a product for this broad a user is impossible to do because you can’t please everyone.
List at least 2 distinct potential uses of performing a fishbone diagram analysis for product design.
- to further refine a general problem
- to flush out all possible causes
- to highlight the hierarchy of potential causes
- to give some organization/justification to attacking certain causes
- to identify repeat causes or causes that are actionable
- to identify causes that can be tracked for performance
Briefly describe what is meant by an “ethnographic” study. What types of things can you learn from one? Is this quantitative or qualitative market analysis technique?
An ethnographic study observes users in the real world. This can lead to identifying emerging trends and seeing actual product use or misuse. This is a qualitative technique.
Describe why it is useful to do some ballpark engineering calculations early on in the problem definition stage.
This can be useful in determining feasibility and the scope of the intended solutions. It also helps develop reasonable targets for performance and helps get info and set up design parameters of the task
Name 3 distinct advantages of functional decomposition over physical decomposition.
- don’t need an existing product to dissect
- provides a more abstract solution neutral representation of the task/problem
- utilizes a standardized language that can be used to describe/analyze/compare broad classes of products and insights gained aren’t product specific
- can provide clearer insights into design issues
Describe why a design team may not want to get too detailed in their functional decomposition of the function of a product in which they are tasked to design or redesign.
There is a potential to lose solution neutrality even though the individual solutions are solution neutral due to the structure of the FD. This may eliminate solutions that the design team may be interested in.
Describe the purpose of developing product design specifications (PDS) during the design process.
A PDS keeps the design team organized and focused on a defined goal. It also forces the designer to collect, define, and summarize the problem and design information from the early stages of the PDP.
Describe the main reasons why a designer would design codes and standards.
- safety
- to meet laws/regulations
- efficiency (leverage previous experience)
- standardization
