The latest buzz-phrase is "stage gate process". It describes how managers and lawyers think product development works. Basically it posits that you develop a spec describing what your product needs to do, and go on to designing the details only when the spec is correct and complete.
Engineers know that real product development doesn't, and CAN'T, work that way, because you never know what the final product is going to look like, in an engineering sense, when you start working on it. Engineers who work for managers don't admit that publicly, of course.
So to be successful, you need a crew of managers and pseudo-engineers out front, running through all the steps of the stage-gate phony baloney process, and in the room behind the back room, you need a bunch of tinkers beating on the product, building and destroying prototypes as fast as they can, evolving toward a solution that you eventually document as 'the spec', and feed to the front end of the process out front.
All of the visible documented processes work like electrical filters with an extremely high Q. In order to get anything out of them, you have to feed either a narrow signal of _exactly_ the right frequency, which is practically impossible, or you feed them with a broadband signal having substantial energy at all frequencies, and whatever happens to fit the filter gets through.
First Law of Product Development - Know Thy Requirement
Obviously, what 'requirement' exactly means in this context can vary a little, but basically, have some idea what you're trying to do before you try and do it.
Seriously though...any company can have the most well defined new product development project process defined (whatever process it may be). However, in my past experiences if there is no commitment by all parties involved to follow or adhere to the procedures then there really is no process no matter how well defined.
Good Luck,
Steve
Stephen Seymour, PE
Seymour Engineering & Consulting Group
SnTMan, right on the nose! It seems lately, I have been tasked with documenting some custom product that a salesman sold 30 of.
The adage "garbage in equals garbage out" can be well applied to the product design process and the design itself. Know your requirements and then know what your customer's expectations are. Usually they are far apart because the customer doesn't really know what they want either.
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?
Really first and foremost you have to set your requirements for your design. Then you have to put numbers to them which creates your specifications. Then you have to get your customer to agree to those specifications and requirements on paper. This part is critical since it will help you avoid design creep in the long run. Then (and only then) you can start to play around a bit with ideas.
HdTools...
The ISO 9001 system has a design control module which stipulates how the inputs align with project outputs, how to verify the design statements and functions have been achieved and how to verify by independent means the results of the study which encompass a sound design. True enough, it is not a "recipe book" on how to do the design but it is a valuable tool for staging a project through conceptualizion, prototype design, manufacturing and building of the prototype and testing requirements associated with quality control and proper documentation of an engineering design. Hence "design control".
If buddy or anyone else is thinking that there is a set of literature that details step-by-step design process, then good luck with that. Usually it encompasses a degree from an accredited university in mechanical engineering.
Kenneth J Hueston, PEng
Principal
Sturni-Hueston Engineering Inc
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
The latest buzz-phrase is "stage gate process". It describes how managers and lawyers think product development works. Basically it posits that you develop a spec describing what your product needs to do, and go on to designing the details only when the spec is correct and complete.
Engineers know that real product development doesn't, and CAN'T, work that way, because you never know what the final product is going to look like, in an engineering sense, when you start working on it. Engineers who work for managers don't admit that publicly, of course.
So to be successful, you need a crew of managers and pseudo-engineers out front, running through all the steps of the stage-gate phony baloney process, and in the room behind the back room, you need a bunch of tinkers beating on the product, building and destroying prototypes as fast as they can, evolving toward a solution that you eventually document as 'the spec', and feed to the front end of the process out front.
All of the visible documented processes work like electrical filters with an extremely high Q. In order to get anything out of them, you have to feed either a narrow signal of _exactly_ the right frequency, which is practically impossible, or you feed them with a broadband signal having substantial energy at all frequencies, and whatever happens to fit the filter gets through.
Can I plleeeasssee tape that up in my cubicle, with reference to your genius? That is the most concise, correct explanation of 'stage gate' I've ever heard.
