Before you start your next product design, it's important to prioritize asking yourself some fundamental questions beforehand. These questions can help you gather your thoughts, ensure you have all your bases covered, and streamline your design process.
- What are your design requirements?
This is the first, and one of the most important questions you should ask yourself. Let's use a coffee maker as an example. In the case of our coffee maker, we can think of some obvious requirements. It has to be able to hold certain amounts of water for your coffee. There are size limitations with counterspace. Some electrical components may present safety requirements. Consumer preferences might contribute to the physical appearance. All of these factors, and much more, must be considered prior to developing your product.
2. How is your team constructed?
One factor that can have a huge impact on your plan is the team involved in your product development effort, as well as the tools they use to accomplish their tasks. Does your team send out paper drawings, or is your team dispersed across the globe? Do you utilize CAD tools? What experience does your team have? Will you need additional employees for any of your tasks? Determine what information your team will need to do their job and in what format they should receive that information to perform it effectively.
3. What deliverables should be created to support the product?
Naturally, different types of products will require different types of deliverables. Which types of deliverables you need to support that specific product can determine the approach that you may use. Ask yourself questions like is a finite element model required? If so, do you need to simplify the model to ease the burden on your analysis tools? Do you need technical illustrations? Animations? How do you assemble your product? How will you use the product when it is delivered? Planning ahead can allow you to get downstream stakeholders involved earlier in the process.
4. What could change?
Although it's nearly impossible to anticipate every possible speedbump or change that may occur throughout development, you can likely take some educated guesses. Use these educated guesses to assess what you might need to do in the future, plan for it, solve it, and/or prevent it. For example, you may want to eventually change the size of your coffee maker. Or how many cups it brews. You may face an issue with how much water the coffee maker can hold to brew this many cups of coffee. How can you make it easier to make these changes later on? What are some other variables that may change? What could be a solution to your potential roadblocks or changes?
5. How is your product information managed?
Always have organized, up-to-date, accurate information easily accessible to you and any contributors. Are you sure everyone has the latest versions? Were you working on a most recent version when you added updates? Are you missing someone else's notes that were left in a different version of a document? Should you consider updating to a PDM or PLM system to avoid these mistakes?
All in all, for best results, make sure to have a plan! Map out some questions and think about your answers to those questions. Give yourself a headstart by asking the questions fundamentally necessary from the very beginning.
