GNG2101 – Introduction to product

development and management for engineers

and computer scientists
Online Module

Presented by: Mana Azarm

Image from: http://www.manycuriosities.com

Faculté de génie | Faculty of Engineering

uOttawa.ca
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Quiz
Module 1: Design Process
Why use a
process?
 Design Process Models

ANALYSE DES
BESOINS INFORMATION
Spiral
Processus est
itératif! ÉNONCÉ DU Énoncé clair et simple du
PROBLÈME
problème

GÉNÉRER DES
CRITÈRES DE Qu’est-ce qui fait qu’un concept soit
CONCEPTION bon ou mauvais?

GÉNÉRER DES
SOLUTIONS

ÉVALUER ET
SÉLECTIONNER
DES SOLUTION(S)

ANALYSE DE
FAISABILITÉ RECOMMANDATIONS Co-evolution
Waterfall IDENTIFY
DESIGN
CRITERIA
GENERATED? YES
GENERATE
ENTER “REAL” CONSTRAINTS SOLUTIONS
IDENTIFIED?
PROBLEM CONSTRAINTS
SATISFIED?
($, t, ©, etc. )

NO
NO
Solution Solution Solution
PROBLEM INVESTIGATE
REFINEMENT RESEARCH

NO
LOOP

Iterative
BENCHMARK
ANALYZE PERSISTENCE
PROTOTYPE
SYNTHESIZE LOOP & TEST
DESIGN EC
K!
“MANTRA” CH S

NO
S
YE YE
SOLUTION
AM I SOLVING THE
RIGHT PROBLEM?
WORKS? YES EXIT
REALLY WELL?

FOUNDATION

ENGINEERING SKILLS/
KNOWLEDGE TALENT/EXPERIENCE
Prototype Prototype Prototype (WHAT WE TEACH) (YOU ARE HERE!)

Agile
Basic Engineering Design Process: “Waterfall”

Process is NEEDS ANALYSIS INFORMATION

iterative!
PROBLEM Clear and simple statement
STATEMENT of the problem

GENERATE What makes a good or a

DESIGN CRITERIA bad design solution?

GENERATE
SOLUTIONS

EVALUATE AND
SELECT
SOLUTION(S)

TEST AND
IMPLEMENT SOLUTION
PROTOTYPE
 Design Thinking

Image from: http://whiteboard.stanford.edu/blog/2013/10/23/a-design-thinkers-cheat-sheet

 The Spiral Model

Image from: http://www.wikipedia.org

The Co-Evolution Model

Problem Space
P1 P2 P3

S1 S2 S3

Solution Space
Software Design - Agile Design

Solution Solution Solution

Prototype Prototype Prototype

Watch this video for a simple overview of Agile method

 Best Design Model?
• Follow a structured approach, which is
suited to the design problem to improve
our chances of efficiently and
consistently producing better designs
(while still allowing improvements/ changes
to be made to the approach, as required)
• In the next few slides, you will be given
different scenarios. Divide yourself in
groups of 5 and work out the best design
process you need to follow for each case
(5min. For group discussion, 5min. For
class discussion).

Divide yourself in groups

Scenario 1

• Due to limited physical abilities and muscle strength, some

patients are prone to falling to the floor in their rooms at SVH.
Without direct notification to doctors or nurses, patients might be
unconscious or injured for a significant period of time before
staff notice a problem. Having a fall detection system that
activates the call-bell in these cases would be life saving. This
device can be wearable inside the room or stationary (fixed),
and must be affordable and accurate. A group of uOttawa
students have developed a great fall detection system. The
system works very well. The only issue is that they relied on a
component called the flic that has been recently discontinued.
Your team is asked to deliver a fall detection system that
replaces the flic.
• What design process is best suited for this case? Explain why.
Scenario 2

• The MakerSpace Challenge last year focused on VR in the

medical field. For this challenge, the Makerspace partnered with
the Ottawa Hospital to create apps that will help with patient
care during chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatments.
Your goal as participants in this challenge is to make an original
virtual reality app based on your own creations of 3D models
and program without using existing libraries. You are excited
about the project but are worried what kind of VR experience to
develop as you have never experienced chemotherapy or
radiation therapy.
• What design process is best suited for this case? Explain why?
Scenario 3
• Medcore develops, sells, supports, and provides training for medical devices
that support surgical procedures and patient monitoring in hospitals. Medcore is
dedicated to enabling the best possible medical care for patients, by producing
networked medical devices whose integrated management provides benefits
that far exceed the sum of the individual products. The project is to design and
develop a cardiac monitor for patient monitoring in hospital environments. The
product is a clean-sheet design for the company, and incorporates new features
that provides a higher level of hospital data integration and better
interoperability with our overall product line. Part of the motivation for the new
design is the advancement in micro-controllers and converters, which enable a
new and more capable platform. Also new in the product is its interaction with
cloud storage, so that all data is stored both locally and in the cloud, while
ensuring compliance. Finally, this product is aligned with the overall portfolio
plan, and its projected selling price of $39K is targeted towards the highest
volume of hospital patient monitors. The program priorities are: time to market,
accuracy of heart rate monitoring 2x over leading competitor, product cost and
project Cost.
• Which design process would you follow and why?
Scenario 4
• Go-RF is a company dedicated to develop RF-controlled light dimmer
system. The company wanted to try a new design methodology. So they
formed a development team that consisted of firmware, electronics,
PCB layout and plastic designers. The prototype included 3 PCB’s; a
power, a control and a UI including the RF transmitter. The first iteration
had only the power PCB ready and the other 2 were replaced with
common prototyping boards. On second iteration all boards were
available and at the end of the design cycle, rapid prototypes for plastic
parts arrived. In the design review prototypes gave a real feel of how
the product would look like if this concept was to be selected. Firmware
was developed for a simple on/off functionality. To be able to do this
you need trusted partnership with prototype manufacturing. In this case
the prototyping shops agreed to deliver the next day after receiving final
drawings on earlier-agreed time. What is the most suitable design
process for Go-RF? Please explain your answer.
Iterative Engineering Design Process (IEDP)
DESIGN
CRITERIA GENERATE CONSTRAINTS
GENERATED? YES SATISFIED?
CONSTRAINTS SOLUTIONS ($, t, ©, etc. )
IDENTIFIED?

NO
NO

YES
IDENTIFY
ENTER “REAL”
PROBLEM INVESTIGATE PERSISTENCE PROTOTYPE
LOOP
PROBLEM RESEARCH & TEST
REFINEMENT
LOOP BENCHMARK
NO

DESIGN ANALYZE
“MANTRA” CHECK!
SYNTHESIZE
SOLUTION
AM I SOLVING THE EXIT
NO WORKS? YES
RIGHT PROBLEM?
YES
REALLY WELL?

FOUNDATION

ENGINEERING SKILLS/
KNOWLEDGE TALENT/EXPERIENCE
(WHAT WE TEACH) (YOU ARE HERE!)
Module 2:
Problem Definition Process
 Problem Definition Process

1. Empathise with customers

2. Turn customer statements and actions into need statements
3. List and prioritize customer needs
4. Create a problem statement
5. Do benchmarking
6. Create a list of metrics
7. Set target specifications
8. Reflect on the results and the process
Product Specification Example:

Mountain Bike Suspension Fork

 ST Tritrack

Maniray 2
Start With the Customer Needs
# NEED Imp
1 The suspension reduces vibration to the hands. 3 • ••••
2 The suspension allows easy traversal of slow, difficult terrain. 2 •• ••••
3 The suspension enables high speed descents on bumpy trails. 5 • •••••
4 The suspension allows sensitivity adjustment. 3 • ••••
5 The suspension preserves the steering characteristics of the bike. 4 •••• ••
6 The suspension remains rigid during hard cornering. 4 • •••
7 The suspension is lightweight. 4 • •••
8 The suspension provides stiff mounting points for the brakes. 2 • ••••
9 The suspension fits a wide variety of bikes, wheels, and tires. 5 •••• •••••
10 The suspension is easy to install. 1 •••• •••••
11 The suspension works with fenders. 1 ••• •
12 The suspension instills pride. 5 • ••••
13 The suspension is affordable for an amateur enthusiast. 5 ••••• •
14 The suspension is not contaminated by water. 5 • •••
15 The suspension is not contaminated by grunge. 5 • •••
16 The suspension can be easily accessed for maintenance. 3 •••• •••••
17 The suspension allows easy replacement of worn parts. 1 •••• •••••
18 The suspension can be maintained with readily available tools. 3 ••••• •••••
19 The suspension lasts a long time. 5 ••••• •••••
20 The suspension is safe in a crash. 5 ••••• •••••
Establish Metrics and Units (Link to Needs)

Need #s
Metric #
Metric Imp Units
1 1,3 Attenuation from dropout to handlebar at 10hz 3 dB
2 2,6 Spring pre-load 3 N
3 1,3 Maximum value from the Monster 5 g
4 1,3 Minimum descent time on test track 5 s
5 4 Damping coefficient adjustment range 3 N-s/m
6 5 Maximum travel (26in wheel) 3 mm
7 5 Rake offset 3 mm
8 6 Lateral stiffness at the tip 3 kN/m
9 7 Total mass 4 kg
10 8 Lateral stiffness at brake pivots 2 kN/m
11 9 Headset sizes 5 in
12 9 Steertube length 5 mm
13 9 Wheel sizes 5 list
14 9 Maximum tire width 5 in
15 10 Time to assemble to frame 1 s
16 11 Fender compatibility 1 list
17 12 Instills pride 5 subj
18 13 Unit manufacturing cost 5 US$
19 14 Time in spray chamber w/o water entry 5 s **The Monster is a
20 15 Cycles in mud chamber w/o contamination 5 k-cycles
bicycle test track. It can
21 16,17 Time to disassemble/assemble for maintenance 3 s
22 17,18 Special tools required for maintenance 3 list measure the maximum g-
23 19 UV test duration to degrade rubber parts 5 hours force felt by the rider
24 19 Monster cycles to failure 5 cycles during testing
25 20 Japan Industrial Standards test 5 binary
26 20 Bending strength (frontal loading) 5 MN
 Alternate: Linking Metrics to Needs
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Time to disassemble/assemble for maintenance

Attenuation from dropout to handlebar at 10hz

Cycles in mud chamber w/o contamination

UV test duration to degrade rubber parts

Time in spray chamber w/o water entry

Special tools required for maintenance

Damping coefficient adjustment range
Minimum descent time on test track
Maximum value from the Monster

Bending strength (frontal loading)

Lateral stiffness at brake pivots

Japan Industrial Standards test

Maximum travel (26in wheel)
Metric

Time to assemble to frame

Lateral stiffness at the tip

Monster cycles to failure

Unit manufacturing cost
Fender compatibility
Maximum tire width
Steertube length
Spring pre-load

Headset sizes

Wheel sizes

Instills pride
Rake offset

Total mass
Need
1 reduces vibration to the hands. • • •
2 allows easy traversal of slow, difficult terrain. •
3 enables high speed descents on bumpy trails.• • •
4 allows sensitivity adjustment. •
5 preserves the steering characteristics of the bik e. • •
6 remains rigid during hard cornering. • •
7 is lightweight. •
8 provides stiff mounting points for the brakes. •
9 fits a wide variety of bikes, wheels, and tires. • • • •
10 is easy to install. •
11 works with fenders. •
12 instills pride. •
13 is affordable for an amateur enthus iast. •
14 is not contaminated by water. •
15 is not contaminated by grunge. •
16 can be easily accessed for maintenance. •
17 allows easy replacement of worn parts. • •
18 can be maintained with readily available tools. •
19 lasts a long time. • •
20 is safe in a crash. • •
Benchmark on Metrics: Competitive Products

Gunhill Head Shox

Rox Tahx Quadra

Rox Tahx Ti 21
ST Tritrack

Tonka Pro
Maniray 2
Need #s
Metric #

Metric Imp Units

1 1,3 Attenuation from dropout to handlebar at 10hz 3 dB 8 15 10 15 9 13
2 2,6 Spring pre- load 3 N 550 760 500 710 480 680
3 1,3 Maximum value from the Monster 5 g 3.6 3.2 3.7 3.3 3.7 3.4
4 1,3 Minimum descent time on test track 5 s 13 11.3 12.6 11.2 13.2 11
5 4 Damping coefficient adjustment r ange 3 N-s/m 0 0 0 200 0 0
6 5 Maximum travel (26in wheel) 3 mm 28 48 43 46 33 38
7 5 Rake offset 3 mm 41.5 39 38 38 43.2 39
8 6 Lateral stiffness at the tip 3 kN/m 59 110 85 85 65 130
9 7 Total mass 4 kg 1.409 1.385 1.409 1.364 1.222 1.1
10 8 Lateral stiffness at brake pivots 2 kN/m 295 550 425 425 325 650
1.000 1.000
1.000 1.125 1.000 1.125 1.000
11 9 Headset sizes 5 in 1.125 1.250 1.125 1.250 1.125 NA
150 150
180 140 150 170 150
210 165 170 190 190
230 190 190 210 210
12 9 Steer tube length 5 mm 255 215 210 230 220 NA
26in
13 9 Wheel sizes 5 list 26in 26in 26in 700C 26in 26in
14 9 Maximum tire width 5 in 1.5 1.75 1.5 1.75 1.5 1.5
15 10 Time to assemble to frame 1 s 35 35 45 45 35 85
16 11 Fender compatibility 1 list Zefal none none none none all
17 12 Instills pride 5 subj 1 4 3 5 3 5
18 13 Unit manufacturing cost 5 US$ 65 105 85 115 80 100
19 14 Time in spr ay chamber w/o water entry 5 s 1300 2900 >3600 >3600 2300 >3600
20 15 Cycles in mud chamber w/o contamination 5 k-cycles 15 19 15 25 18 35
21 16,17 Time to disassemble/assemble for maintenance 3 s 160 245 215 245 200 425
hex,
long pin
22 17,18 Special tools required for maintenance 3 list hex hex hex hex hex wrnch
23 19 UV test duration to degrade rubber parts 5 hours 400+ 250 400+ 400+ 400+ 250
24 19 Monster cycles to failure 5 cycles 500k+ 500k+ 500k+ 480k 500k+ 330k
25 20 Japan Industrial Standards test 5 binary pass pass pass pass pass pass
26 20 Bending strength (frontal loading) 5 MN 55 89 75 75 62 102
Assign Marginal and Ideal Values

Marginal Value

Ideal Value
Metric Units
1 Attenuation from dropout to handlebar at 10hz dB >10 >15
2 Spring pre-load N 48 0 - 800 65 0 - 700
3 Maximum value from the Monster g <3.5 <3.2
4 Minimum descent time on test track s <13.0 <11.0
5 Damping coefficient adjustment range N-s/m 0 >200
6 Maximum travel (26in wheel) mm 33 - 50 45
7 Rake offset mm 37 - 45 38
8 Lateral stiffness at the tip kN/m >65 >130
9 Total mass kg <1.4 <1.1
10 Lateral stiffness at brake pivots kN/m >325 >650
1.000
1.000 1.125
11 Headset sizes in 1.125 1.250
15 0
15 0 17 0
17 0 19 0
19 0 21 0
12 Steertube length mm 21 0 23 0
26 in
13 Wheel sizes list 26 in 70 0c
14 Maximum tire width in >1.5 >1.75
15 Time to assemble to frame s <60 <35
16 Fender compatibility list no ne all
17 Instills pride subj >3 >5
18 Unit manufacturing cost US$ <85 <65
19 Time in spray cham ber w/o water entry s >2300 >3600
20 Cycles in mud chamber w/o contamination k-cycles >15 >35
21 Time to disassemble/assemble for maintenance s <300 <160
22 Special tools required for maintenance list he x he x
23 UV test duration to degrade rubber parts hours >250 >450
24 Monster cycles to failure cycles >300k >500k
25 Japan Industrial Standards test binary pa ss pa ss
26 Bending strength (frontal loading) MN >70 >100
Metrics Trade-Offs and Benchmarking
Set Final Specifications
METRIC Units Value
1 Attenuation from dropout to handlebar at 10hz dB >12
2 Spring pre-load N 650
3 Maximum value from the Monster g <3.4
4 Minimum descent time on test track s <11.5
5 Damping coefficient adjustment range N-s/m >100
6 Maximum travel (26in wheel) mm 43
7 Rake offset mm 38
8 Lateral stiffness at the tip kN/m >75
9 Total mass kg <1.4
10 Lateral stiffness at brake pivots kN/m >425
1.000
11 Headset sizes in 1.125
150
170
190
210
12 Steertube length mm 230
13 Wheel sizes list 26in
14 Maximum tire width in >1.75
15 Time to assemble to frame s <45
16 Fender compatibility list Zefal
17 Instills pride subj >4
18 Unit manufacturing cost US$ <80
19 Time in spray chamber w/o water entry s >3600
20 Cycles in mud chamber w/o contamination k-cycles >25
21 Time to disassemble/assemble for maintenance s <200
22 Special tools required for maintenance list hex
23 UV test duration to degrade rubber parts hours >450
24 Monster cycles to failure cycles >500k
25 Japan Industrial Standards test binary pass
26 Bending strength (frontal loading) MN >100
How to Interview for Empathy

• Ask why: Even when you think you know the answer, ask people why
they do or say things. The answers will sometimes surprise you. Never
say “usually” when asking a question. Instead, ask about a specific
instance or occurrence, e.g. “tell me about the last time you ____”

• Encourage stories: Whether or not the stories people tell are true, they
reveal how they think about the world. Ask questions that get people
telling stories.

• Look for inconsistencies: Sometimes what people say and what they
do are different. These inconsistencies often hide interesting insights.
Pay attention to nonverbal cues. Be aware of body language and
emotions.

• Make sure you’re prepared to capture: Always interview in pairs. If

this is not possible, you should use a voice/video recorder.
How to Interview for Empathy
• Don’t be afraid of silence: Interviewers often feel the need to ask
another question when there is a pause. If you allow for silence, a
person can reflect on what they’ve just said and may reveal something
deeper.

• Don’t suggest answers to your questions: Even if they pause before

answering, don’t help them by suggesting an answer. This can
unintentionally get people to say things that agree with your
expectations. This can be even more pronounced in certain cultures.

• Ask neutral questions: “What do you think about buying gifts for your
friends?” is a better question than “Don’t you think shopping is great?”
because the first question doesn’t imply that there’s a right answer.

• Don’t ask binary questions (close-ended questions): Binary

questions can be answered in a word; you want to host a conversation
built upon stories. Ask open questions instead.
Activity: Creating an Interview Guide (10min)

• Get together as a group and start thinking about what

you will discuss with the customer in your project
– See the Customer Interview Template on BrightSpace
https://uottawa.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/11700
4/Home

• Discuss as a group how you will observe, engage and

immerse yourself in your client’s environment

• Always ask open-ended questions!

– https://youtu.be/61aFHm81pas
– Get out from behind that tie rack!