Reflection
With every project their is always a learning experience, no matter the size or magnitude. This experience is essential to learning and developing as a designer, engineer, and individual. As our group progresses through MAE 451, I will try to reflect on the progress and outcomes. Doing this will be useful in making adjustments going forward and understanding how to create a successful group.
These reflections will occur periodically throughout the semester, the goal is to allow enough time to pass so a significant amount of group meeting and interaction have occurred.
These reflections will occur periodically throughout the semester, the goal is to allow enough time to pass so a significant amount of group meeting and interaction have occurred.
Reflection I
10.26.15
It is now the ninth week of the semester, we have completed the first two memos and I have had approximately eight group meetings. As a group we have done well on both memos, and improved from the first to second memo. In terms of group roles, I sort of stepped into the leadership position. It was clear that the group need an authoritative figure to delegate and organize, I did not mind taking this role at all. From past group experiences I have learned how important it is to have someone who leads the group and makes sure everything is getting done in a timely fashion and everyone is producing quality work. Of course this sometimes requires having uncomfortable conversations with group members who may be falling short of their assigned tasks.
Fortunately we haven't had any major conflicts regarding group members performance. With a group of five individuals, there will always be varying levels of participation. We have run into instances where some group members are putting in significantly more time then other group members. This is somewhat natural in a large group setting. Moving forward, I will try to limit the amount of participation variation we have but assigning more specific tasks to everyone.
In terms of design learning outcomes, I think I have learned a lot about the design process in the ten weeks of the class. I do have experience with the design process from past projects and the Design Club, but I was still able to add to this experience and knowledge. I think one of the main takeaways is the importance of having well defined customer needs. This requires input from the end user and customer of the product. In the end the success of the product is determined not by the brilliance of the design, but by the amount of money it makes. With this in mind, it is important not to underestimate the feedback the customer provides. In our case, the value was found in the survey I developed. It allowed us to get actual feedback, thought and comments from wheelchair users and people who interact with wheelchairs. This input then shaped our requirements for the product, without the input we would be blindly developing a product based on what we think may work, which is NOT a good idea.
Another important learning outcome came from the brainstorming sessions. Before this course, I never really thought much of brainstorming. I did not realize there were different variations and exercises within the realm of brainstorming. After learning more about what IDEO does in their brainstorming sessions, I was able to create an environment and exercise in order to optimize concept generation. The post-it note sessions will be a tool that I'm sure I will be using again in the future.
One final learning outcome that was very valuable was the importance of creating a well defined schedule. Group organization is an absolute necessity in order for a project to succeed. Both the Gantt chart and WBS chart are very useful tools in organizing a schedule and creating deadlines. We have learned quickly how important it is to stick to a schedule, otherwise the workload can become overwhelming very quickly.
All in all, the first half of this project has gone fairly smoothly and I have learned a lot. My newly developed skills and experiences will be very useful as a move forward into a career in the field of product design and development.
It is now the ninth week of the semester, we have completed the first two memos and I have had approximately eight group meetings. As a group we have done well on both memos, and improved from the first to second memo. In terms of group roles, I sort of stepped into the leadership position. It was clear that the group need an authoritative figure to delegate and organize, I did not mind taking this role at all. From past group experiences I have learned how important it is to have someone who leads the group and makes sure everything is getting done in a timely fashion and everyone is producing quality work. Of course this sometimes requires having uncomfortable conversations with group members who may be falling short of their assigned tasks.
Fortunately we haven't had any major conflicts regarding group members performance. With a group of five individuals, there will always be varying levels of participation. We have run into instances where some group members are putting in significantly more time then other group members. This is somewhat natural in a large group setting. Moving forward, I will try to limit the amount of participation variation we have but assigning more specific tasks to everyone.
In terms of design learning outcomes, I think I have learned a lot about the design process in the ten weeks of the class. I do have experience with the design process from past projects and the Design Club, but I was still able to add to this experience and knowledge. I think one of the main takeaways is the importance of having well defined customer needs. This requires input from the end user and customer of the product. In the end the success of the product is determined not by the brilliance of the design, but by the amount of money it makes. With this in mind, it is important not to underestimate the feedback the customer provides. In our case, the value was found in the survey I developed. It allowed us to get actual feedback, thought and comments from wheelchair users and people who interact with wheelchairs. This input then shaped our requirements for the product, without the input we would be blindly developing a product based on what we think may work, which is NOT a good idea.
Another important learning outcome came from the brainstorming sessions. Before this course, I never really thought much of brainstorming. I did not realize there were different variations and exercises within the realm of brainstorming. After learning more about what IDEO does in their brainstorming sessions, I was able to create an environment and exercise in order to optimize concept generation. The post-it note sessions will be a tool that I'm sure I will be using again in the future.
One final learning outcome that was very valuable was the importance of creating a well defined schedule. Group organization is an absolute necessity in order for a project to succeed. Both the Gantt chart and WBS chart are very useful tools in organizing a schedule and creating deadlines. We have learned quickly how important it is to stick to a schedule, otherwise the workload can become overwhelming very quickly.
All in all, the first half of this project has gone fairly smoothly and I have learned a lot. My newly developed skills and experiences will be very useful as a move forward into a career in the field of product design and development.
Reflection II
12.19.15
Team Approach
It is now the end of the semester and the course has come to a finish. The semester went by so fast and I am very proud of our group. We averaged a 97.25 on the memos. The success of our group can be attributed to the dedication to produce quality work. Being the group leader, I made sure that each and every memo met all the requirements and was quality work. This required a lot of proof reading and editing. At times my group members may have been upset with the amount of work I was requiring, but in the end I believe they were thankful for pushing them. In terms of group management I found the most effective technique to be a divide and conquer strategy. Assigning individual group members certain specific tasks we each memo. I also learned that it was very helpful when we were all working on our individual sections in the same room. Doing this allowed us to bounce questions and ideas off each other quickly and continue on with our work. This also made vocabulary continuity easier.
In terms of individual group performance, everyone did not preform at the dame level. This is expected with a group size of five members. Most of our team did contribute to the project. As a group leader, I tried to assign roles that best fit each individual, this took time to learn where everyones strengths fell.
In comparison to other groups approaches, I think we had similar techniques. When talking to members of group 20, it seemed like they had two members who sort of stepped into the management roles and assigned tasks to the reming members. In the end they ended up editing and compiling everything. This also seemed to be very effective for them as well. One thing that Group 20 also did was keep an ongoing emil thread within the group. This allowed for easy documentation and communication of everything.
Problem Solving Techniques
One of the major takeaways from this class is the wide range of problem solving techniques that exist. For example, within the range of brainstorming, there exists several different exercise to simulate creativity and imagination. I have adopted these techniques and plan to frequent them as I move on in my engineering career. I have also learned the power of a physical prototype. Even an alpha prototype that consists of duct tape and cardboard can be almost invaluable in the design process.
Other Classmate Techniques
After talking to other friends and classmates, I have discovered a few other problem solving techniques, some more structured then others:
My Design Philosophy
This course has taught me a lot. Seeing as I plan to pursue a career in the field of product design and development, I took this class very seriously and got a lot out of it. The most important takeaway is the design process and the value in following the structure of the design process. Understanding how and why the design process works the way it does is absolutely enlightening. One I like most about this class is the fact that it was able to fuse engineering with the art of design and product development. There are so many non engineering related facets of the design process, it would be illogical to overlook them. I believe this class has made me a better designer overall.
Team Approach
It is now the end of the semester and the course has come to a finish. The semester went by so fast and I am very proud of our group. We averaged a 97.25 on the memos. The success of our group can be attributed to the dedication to produce quality work. Being the group leader, I made sure that each and every memo met all the requirements and was quality work. This required a lot of proof reading and editing. At times my group members may have been upset with the amount of work I was requiring, but in the end I believe they were thankful for pushing them. In terms of group management I found the most effective technique to be a divide and conquer strategy. Assigning individual group members certain specific tasks we each memo. I also learned that it was very helpful when we were all working on our individual sections in the same room. Doing this allowed us to bounce questions and ideas off each other quickly and continue on with our work. This also made vocabulary continuity easier.
In terms of individual group performance, everyone did not preform at the dame level. This is expected with a group size of five members. Most of our team did contribute to the project. As a group leader, I tried to assign roles that best fit each individual, this took time to learn where everyones strengths fell.
In comparison to other groups approaches, I think we had similar techniques. When talking to members of group 20, it seemed like they had two members who sort of stepped into the management roles and assigned tasks to the reming members. In the end they ended up editing and compiling everything. This also seemed to be very effective for them as well. One thing that Group 20 also did was keep an ongoing emil thread within the group. This allowed for easy documentation and communication of everything.
Problem Solving Techniques
One of the major takeaways from this class is the wide range of problem solving techniques that exist. For example, within the range of brainstorming, there exists several different exercise to simulate creativity and imagination. I have adopted these techniques and plan to frequent them as I move on in my engineering career. I have also learned the power of a physical prototype. Even an alpha prototype that consists of duct tape and cardboard can be almost invaluable in the design process.
Other Classmate Techniques
After talking to other friends and classmates, I have discovered a few other problem solving techniques, some more structured then others:
- Breaking it down into smaller problems
- Clearly identifying the problem
- 3 Step finding process: Fact finding, idea finding, solution finding
- Brainstorming sessions
My Design Philosophy
This course has taught me a lot. Seeing as I plan to pursue a career in the field of product design and development, I took this class very seriously and got a lot out of it. The most important takeaway is the design process and the value in following the structure of the design process. Understanding how and why the design process works the way it does is absolutely enlightening. One I like most about this class is the fact that it was able to fuse engineering with the art of design and product development. There are so many non engineering related facets of the design process, it would be illogical to overlook them. I believe this class has made me a better designer overall.