Integrated Design

Before I begin this presentation I’d like to point out the controversial nature of this question which was provided by the PD3 technical committee. It’s because of this very reason that I selected it. I thought it would be challenging for me to discuss this topic with  this  prestigious group of peers and hopefully stimulate you to elaborate or challenge my points of view.

What is really being asked in this title is deeply rooted what each of us this of as good design and what we should know to make a product a success. When worded this way, it’s obvious the question is quite personal. I’m well aware that each of you  may have your own personal list of criteria that you believe to be essential for designing a product.

When I initially began writing  the paper I though it would be easy to elaborate on the factors that makes a design successful. However I gradually realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as I originally thought. A matter of fact this presentation is quite a bit different from the original paper I submitted to the SPE because of the numerous revisions I went though.

One can easily become sanctimonious, overly authoritative or too biased in your perspective when writing about this subject. I hope I’ve been successful in avoiding these pitfalls by refining my presentation a number of times before presenting it to you today.  I have also refrained from providing you with a recipe for good design. Instead I will discuss the importance of personal character qualities in addition to technical expertise, imagination, and engineering knowhow to develop a successful design.

What are these personal character qualities?