Information Gathering: Conventional Aids

As a first method for concept generation, let's consider information gathering. This activity entails the dynamic search for data that will contribute to the technology, physical principles, or industrial design of a product. Usually, the search seeks documented ideas on solving a product function with a form solution. It also seeks concepts for producing, analyzing, or testing a product idea once it is conceptualized.

I n today's colossal information infrastructure, the task of information gathering can be inundating. A classification of informational sources is thus needed to aid in the process. Figure 10.4 illustrates one such classification. One primary category in this classification is literature. "Published" media represent a large resource for obtaining ideas for product functions. Examples of this media include patents, journal or government articles, catalogs, textbooks, consumer product periodicals, and product information, all as discussed in Chapter 7.

In addition to published media, information should be gathered from analogies, the World Wide Web, benchmarking, and people. Analogies consist of a similar product or artifact that operates in a different domain. It is similar because it implements an architecture or function that is in common with the product being designed. For example, a product function for a coffee bean grinder is to "dissipate noise" produced from the milling process. Analogous products include power tools, sound rooms, automobiles, aircraft, and food processors. All of these products also "dissipate noise." By studying their solutions, we can develop analogous solution principles for the coffee grinder. Analogies may also be obtained from artifacts, such as those that exist in nature. If we are considering the function of "support or resist loads," natural analogies may be considered as possible solutions, such as honeycombs.

Traditional Brainstorming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGHHViP6zBg&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPnTPK0c53w

Brainstorming is an intuitive method of generating concepts. It focuses on product function and architecture, where team members communicate ideas verbally during a set time period. All team members are encouraged to be open and uninhibited during the initial sessions of brainstorming. A committed team creates ideas together (that are not judged at the time of the session), which possibly triggers further ideas. Within this context, there are a number of guidelines that should be followed during a brainstorming session:

• Designate a group leader/facilitator, to prevent judgments and encourage participation by all. The facilitator should not contribute directly (until another session), but rather direct and record.

• Form the group with 5-15 people, usually no more and no less. Less gives inadequate ideas, more can break down the group into multiple conversations or inhibitions toward participation.

• Brainstorm for 30-45 minutes. The first 10 minutes are typically devoted to problem orientation and familiarity. The next 20-25 minutes will see a sharp increase of ideas, followed by a flat region, followed by a sharp decrease. During the final 10 minutes, a trickling of ideas will occur, which should be encouraged, but stagnation will also happen quickly.

• Don't confine the group to experts in the area. The only way to obtain new ideas is to introduce new knowledge and experiential backgrounds.

• Depending on the goals of a brainstorming session, individuals may enter a session with a set of ideas.

• Avoid hierarchically structured groups. Bosses, supervisors, and managers should not be included in many of the sessions.

Memory (Mind) Maps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gQ29oMwBw&feature=related

Typically, the facilitator is also the engineer responsible for the particular design problem that the brainstorming session is called to fulfill. This person has a vested interest in obtaining the results. He or she also records the session results by collecting the notepads of all participants after the session but also by recording the ideas as labels during the session.

One effective way to record the results of a brainstorming session as it happens is by memory (mind) mapping. Here, the facilitator starts with a clean sheet of paper, writes the problem statement in the center of the paper as two words, and draws a box around it. Then, as ideas are generated to solve the problem, they are recorded quickly, say with two or so words, with circles drawn around them. Each new idea to solve the initial problem is connected to the original problem statement.

Product Application of Brainstorming

Consider the design of a product to detect and display the location of a golf ball when it is struck off the tee (or other strokes, in or out of bounds). We are interested in discovering the final resting location. Let's apply the brainstorming method to the "detect golf ball" function of this design problem. Five groups of five individuals generated ideas for this problem following the guidelines of brainstorming, except the session time was shortened. Figure 10.5 shows a partial list of the generated ideas. Notice in the figure that a breadth of ideas across multiple energy domains is represented. This process continued with the generation of further ideas, as memory-mapped by a facilitator (Figure 10.6).

Summary

Based on these descriptions, guidelines, and product example, a procedure for brainstorming is given by the following steps:

• Conduct either a free-for-all or an orderly (around the room) process for idea suggestions, directed by the facilitator.

• Record all ideas as they are stated, but none are judged at this point (even as to practicality).

• Detail suggestions far enough for emergence of a specific solution idea.

• Wrap up the session in about 30-45 min.

• After the session is completed, judge the results with experts or the same group. Each person spends one share to vote for a concept. Each person has ten shares with which they can vote.