Work backwards, in other words?
Start with the desired final result and figger out how to get there in the future.
Design is often a fluid process, which frustrates the ISO people since they cannot track exactly what is going on and important decisions are made on the fly. If the design is truly innovative and not just a rehash of prior ideas, you don't want paperworkers hindering things.
Paul (I know I'm late replying)
> >Read the part of the contract that concerns yu as a designer.
> I'll just add a little bit to this, starting with asking
yourself what
> you intend to accomplish with a check list. Ask the question
both
> ways--'What would happen if you _didn't_ have a check list? If
you can't
> answer that question, find something else to do because you need
to know
> what you expect to accomplish before you can know if you're
finished. You
> may find out at this stage that your boss tasked you with this
in order
> to appear more managerial, which isn't a very good reason to do
a
> checklist.
>
> You might also want to think of instances where checklists are
used and
> why. Generally, they end up as tools to formalize long routines
to make
> sure things are always done the same way in the same sequence,
so that
> something important isn't overlooked. This isn't usually the way
> engineering design works. Design cycles are ordinarily unique to
an
> office and to a particular job. Trying to force a job to fit the
mold of
> previous work usually isn't very productive. There are lots of
fairly
> routine sub-tasks, but an entire design sequence is seldom
repeated,
> except in the most general way.
>
> About the best you can do is sit down and plan out the job from
finish to
> start. List the deliverables for the job, then back through each
one the
> see what specific item is needed to complete each deliverable
item, then
> the item next before and so on back. What you'll have is a work
plan and
> with a little extra effort you can see which tasks are the
milestones
> which need to form the checklist. Add dates and dollars and
it'll look an
> awful lot like an organized approach--probably better than a
checklist..
>
> Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant from
> chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of
Gen.
> ___________________________| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)
> <a href="http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw">http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw</a>
Received on Fri Jun 15 20:25:00 2001
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