Experts and Engineers Explain the 10 Steps of

the Engineering Design Process

interestingengineering.com

Experts and Engineers Explain the 10 Steps of the

Engineering Design Process
The 10 steps of the engineering design process are
fundamental knowledge for all budding engineers.

July, 17th 2018

If you're hoping to become an engineer, one of the most crucial

things you need to learn are the 10 steps of the engineering design
process. This process lays out the correct protocol for any project,
allowing everything to go seamlessly.

No matter which area of engineering you intend to work in, the 10

steps will always be important. They're a fundamental part
of engineering, and can always provide a solid foundation for your
work. Let's take a look at each step, and hear what the experts have
to say about the importance of the process.

1. “I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept

things; I spend my time solving engineering and
manufacturing problems.” - Elon Musk
The very first step in the engineering design process is identifying
and defining the problem. This will form the basis of the entire
project, so there's no excuse for not being thorough.

Elon Musk himself admits to spending most of his time concerned

with problems and their potential solutions. Before you can begin to
work on anything tangible, you need to fully understand the nature of
the problem and how it will be addressed.

00:03/00:40Interesting Engineering 2018-07-18T16-00-51Z

Source: JD Lasica/Wikimedia Commons

2. "A good engineer is a person who makes a design that

works with as few ideas as possible. There are no prima
donnas in engineering." - Freeman Dyson
The second step in the design process is defining and streamlining
your goals for the project. With what you now understand about the
problem, set in place a series of simple, achievable goals that will
bring you to a solution.

As nuclear engineer and theoretical physicist, Freeman Dyson, once

pointed out, the ideal is to work with a few ideas as possible. Keep
your goals realistic and your set of actions simple. Don't overload the
process with unnecessary or unattainable steps.
Source: Monroem/Wikimedia Commons

3. "Successful engineering is all about understanding how

things break or fail." - Henry Petroski
The third step in the design process is usually dedicated to research.
This is where you can further develop your ideas, while
understanding what has succeeded or failed in similar projects in the
past.

To put it as simply as Henry Petroski does, it's about understanding

how things break and fail, and how you can best avoid that for your
own project. Don't just learn from your own mistakes, learn from the
mistakes of others too.

4. "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our

minds." - Theo Jansen
Step four in the engineering design process is typically devoted to
brainstorming and the development of creative ideas. It's important to
remember that following the process step-by-step still allows for a
tremendous amount of creativity, and that lateral thinking is every bit
as crucial to good engineering as research is.

Artist and engineer, Theo Jansen, sees both disciplines as working

hand-in-hand. Use your research as a springboard, but don't adhere
to the structures of previous projects. Allow yourself to find creative
steps and solutions that others haven't considered.
Source: Javier Candeira/Wikimedia Commons

5. "Problem-solving is essential to engineering. Engineers

are constantly on the lookout for a better way to do
things." - Dinesh Paliwal
At this stage in the process, you should have a strong base. You
ought to understand the problem at hand, have a set of goals you
want to focus on, have a firm background in the work required thanks
to your research, and possess some creative solutions. The next and
fifth step is to take this base and distill it.

As CEO of Harman International Industries, Dinesh Paliwal, points

out you should always be looking for new ways to improve. Take
careful account of the information you have so far. Streamline it, and
remove anything you feel would weigh down the project or could be
achieved through simpler means. This will give you the best possible
start before proceeding to the next steps.
Source: Richter Frank-Jurgen/Wikimedia Commons

6. "Manufacturing is more than just putting parts together.

It's coming up with ideas, testing principles and perfecting
the engineering, as well as final assembly." - James Dyson
Step six is when your foundational work comes together and you
begin to test everything you've accumulated so far. Here, you will
develop different models to test your ideas against different sets of
criteria and goals. This will provide you with some of the most
important data for your project moving forward.

Dyson CEO and engineer, James Dyson, understands the

importance of the testing process. These will be the first tangible
indications you'll have of the quality of your solutions. Through
rigorous testing, you'll understand the strengths and weaknesses of
your work.
Source: Eva Rinaldi/Wikimedia Commons

7. “When I am working on a problem, I never think about

beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not
beautiful, I know it is wrong.” - R Buckminster Fuller
Once you have completed your test phase, you'll have to make a
final decision on your design. You must take all your data from the
test phase into account and arrive at an appropriate solution. If you're
unsatisfied with the results of your testing, return to the previous
steps of the process and try again.

The late, great architect and inventor, R. Buckminster Fuller, spoke

about this sense of dissatisfaction and the need to work backward in
the event of not achieving your desired results. If none of your
solutions are ideal, identify why this is. With that information in mind,
return to earlier steps in the process to fix this outcome.

Source: Steve Yelvington/Wikimedia Commons

8. "The trick to having good ideas is not to sit around in
glorious isolation and try to think big thoughts. The trick is
to get more parts on the table." - Steven Johnson
As part of step eight in the engineering design process, you'll need to
communicate your ideas. Keep in mind that your solutions need to be
understood by people easily, and be as descriptive as you possibly
can. After all, a strong solution isn't of much use if it can't be
effectively communicated to the wider world.

Science writer, Steven Johnson, has spoken about breaking the

isolation of the engineering process. There comes a time when you
must present all of your findings, as clearly as possible, and allow
your design to exist outside of your own imagination. Use detailed
reports, drawings, and more to fully communicate the scope of your
work.

Source: Jesús Gorriti/Wikimedia Commons

9. "Engineers operate at the interface between science
and society." - Gordon Stanley Brown
By step nine of the process, your project or product is almost ready
for production.

At this point, it is important for everyone from the engineers to

management to have the same goals in mind, so communication is
crucial. More important still is that everyone involved understands
how the solution can be best implemented for mainstream use.

The late MIT professor of electrical engineering, Gordon Stanley

Brown, placed engineers between science and society. Therefore it's
the role of the engineer to understand not only how their solution will
work, but how society will interact with that solution.

This is the final point in the process where changes can be made to
the design before it is ready for the public, so it's important to be
mindful of how people will respond to the project and whether that
will have any impact on the nature of the design itself.

10. “A good engineer thinks in reverse and asks himself

about the stylistic consequences of the components and
systems he proposes.” - Helmut Jahn
Finally, with the design finished, you come to the last step of the
process - review. Take note of every previous step and all the data
gleaned throughout the process. Assess how well the solution
addressed the initial problem, and how it was implemented. Study
any issues that have arisen, or any potential improvements that could
be implemented in later designs.

As German architect, Helmut Jahn, says - a good engineer thinks in

reverse. At the end of every process, look backward and try to
identify any weak links that could be used to improve future projects.

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