Getting Design Right: A Systems Approach

392 Pages·2009·14.962 MB·English

by  Peter L. Jackson

GettinG
DesiGn
RiGht
A Systems Approach

GettinG
DesiGn
RiGht
A Systems Approach
Peter L. Jackson
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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To my mother, Margaret, and my wife, Nancy

v

Acknowledgments
This book is adapted from a number of courses and short courses developed by faculty, staff, and
consultants for the Cornell Systems Engineering Program. It owes a lot, in particular, to Len Karas
of the Lockheed Martin Corporation for its focus on behavioral analysis and the dive-and-surface
technique. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Lockheed Martin Corporation in
sharing these materials with our program.
Several case studies included in the appendices are derived from lectures given by Professor
Albert George. The product design challenges are collaborative efforts involving many faculty
and students, including Al George, Mason Peck, Rafaello D’Andrea, John Belina, Gavin Hurley,
Mustafa Maqbool, Earl Valencia, and Nayan Dhanak. Jonah Cohen collaborated on the optimiza-
tion example.
The book is a textbook for a new course at Cornell called “Getting Design Right.” Funding
for the development of this course came from the dean of engineering, W. Kent Fuchs, and the
dean of continuing education and summer sessions, Glenn C. Altschuler. We are grateful for their
encouragement and generosity.
We also appreciate the feedback from several professional systems engineers who reviewed an
earlier version of the text: Leonard Karas, Richard Grzybowski, Matthew Whitting, and Clark
Hoghgraf. Two other professionals, Bruce Corson and Ed Balys, contributed stories from their
own experiences. We are also grateful for the support and encouragement of the Finger Lake
chapter of INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering.
In the end, this became a family affair. Nancy, my wife, and Bekie, my daughter-in-law, assembled
the numerous images and copyright permissions. Joanna, my daughter, took photographs and wrote
two of the sidebar stories (the Hubble Space Telescope and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner). Thank you

to all!
Peter L. Jackson
vii

Contents
List of Figures ...................................................................................................................xvii
List of Tables ......................................................................................................................xxi
1 Getting Design Right ...................................................................................................1
What Do We Mean by “Design”? .......................................................................................1
Why “Getting Design Right”? ............................................................................................2
What Can Go Wrong? .......................................................................................................2
What Is There to Learn? .....................................................................................................4
Why a Systems Approach? ..................................................................................................4
Design or Engineering? ......................................................................................................5
For Whom Is This Text Designed? ......................................................................................6
What Is the Design Process? ...............................................................................................6
Learn by Example ..............................................................................................................7
Learn by Doing ..................................................................................................................8
Is It Worth the Effort? ........................................................................................................8
Why Use a Tabular Approach? ...........................................................................................8
The Getting Design Right Web Site ..................................................................................10
Required Spreadsheet Skills ...............................................................................................10
To the Instructor: Where This Text Fits .............................................................................10
Discussion ........................................................................................................................12
References ........................................................................................................................12
2 Define the Problem .....................................................................................................13
Introduction......................................................................................................................13
Define the Project .............................................................................................................14
Select the Project .....................................................................................................14
Name the Problem.....................................................................................14
Sketch the Concept .................................................................................................17
Annotate the Product Sketch .....................................................................19
Define and Tailor the Process ..................................................................................19
Identify the Owner, the Customer, and the User ....................................................20
Other Categories of Individuals Affected by the System .............................21
Write a Mission Statement .....................................................................................23
Define the Context ...........................................................................................................25
ix
x ◾ Contents
Define the System Boundary ...................................................................................25
Document the Context of the System ....................................................................26
Context Diagrams ....................................................................................26
Context Matrices ......................................................................................27
Study the Current Context ....................................................................................28
Naturalist, Anthropologist, or Observer ....................................................28
Apprentice, Questioner, or Interpreter ......................................................29
Partner or Suggester ..................................................................................29
Pitfall of Contextual Inquiry .....................................................................29
Collect Customer Comments ................................................................................30
Summarize Project (Product) Objectives .................................................................31
Technique: Sticky Notes (Large Group Affinity Process) ............................31
The Affinity Process Using MS Excel ........................................................34
Results of the Affinity Process ...................................................................34
Define Functional Requirements .......................................................................................35
Collect Use Cases ...................................................................................................38
Prioritize Use Cases ................................................................................................40
Describe Use Case Behaviors ...................................................................................41
Summarize Functional Requirements from Use Cases ............................................43
Repeat for Secondary Use Cases ..............................................................................47
Finalize Requirements ............................................................................................50
Summary ..........................................................................................................................51
Discussion .........................................................................................................................51
Exercises ............................................................................................................................55
References ........................................................................................................................56
3 Measure the Need and Set Targets .............................................................................59
Introduction......................................................................................................................59
Measure the Need .............................................................................................................59
Determine Measures of Effectiveness......................................................................62
The Goal–Question–Metric Method Applied to the Toy Catapult .........................63
Identify the Goals of the Measurement .....................................................63
Refine the Goals with Questions ...............................................................64
Specify the Metrics ....................................................................................65
Develop Data Collection Methods ............................................................67
Repeat for Secondary Goals ...................................................................................72
Weight the Product Objectives ...............................................................................73
Illustration of the Analytic Hierarchy Process Using the Toy Catapult ......75
Benchmark Competition on Measures of Effectiveness ..........................................79
Graphical Representation of Benchmarking Data .....................................82
Translate to Technical Requirements ................................................................................84
The House of Quality .............................................................................................85
Identify Engineering Characteristics .........................................................87
Map Engineering Characteristics to Customer Attributes .........................89
Document Engineering Interrelationships .................................................91
Identify Units of Measure and Benchmark Competitors ...........................92
Determine Target Technical Performance Measures ..................................93