There are a lot of reasons why software fails, but one of the many reasons is that failure in design. So the real question is how to design a product with the engineering design in mind. So what is engineering design anyway, and why you should care? Engineering design consists of two words: Engineering and Design. I will explain with a simple concept. In order to have the same vision, we will define the two words in a separated way.
Design: is a field of doing and making, creating great products and services that fit humans needs, that delight and inform.
Engineering: is a process to propose a solution based on the application of science and mathematics that useful for people.
Based on the definition engineering design is a way to create a product by following engineering discipline. it has several characteristics such as
having multiple acceptable solutions based on the realistic constraint that might come from multiple disciplines
the multiple constraints can be from business, technical issues, customers, and social values
adopting a well-known standard, method, process, or acceptable framework
with the characteristics, we have 7 generic steps which are:
Identify the need and constraints
Research and understand the problems
Assess possible solution
Select the promise solution
Build a prototype/solution
Test and evaluate the solution
Improve/redesign the solution
In the reality, the steps are applied in iterative and incremental ways. the generic steps become a fundamental process in engineering education like a capstone project. In the next post, I will show you how to apply the engineering design for the capstone project in software engineering discipline.
happy weekend.