"Problem Finding", Vision and Commitment

Times have changed. Global competition is such that engineers no longer have the luxury to wait to be told what to do. Instead we must train our students to find unrecognized problems / needs, understand the needs fully and then state their VISION of what could be.

Here are some suggestions for doing this-
1- Identifying, defining and understanding the problem is critical to success of the design.
That means that the students need to understand the state of the art (SOTA).
* Research is key. What is life like for the user? Why? What has already been done?
* Who are the stakeholders? Explain.
* Compose a clear problem statement of the need/ opportunity for improvements.
* Perform Reverse Engineering analysis of what exists.
* Understand how existing devices / solutions work, how built, what they cost

2- Criticize what Exists-
* What are the assumptions?
* What are the compromises?
* What would be ideal?
Use metrics in the evaluation and criticism.. rather than vague terms like.. large, heavy,.. hard to use,..expensive..
* Criticize what exists in a structured manner, using a template...
Start with functional analysis of the sub-system.
Functions- that must be provided by the sub-system. Functional analysis is really important.. functions are defined as verb-nouns.. Arrange the functions in diagram form.. starting with top functions and branching to show the sub-functions needed to provide the function.

Template for criticizing looks something like:
1- Physical characteristics
2- Performance
3- Cost- Affordability for the user
4- Interface with-
* user
* The environment
5- Safety
6- Innovation
7- ??

3- Create a Vision of What is Needed and what you will do, BEFORE you know how to do it or even if it is possible.
"Two billion people in the developing world do not have .... This means that their lives are.... and.... The lives of everyone in the world are impacted by this because.... Therefore, (our vision) we are comittted to create a ... The result will be .... And the BENEFITS will be....
We don't know how we are going to do this, but we will do it within the next .... months."