Thinking Like an Engineer
The Design Process
12 min · 2 worked examples · 3 questionsFree
Why engineers do not start by building, and what they do instead.
After this lesson you can
- Say why building is the last step, not the first
- Write a requirement before you start designing
- Test to find failure rather than to confirm success
Building is the last step, not the first
The instinct when given a problem is to start building immediately. Engineers resist that, because a mistake caught while sketching costs nothing, whereas the same mistake caught after manufacturing costs a fortune.
The process is roughly: understand the requirements, generate several possible designs, choose one against explicit criteria, build a prototype, test it hard, then iterate. The loop matters more than the list, no design survives first contact with reality, and expecting to go round several times is realism, not pessimism.
In the full lesson
- Building is the last step, not the first
- Requirements come first
- Generate options before choosing
- Prototype, test, iterate
Free with an account. Read it, work the examples, answer the questions, then build it in the simulator.