Facilitating Introduction to Design

The purpose of the Introduction to Design shift is to give new TW employees a basic understanding of what the Software and Design team are, what resources they have access to, and most importantly, to get a taste for the design process. Any fully trained Design Team or Software Team member should be able to facilitate this shift.

The setup for Introduction to Design Team is fairly minor. Simply ensure that you have printed the necessary worksheet for the Trainee to use, found here. If you are Design Team member unfamiliar with the Software Team, or a Software Team member unfamiliar with the Design Team, review the information below.

We design software - specifically for use by Terrapin Works, friends of Terrapin Works, and Terrapin Works Customers. But our main goal is to help each other to become better software developers and managers and to build awesome things in the process!

An increasing number Terrapin Works design projects need development of software - beyond electronics and embedded systems - but software developed in a number of domains, including web development and advanced data processing.

Terrapin Works has been around for a while and the existence of the software team within that is much shorter. Terrapin Works began as a place for people to pay for 3D prints, then we started doing design projects (where a client could get a product designed in CAD for them as well as printed for them). Design projects became more complex until eventually TW realized that they needed to dedicate some staff to full-time software development, not only for client projects but also for building tools that the team can use internally.

We provide design services to members of the campus community and surroundings. This includes preliminary design analysis, Computer Aided Design, prototyping, and working with manufacturers for production. We also provide design consultations and coaching to students and University researchers.

Many members of the University community have ideas for things they need made, but often lack the expertise in design and manufacturing to do them themselves. At the same time, Terrapin Works employs many engineers and other technically minded students looking for real experience in solving design problems. The Design Team exists to link the former with the latter.

Design team has had a messy and convoluted history as it initially grew out of the initiative of more or less a single member of Terrapin Works to encompass projects ranging from Computational Fluid Dynamics to mechatronics. Recently the team has been refocusing in terms of providing physical design for manufacturing techniques TW employs to campus community members.

After a trainee arrives for their Design Introduction shift, first give them a tour of the Design Shop, its layout, and the resources we have at hand.

Point out the workstations, meeting table, tools, Glowforge, and software workspaces.

Mention the primary software packages used by the Design and Software Team:

• Jira for project management and work logging
• Solidworks, Fusion 360, and Autodesk Inventor for CAD
• InkScape, Adobe Illustrator for vector graphics
• Gitlab for code version control

Describe the purpose of the Design Team: To provide a professional design service to the UMD campus community and neighbors. Mention that our work ranges from doing quick design consultations for researchers, to making prototypes, to helping inventors bring their products to manufacturers. Describe the Software Team’s purpose: to provide software solutions for Terrapin Works’ lab management. Answer any trainee questions about the Design and Software team’s work.

At this point, begin the design process training portion of the shift. Give them a Design Process worksheet and pose the following question:

What annoys you most working in the MIC?

From their answer to this prompt, work to identify a problem. E.g. “Changing filament for printers on the top row of printers is uncomfortable” or “I often have to redundantly look up information that isn’t on print labels”. Caution them not to immediately jump to a solution e.g. “We need a [something] to do [something]”. Focus on the problem.

After identifying the general problem and writing this down, work with the trainee to identify the customers for the solution. That is, think through everyone who will have to interact and work with a solution to the problem and their needs.

After identifying customers, write a final solution-neutral problem statement incorporating customers and needs. E.g. “It is difficult for MIC lab managers to reach filament on the top shelves, and the current stepladders do not suffice for shorter members of the team.”

Ask the trainee to identify the known parameters of the problem. After thinking this through, try to identify gaps in knowledge that would be necessary to fill. If this knowledge can be easily acquired, look it up or ask around. If not, leave it as a known unknown.

With this knowledge in mind, set criteria for selecting a good solution. Which criteria are hard requirements? Which are optional but nice? Which would make the difference between accepting one solution over another.

Only now ask the trainee to brainstorm possible solutions. Try to get as many ideas on paper as you can.

Only once the ideas are all written, talk through with the trainee the process of assessing each possible solution along your chosen decision criteria. Make a table or matrix, ranking or in some way notating how you would expect each solution to perform on the relevant axes.

Begin by removing solutions that would fail hard requirements. Then prune based on decision criteria. Finally, choose a single solution to initially pursue.

Work with the trainee to sketch out the solution, whether it be a physical device, piece of software, or organizational process. Talk through how long it would take to manufacture or design in detail, how expensive the design might be.

If the solution concept and time permit, work using the tools available in the Design Shop to make a proof of concept prototype.

Emphasize to the trainee that real design is as much about communication as it is about design itself. Find an instance of their target customer, and present the selected solution/prototype following the worksheet.

Explain to the trainee what would happen if their idea was a full-on Design Team project:

1. Customers send in their project requests via the Design Form on the Terrapin Works website or by emailing tw-design@umd.edu
2. Design Program Manager assess feasibility, works with Design Team Coordinator and Project Managers to provide a quote
3. Statement of Work is accepted by the customer, a Project Manager and Designers are assigned
4. Work is tracked via Jira, with weekly meetings and milestones

Show the Design Team Project Tracker and explain the various stages (full Dozuki here). Mention the role of the Design Program Manager, Design Team Coordinator, Project Managers, and Designers.

Solicit feedback from the trainee. Ask what could be made better about the training.