Develop a list of original design problems that you would like to do at least 3. Choose

5.2 Types of Project Plans

113 If you do not know where you are going, you can not know when you get there. Modernized from “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind” Lucius Annaeus Seneca [4 BC–AD 65]. 5.2 TYPES OF PROJECT PLANS There are many different types of project plans. The simplest is the Stage-Gate or Waterfall plan. As shown in Fig. 5.2, work done in each stage is approved at a decision gate before progressing to the next stage. In its simplest form, the stage-gate methodology is very simple: Stage 1 = Product discovery, Stage 2 = Develop concepts, Stage 3 = Evaluate concepts, and so on. More likely, the stages are focused on specific systems or subsystems. Further, each stage may contain a set of concurrent activities executed in parallel, not in sequence. The Stage-Gate Process can also be represented as a waterfall Fig. 5.3 with each stage represented like a flat area where the water pools before falling to the next pool. The Stage-Gate method was formalized by NASA in the 1980s for managing massive aerospace projects. The gates are often referred to as design reviews, formal meetings during which the members of the design team report their progress to management. Depending on the results of the design review, management then decides to either continue the development of the product, perform more work in the previous stage, or to terminate the project before any more resources are expended. A major assumption in stage-gate or waterfall plans is that work can be done sequentially. This means that the product definition can be determined early in the process and that it will flow through concept to product. This is true for most mature types of products. A good example is the process used by Irwin in the design of new tools such as the Quick-Grip Clamp introduced in Chap. 2. Figure 5.4 shows the process used for the development of the clamp. At each stage, Irwin refines the definition into the objective and the deliverables. For example, the objective of “MS2-Design” is “Concept feasibility and robust business case.” In order to know that the objective has been achieved, there must be a set of deliverables. These include ■ Concept development ■ Technical feasibility ■ Cost targets and financials ■ Concept validation by consumers ■ Legal assessment of intellectual property The gate that follows Design is refined with the decisions made, who makes the decisions, and the criteria for the decisions.At Irwin, for example, the decisions made at the gate following MS 2 are select concept, approve business cases, accept