Creativity in Product Development
Great products don't happen purely by accident. There is a process by which products are developed that channels creativity with disciplined logical processes. There are clear phases during which a shifting mindset is applied that comprise a continuum that begins with dominant right-brain thinking and culminates in dominant left-brain thinking. Over this continuum ideas freely flow and expand at the initiation phase whereas technical factors and focus on detail are applied to complete precise specificity of product form for the conclusion of the program.
Ideation, commonly associated with the term "brainstorming" is the beginning phase of the product development process. The scope of ideation is related to some specified objective to develop a product that will serve some desired end use. That specified objective can be parameterized by numerous factors that characterize the overall goal. The goal can be driven by market opportunities relating to functionality, cost, size, appearance, features, or on some unique invention embodiments. The goal can be to discover some unique invention embodiment to meet a particular market or research goal. Regardless of the goal, the development process must progress though this continuum of phases to become viable. Ideation is a light hearted process wherein the mind is given liberty to freely express ideas that in turn stimulate other ideas that flow in a synergistic manner to surround the development goal.
Ideation progresses to preliminary concepts wherein multiple possible embodiments may emerge that are appealing to pursue. In this concepts phase, general understanding of viability is considered but it is not necessary to know exactly how viability will be achieved. During the preliminary concept phase ideation activities expand wherein more specific details and concepts are triggered within the initial broader concepts.
Preliminary design is the phase in which the most promising selected concepts take form in simplified expressions that capture overall size, component layout, ergonomic considerations, functional expressions, and general appearance. This effort may work in parallel wherein industrial designers and mechanical designers collaborate to determine if the concepts are likely to fulfill the overall product objective. Typically several preliminary designs are studied for evaluation and assessment.
The next phase involves a winnowing of the alternatives to focus resource on the most promising concepts. The process enters the first design optimization phase. In this phase effort is applied to further study areas of the design that require problem solving to establish viability and reduce risks for potential failures to achieve objectives.
A second optimization phase would typically select one of more alternatives to bring the development to a point wherein a prototype would be fabricated to facilitate tests to determine product performance against the objectives.
Prototype testing is a phase in which a great deal of discovery occurs. This phase is a gatekeeper phase in the respect that it determines if the program will move on to finalization and release or if the program will be sent back to an earlier phase to iteratively repeat those development phases based upon newly discovered realities.
The final phase of the process occurs when approval are given to release the design for final optimization and specification. In this phase precise definition of all parts and manufacturing process are documented for release to manufactures that will build, assemble, and qualify the end product for shipment to customers.
In the modern world of product development, 3D CAD (computer-aided-design) and CAE (computer-aided-engineering) are the principle tools for developing products for manufacturing.