Early Decisions Have a LARGE impact on Future Actions

Photo by Kevin Ku on Unsplash

Whenever you face a problem, you will have to design a solution. To get to your solution, you will have to make some initial decisions. As we are not used to tackling complex problems, we don’t have to deal with complex design solutions; consequentially, we are often not concerned with good planning and having a process.

“The decisions made during the design process have a great effect on the cost of a product but cost very little.” Ullman, The mechanical design process

The effectiveness of a design process is measured by product cost, quality, and time to market. When you start considering product cost as resources rather than just money, then the idea of making a product becomes much more relatable. Time is our most valuable resource.

Design is planning. Manufacturing is acting.

You should think of design activities as planning and manufacturing as the action, and you will be more aware of the extent to which planning will impact our future decisions.

Planning has a little cost, but a large impact on future incurred cost

The cost of design activities can be small but might significantly impact later stages. Ulrich (1998) studied design effects on manufacturing cost, concluding that good design, regardless of manufacturing efficiency, can cut costs by 35–75%. Imagine the impact good planning has on the outcomes of our project!

Making plans at the beginning of a project, we commit to costs that we will incur later. Consequentially manufacturing offers frameworks like lean manufacturing. The lean concept is now used in coding and (by some) in writing.

Fail early. Fail Often. — Everyone on Twitter and any self help book

Design practices evolved in empowering practitioners with useful tools to make good early decisions. Double Diamond, MoSCoW, and other frameworks can help us plan better in design and everyday projects.

The awareness of the effect of your present actions on your future self will save you time and make you more effective.

This post was created with Typeshare