all

Analytic Problem Solving

• Step #01: Problem Statement

• Restate in your own words the problem you are solving

• Engineering challenges can be large and complex so it is important to understand what part of the

problem you need to solve

• Step #02: Description

• List the information given/known and what needs to be found

• Draw a diagram/sketch of the problem to better understand it

• Step #03: Theory

• State the theory or equations needed to solve the problem

• Step #04: Simplifying Assumptions

• Simplifying assumptions can make the problem easier to solve and still provide an accurate result

• Step #05: Problem Solution

• Perform calculations by hand or using the computer

• Step #06: Accuracy Verification

• Verify your answer 6

Example of Analytic Problem Solving

7

State theory

and/or relevant

equations

The problem you are

trying to solve

Write out the

information given

Example of Analytic Problem Solving

8

Simplify assumptions

Perform the

calculations

Analytic Problem Solving: The Scientific Method

9

One of the most important analytic

problem-solving methods is the Scientific

Method

Creative Problem Solving (CPS)

• CPS encourages you to find new perspectives and come up with innovative/openended solutions

• Defers judgement of ideas during brainstorming process

• Step #01: What is wrong?

• Identify the issue

• Step #02: What do we know?

• Gather facts

• Step #03: What is the real problem?

• Identifying the initial problem answers the question of what, or what is wrong

• To fix the problem, a problem solver needs to understand why the problem exists

• Find the root causes

10

Creative Problem Solving

• Step #4: What is the best solution?

• Brainstorm ideas/solutions

• Rank solutions high or low in terms of impact and effort.

• Ideal solutions are those that have a high impact yet require a low level of effort.

• Step #05. How do we implement the solution?

• Solutions may require either additional resources such as money or assistance from

others 11

Problem-solving matrix

Avoid solutions that fall in quadrant B

Root Cause Analysis

• Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes of problems

in order to identify appropriate solutions.

• Focus on correcting and remedying root causes rather than just symptoms

• Realize there can be, and often are, multiple root causes

• Focus on HOW and WHY something happened, not WHO was responsible

• Be methodical and find concrete cause-effect evidence to back up root cause claims

• Consider how a root cause can be prevented (or replicated) in the future

• One of the more common techniques in performing a root cause analysis is the 5

Whys Approach

Waterfall Project Management

• Project Management allows project managers to plan, execute, track and complete

projects with the help of a team

• Waterfall project management:

• Linear approach where a team must complete each project phase before moving on

to the next one

• Provides a concrete plan of the project from start to finish

2

Triple Constraints of Project Management

• Most projects must deliver three primary items known as triple constraints

• Customer satisfaction

• Did you meet the needs of the customer?

• Did you deliver everything that the customer needed?

• Is the customer happy with the results?

• Also known as Project scope

• Cost

• Projects have budgets, and the project manager is responsible for delivering the

project at or under budget

• Time

• Projects have schedules so time must be managed closely

• Triple constraints determine the success or failure of a project

3

Golden Triangle

• The triple constraints are so important to project management that they are sometimes

called the “Golden Triangle”

4

Project Management Phases

5

Stage 1: Project Initiation

• Create a project charter/project summary

• Describe and summarize what you or your team will be doing.

• List project objectives

• Outcomes/Deliverables

• Duration

• Customers

• Stakeholders

• Team membership and roles

• Planning information

• Benefits of a project charter:

• Gives the project vision

• Helps define the roles and responsibilities of your team members as well as any others

involved

6

Stage 2: Project Planning

• Task Definitions

• Identify tasks that need to be completed

• Identify who needs to be working on what task each week

• Project plan should have milestones (deadline or key event for some deliverable)

• Each phase completion of the design process could be a milestone

• Monitor progress using milestones (check if you are on schedule)

7

Stage 2: Project Planning

• Schedule

• Tasks are often measured in working days

• Identify predecessors (tasks that must be completed first)

• Some tasks must be done in sequential order: #1, then #2, etc.

• Some tasks can be done concurrently: # 1 and #2 at the same time

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Someone is responsible for each task

• Complete WBS has all tasks identified, start and stop times defined, task

predecessors listed, and responsibilities assigned

• Popular software to create a WBS: Microsoft Project

8

Work Breakdown Structure Example

9

Stage 2: Project Planning

• Critical Paths

• Critical paths are series of tasks that will pace the project

• Tasks on the critical path will delay the project if they are not completed on time

• Delay in one critical item will often affect the timing of many other tasks

• Delay on critical path = Entire project will be delayed

• Gantt chart

• Horizontal bar chart used in project management where tasks are plotted vs. time

• Tasks can run consecutively, with one starting when the previous one ends.

• Tasks can run in parallel or overlap

10

Gantt Chart Example

11

Stage 2: Project Planning

• Costs

• Creating a budget (forecast of costs over the life of the project)

• Creating a Bill of Materials (BOM) which is an organized list of the materials and

accessories required to complete the project or produce or repair a product.

13

Stage 3: Project Execution

• Once planning phase is complete, put the plan into action

• Project managers ensure that all tasks are handled accordingly and everyone is on

track

• Project managers ensure resources are allocated to project tasks and goals are

completed

14

Stage 4: Project Monitoring & Controlling

• Stage 4 usually runs concurrently with Stage 3

• Monitor progress with periodic reviews

• Project manager works with their team to resolve any issues

• Revise the timeline to accommodate for unexpected delays or changes

• Risk Management (resolving any potential project risks)

• Ex: If the project is behind schedule, managers must take necessary action

15

Stage 5: Project Closing

• Confirm completion of project deliverables

• Team’s performance is reviewed and efforts are recognized

• Project flaws are analyzed and the scope for improvement is noted

16

Video #01: What is Project Management?

• Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39_O-An

Agile Project Management

• Project is broken into small pieces which are completed in sprints that generally run

anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

• Responds to issues that arise throughout the course of the project.

• Core principles of running an Agile project:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

• Core focus of Agile project management is on people, prototypes, collaboration, and

iteration.

2

Agile vs Waterfall Project Management

3

Waterfall Agile

Timeline Fixed timeline. Start and finish

based on a fixed plan

Flexible to allow for

experimentation and changing

direction

Overhead Requires less coordination once

the project is defined

Needs constant babysitting

Client Expectations End goal established and defined

from the start

Customer satisfaction high by

getting exactly what they want

given new information

Flexibility Any change requires re-thinking

the entire plan

Short bursts of work (sprints)

allow adaptability

Budget Fixed and well defined, costs

estimations very accurate

Flexible, allows changes and may

drive over costs

4

Waterfall method:

Teams plan out the entire

development process first

and then work through it

sequentially before releasing

it to users. Relies on

predictability and sequence.

Agile method:

Iterative and

flexible

Video #01: Waterfall vs. Agile in 60 seconds

• Link#1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scP2puzkW5Y

5

Key Components of Agile project management

• User stories

• Sprints

• Meetings

• Agile board

• Backlog

• Team Roles

6

Key Components:

• User Stories:

• Short descriptions of the tasks users need or want to be completed

• Written from the user’s perspective

• “As a [type of user] I want [some particular feature] so that [some benefit] is

received.”

• Sprints:

• Short cycles of development where you work towards a release/complete a task

• Usually 1-3 weeks to complete

• Once the sprint is over, you review the product see what is and isn’t working,

make adjustments

7

Key Components:

• Meetings:

• Great way to ensure everyone is on track and informed

• Daily standups/Scrum Meetings: Quick daily meetings where everyone talks through

what they’re working on.

• Sprint planning: Longer meeting at the start of a sprint where the Agile team decides

what work should be included.

• Sprint retrospective: At the end of a sprint, the team comes together to discuss what

was completed, what worked, and how you can improve moving forward.

8

Key Components:

• Agile Board:

• Helps your team track the progress of your project

• Ex: Whiteboard with sticky notes or a simple Kanban board

• Backlog:

• List of requirements and other tasks that need to be completed

• A record of what needs to be done and in which order it should be done.

9

Key Components:

• Team Roles:

• Scrum Master: Ensures that each sprint stays on track and helps to remove or

resolve any issues or challenges that may come up

• Product owner: Helps define the goals of each sprint, manages the backlog, and

represents the voice of the customer to the team.

• Team members: Performs the work in each sprint

• Stakeholders: People who are impacted by the outcome of a project. This is an

informational role only - Stakeholders should be kept up to date on the product

and sprint goals, and provide feedback.

10

Steps in Agile project management:

• Project planning

• Product roadmap creation

• Release planning

• Sprint planning

• Daily stand-ups

• Sprint review & retrospective

11

Steps in Agile Project Management:

• Project Planning:

• Set your project vision and scope

• What is the end goal of this Agile project and how will you achieve it?

• Product Roadmap Creation:

• Breakdown of the features that will make up the final product

• Develop a backlog

12

Steps in Agile Project Management:

• Release Planning:

• Plan incremental releases of a product

• Project uses shorter development cycles (called sprints) with features released at

the end of each cycle.

• Release plans guide sprints, where product requirements are prioritized,

developed, and released

• Sprint Planning:

• Share the load evenly among team members so they can accomplish their

assigned tasks during the sprint.

• Visually document your workflow for team transparency and shared

understanding within the team

13

Steps in Agile Project Management:

• Daily Stand-Ups:

• Meetings to check in with team members

• Sprint Review and Retrospective:

• After the end of each sprint, your team will hold two meetings.

• Meeting #01 Sprint Review: Show project stakeholders the finished product

• Meeting #02 Sprint Retrospective: Discussion with stakeholders about future

improvements and feedback about the sprints

14

Types of Charts in Agile Project Management

• Progress is tracked using velocity and burndown charts instead of Gantt charts and

project milestones

• Velocity chart: Average amount of work a team completes during a sprint

• Burndown chart: Shows the amount of work that has been completed in a sprint, and

the total work remaining

Orthographic Projection

• 3D object can be represented using multiple 2D drawings taken from several views.

• Each view shows what the object would look like if its image were projected onto a flat

surface.

• Generally, three views are required for a complete representation

2

Orthographic Projection

• Three 2D projections – front, top, and side

• Each view shows only two dimensions of the object, but when we look at all three

views, we have a complete picture of the 3-D shape.

3

Three Standard Views in Orthographic Projection

• Standard Views: Top, Front, and Side

4

All Six Standard Views in Orthographic Projection

• Top, Front, Bottom, Right Side, Left Side, and Back

• Only 3 Standard views are needed (Top, Front, and Side), rest are redundant

5

Six Standard Views in Orthographic Projection

• Top, Front, Bottom, Right Side, Left Side, and Back

6

Visible Lines

• Solid lines used to indicate visible edges ofsurfaces

• Highest priority in drawing – they take priority over other lines that they may cover up

7

Hidden Lines

• Dashed lines; Used to show edges which are not visible from the current viewing angle (2nd

highest priority in drawing)

• Sometimes the object itself blocks our view of the details that appear hidden, so we need a

way to represent these features

8

Centerlines

• Solid with dashes

• Used to indicate that a circular feature is shown

• Centerlines are also used to depict the center of a symmetrical part (ex: cylinders)

9

Isometric View

• View of the object in which all three dimensions are shown.

• Helps us visualize what the object looks like

• Most common orientation for the isometric sketch is described when the observer would be

looking down on the object (bird’s-eye view).

10

Video #01: Isometric Projection in Engineering

Drawing

• Link#1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j7l1OWhMlE

11

Dimensions and Tolerances

• American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sets the standards for the dimension and

tolerance practices for engineering drawings

• All drawings must include dimensions, tolerances, the materials from which the product will be

made and other appropriate notes (i.e., part number)

• A machinist must be able to make the part from the detailed drawings

12

Dimensions and Tolerances

/

/

• Two concepts to keep in mind when specifying dimensions in an engineering drawing: Size

and Location

• Must also specify the location of the center of a hole in a part

• A drawing is dimensioned with the aid of dimension lines, extension lines, centerlines, and

leaders

• A leader line is a line that establishes a connection between a graphical representation of an

item and some text that describes or identifies the item, providing clarity and context for the viewer.