Pros of Having a Design Log
- Tommy Tran
This features a conversation between: @kevin bui @Tommy Tran and @larry li.
These notes features Kevin’s reasons as to why design logs are great and should be implemented in Midnight Sun.
Pros to have a design log:
Hand-offs (between members retire or leaving)
Documenting decisions for all projects to the latest state
Seamless hand-off
Chronologically shows where they started and up until when the person leaves
Hand-offs happen very frequently in waterloo co-op sequences
Helps Kevin make better decisions
Creates a slide that convinces himself that he made a good decision
Then never thinks about it again
If anyone asks about it, or if you think about it again → go back to the slide and convince yourself again or convince the other person
You don’t need to keep repeating yourself
You don’t need to keep thinking about the problem
Leif: “Hey Larry, why is this a 15 degree angle?”
Larry: “ Can’t remember rip :^( “
Log records every single design decision you made!
We record that we reached a correct conclusion in our mind alone
The justification on the slide might be wrong - so at least you can go back and see where you went wrong
Your memory might be wrong or misremember the facts
Good point of reference to know what the next step is:
Doing a good job of making a table contents to see all the considerations you’ve made and what you should consider next
Making a good outline / project planning of your answer
Integration -
You are designing a clevis that needs to be mounted to the Chassis and the tie-rod
Send your slides to the chassis guy and the tie-rod guy and tell them to look at slides ###.
If you have any questions, just look at my slides :^)
Kevin makes a log for EVERYTHING
Every thought
Every decision
Every research
Everything has a decision matrix
It happens all the time in a meeting, why did you do this, why did you go in that direction
It comes down to showing that you looked at all the options and that you chose this one because of these reasons
Larry for co-op
Instead of pulling up notes for an assignment
Just have everything in slides for a presentation
Kevin
Mind races and having slides to sort out all ideas
Have slides that convince yourself of your decisions
Leads to way better designs
Cuts down on check-in time
Just open up their design log to see the latest updates
Check-in can be solely on what’s blocking you or next steps on the project
Wouldn’t waste time just talking about purely updates
Knowledge transfer between MS14 and MS15 would be design logs
So many lead/knowledge transfers occurred during the course of MS14
Kevin wants to share more about formatting of design logs, presentation
Weekly Slides, Design Log - a picture on every slide or even multiple pictures
Members not showing up to weekly meetings
If they own a project, they should check in with a lead of whether they will make it to the check-in
The lead knows that they won’t be there and leads can speak for them
Kevin doesn’t like when “Is [blank] here?”
If Kevin was a new member, and sees that people aren’t showing up
It sends a message that it’s fine to not show up to these
It is hard to convince me otherwise that this isn’t the message
People aren’t showing up - leads don’t know why they aren’t there, etc.
Becomes disorganized, gives the impression that we are not organized
Have all the DRI’s present their work during the weekly meetings
It is to their benefit learning experience and presentation experiences
Unless they privately inform the lead that they can’t
Presenting is scary, but what can you do about it
You can’t get better at it unless you keep working at it
We should keep giving them the opportunity to develop their presentation skills and comfort with presentation
Very good for professional world
Our top priority should be that we make people the best versions of themselves