Communication with the Client

The first step is to sit down with the client and find out what his/her wants and needs are. A clear understanding of what the client requires is a must before moving on to any other step in the design process. This will prevent wasted time and effort in later steps.

Research

The next step is to conduct research into what is currently available that has the possibility of satisfying the client’s needs. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel and design something completely new if a product already exists that will satisfy the budget and other constraints laid out by the client.

Derive Requirements & Specifications

Using the results from the research done and the client’s wants and needs a set of requirement is derived that the design can meet. The client must then be presented with these requirements and his/her approval should be sought before moving on to the design phase.

Design

The first step in the design phase is to break down what needs to be accomplished. A high level design can then be created that will help visualize how the different tasks in the design procedure can be accomplished. These different tasks can be looked at as different subsystems of the design.

A low lever design is then started for each of these separate subsystems. It must be kept in mind that each of these subsystems must be able to integrate itself into the final design. Each step of the way should be documented so that the documentation for the operation of the final product will be comprehensive.

Build and Test (Implementation)

After completing the low level design, each subsystem should be tested for correct operation and the ability to integrate into the final design. If any subsystem does not perform as required it should be redesigned.

The finished product will then need to be tested to insure that it meets all the requirements and needs that the client specified. Again if the product does not fulfill the specifications the design should be modified. The documentation of all testing and test procedures should be included into the final product’s documentation.

Demonstrate

The final stage in the design process is to demonstrate the final product to the client. The final product should meet all of the client’s needs and the client should be presented with all documentation necessary for replication and troubleshooting of the product.

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