Recently I came across this Design Flow Chart: http://www.williamson-labs.com/design.htm Even though it looks rather complicated (I would not recommend following it step by step) it does contain some very interesting thoughts. For example, if you click the No Cook Books box (not far from the top of the chart):
The first thing you don't do is read how others did it. The first thing you should do is several preliminary designs, using only yourself as a resource You will get insights into the problem that using "cookbook" solutions prevent
After several other steps Williamson finally recommends to research others designs. This is quite contrary to what I used to do. Trying to understand the state of the art was my very first step when a new project started. However, I never thought of this as a cookbook approach, and I was never interested in copying anything without understanding how it worked. I just wanted to make sure that I did not miss the best ideas from the experts in the field before I tried to come up with my own ideas.
So what is your approach to a new design ? And are there any other steps in the Flow Chart that you find especially valuable (or steps that you use and that are missing from the chart) ?
The first thing you don't do is read how others did it. The first thing you should do is several preliminary designs, using only yourself as a resource You will get insights into the problem that using "cookbook" solutions prevent
After several other steps Williamson finally recommends to research others designs. This is quite contrary to what I used to do. Trying to understand the state of the art was my very first step when a new project started. However, I never thought of this as a cookbook approach, and I was never interested in copying anything without understanding how it worked. I just wanted to make sure that I did not miss the best ideas from the experts in the field before I tried to come up with my own ideas.
So what is your approach to a new design ? And are there any other steps in the Flow Chart that you find especially valuable (or steps that you use and that are missing from the chart) ?