Concept Generation¶

Please download the template first: Concept Generation and Selection template

Note that instructions for each slide are currently in the template file!

The goal is to develop a broad range of concepts and to clearly document those for review and evaluation and later, for concept selection. The documentation needs to be complete enough to support this review cycle. Be sure to document variations of a concept as well as the main idea.

Sketches may be hand drawn at this stage of the design process. In general we favor more hand drawn sketches than fewer sketches made in a CAD tool.

As with Needs and Requirements, there is no "magic" number of concepts that must be generated. The team needs enough concepts so as to have a reasonable space to down-select from. Thus, while there is no specific number requires, practically speaking, it should be more than 2-3. The goal is to be creative in this process, look for opportunities to combine elements of multiple concepts and to help create the opportunity to develop further concepts.

The criteria used for Concept Selection will be the Requirements from your Needs and Requirements spreadsheet - so keep updating that as you learn more about the project.

For many teams, the initially selected concept may not prove to be adequate, requiring a return to the concept generation and selection phases. Having many concepts to choose from facilitates this.

For more information on the process itself, please see Concept_Generation_&_Selection elsewhere in this wiki. That page also includes links to other resources, such as the materials used in IED and a helpful video refresher.