Return on Failure

Name : Gabriel Hii Jia Enn (0321318)

Course : Mechanical Engineering
Project Title : Design and Build of an Innovative Chassis for a Human Powered Vehicle

Describe the failure or mistake that you are analyzing

The greatest failure that our group had been experienced is the rejection of our first
prototype design by our supervisor, Dr. Satesh. Despite the extreme complexity in our
mechanical design, our first prototype design does not fulfill the core objective of this
project, in which we have to construct a whole new chassis design from sketch to
introduce more innovative and simplistic approaches unlike any other existing HPV
designs. In addition, our group had also failed attempt to show any convincing
evidences in proving the efforts based on strict ACID implementation. We had
presented the sketch of decision matrix and detailed design but we eventually create
such an absence in following ACID protocols followed by proper documentation as
evidences of implementing ACID principles in conceiving innovative ideas and
solutions.

Examine what was the Root Cause of the failure

1) Why our first prototype design of HPV chassis is being rejected by our project
supervisor?
We had failed to demonstrate the crucial evidence of implementing ACID protocols
in conceiving innovative ideas and solutions. Hence, our first prototype design turns
out to be similar as a replica of existing ideas introduced by other types of HPV
designs. This outcome is not matching the core objective of our project, in which we
need to boast our creativity in brainstorming the HPV design features.

2) Why we had failed to present the important pieces of evidences regarding to the
ACID implementation?
We had actually missed out the important pieces of evidences regarding to the ACID
implementation due to inexperience in following systematic approaches at the early
stages of previous semester projects. Instead, we always favor in conventional stages
starting from short brainstorming session followed by research data and detailed
design at the same time through workload distribution among the members. In other
words, the early stages in our previous semester projects are not emphasizing enough
on ACID implementation in which the ideas are expressed through sketching and
being analyzed before they are being integrated and analyzed through background
research.

3) Why there is absence of ACID implementation at the early stages of previous

semester projects?
The absence of ACID implementation is due to its insignificance in justifying itself
on top priorities of each members in our group. The ACID stages have been
mistakenly conceived as recommendations for visualizing brainstorming ideas more
effectively instead of being treated as a standard protocol in design stages of all
engineering projects. During the early stages of past projects, we have been advised
to emphasize more on theoretical research as the foundation of innovative ideas or
solutions, such as anthropometry data and biomechanics data. Hence, we had failed to
adapt immediately the changes in priorities and requirements set by our project
supervisor.

4) Why is the ACID protocols failed to make into priorities lists for each members?
The priorities are actually receiving greater influence by the common personality and
attitude toward the project itself. Our human nature always make preference in more
simplistic approach instead of formal stages in which we stereotype it as time-
consuming and unnecessary measure. Furthermore, most of us are fear of failures
upon adapting changes to a whole new approach throughout project stages due to fact
 that the comfort zone has been created after success being achieved during previous
semester projects even without the ACID implementation itself.

5) Why there is absence of interest or willingness to adapt ourselves in formal ACID

implementation during the early stage of our project?
The absence of interest in preference with formal ACID implementation during the
early stage of our project is due to the lack of reflection session at the end of every
previous semester projects. The absence of reflection session in every previous
engineering projects has restricted the learning outcomes for each members of our
group to be heavily experience-based instead of being analyzed theoretically and
improvised to changes for improvements in terms of efficiency and impact. The
situation gets worse in which the previous projects have arranged based on
inappropriate scheduling ahead few days of finals and thus it creates a hindrance for
all group members to figure out the common time for conducting group reflection
session after the engineering fair.

Are there any other ways that you could have failed to achieve your objectives?

In my opinion, there are several possible ways that I could have failed to achieve my
objectives based on the project learning outcomes.
1) The first possible way is the absence of implementing brainstorming techniques in
the early stage of our project. If our group refused or ignore the implementation of
system thinking in conceiving our both prototype designs, the conceive session for
our project would take even longer time for making sense of brainstorming ideas into
illustration sketches. Hence, the absence of system thinking would costs our precious
time and effort to complete conceive session on time based on project schedule being
purposed.
2) The second possible way is the denial of modeling stage for our project. If our group
has denied advices from our project supervisor in emphasizing modeling scale 1:1
before production of prototype, our project supervisor would have unable to provide
further insight on visualizing the implementation of detailed design into reality. The
real prototype would also possibly unfavorable to expectations set by our project
supervisor and eventually brings down the project progress to halt.
3) The third possible way is definitely the absence of seamless teamwork and
cooperation among all members. If we loss such initiative in cooperate with one
another, we would eventually lose motivation easily when we face hindrances and
challenges throughout the project, especially regarding to our main failure of this
project which is the rejection of first design proposal. Hence, the project would have
minimum possibilities of achieving its success as no members are willing to
contribute their own efforts without getting mutual respect and instant respond from
one another.

Describe how you will use the insight above so that you eliminate or minimise the
possibility of failure in the future.

There are various measures that I would practice to ensure that I could eliminate or minimize
the possibility of failure in the future.

1) The first measure would be a quick construction of pending checklist regarding to

the implementation of CDIO at the beginning of project. This checklist would include
the objectives and tasks required for every project stage enlisted in CDIO framework
to ensure that the efforts are worth and fulfilling the ultimate project objectives.
2) The second measure would be the recommendation of modeling stage in smaller
scale using clay model in future projects. Based on our experience in current project,
the modeling stage could be more effective and rewarding by replacing bulky
recyclable materials to flexible clay moles. In addition, the smaller scale model
would benefits time savings without compromising the ability of providing further
insight for project supervisor to monitor followed by providing appropriate guidance
and advices based on the model presented.
3) The third measure would be encouragement of active communication between
group members and supervisor. Based on our experience in current project, we
realize the importance of instant two-way communication between group members
 and supervisor in order to share information effectively without being constrained by
each others schedule. In future projects, I would recommend my supervisor to utilize
the technologies provided besides traditional emails for real-time monitoring related
to project progress and real-time communications on solving hindrances or conflicts
throughout the project stages..

What are the other key learnings from this failure?

The other key learnings from this failure is listed as below:

The first learning is the importance of achieving mutual understanding with

supervisor through initiative communication and consultation. I had missed several
golden opportunities in previous meetings with our project supervisor, Dr. Satesh to
seek consultation regarding to his expectations on leanings and achievements that we
need to demonstrate throughout the project stages. Instead, I should take my own
initiative as a team leader to approach to our supervisor to hold a brief discussion on
mutual expectations and details on how to accomplish tasks precise and effectively
according to project goals set.
The second learning is definitely the importance of design checklist to be enlisted
right after the brainstorming sessions. The design checklist would help each of us to
link with previous learning sessions about the implementation of ACID framework to
be integrated in the early stage of our project.
The third learning is the realization of sketching individual sub-components for the
design of given product. Once the individual components and its design features are
being completed, it is more easier to visualize them being integrated in a bigger
picture of idea about the final prototype instead of proceeding to detailed design
without getting through the details of the sub-components and their relationships with
one another.