How do you quickly test your engineering solutions?

1 Define your problem

The first step in testing your engineering solutions is to define your problem clearly and precisely. What are you trying to achieve? Who are you designing for? What are the constraints and requirements? By defining your problem, you can focus your testing on the most relevant and important aspects of your solution, and avoid wasting time and money on irrelevant or unrealistic tests.

2 Generate hypotheses

The next step is to generate hypotheses about your solution. A hypothesis is a testable statement that predicts how your solution will perform in a specific scenario or context. For example, if you are designing a bicycle, a hypothesis could be: "The bicycle will be faster and more comfortable than a car in a congested urban area". By generating hypotheses, you can identify the key assumptions and variables that affect your solution, and design tests to validate or invalidate them.

3 Choose your testing methods

When testing your engineering solutions, you can choose from several methods depending on your problem, hypotheses, and resources. Prototyping is a popular approach that involves creating a physical or digital model to evaluate feasibility, usability, and desirability. Experimenting is another option that allows you to measure effectiveness, efficiency, and reliability with quantitative data. You can also observe how your solution is used or perceived in a realistic or artificial setting to assess appeal, satisfaction, and impact. Interviewing potential or actual users, customers, or experts is also an effective way to test value, relevance, and differentiation.

4 Plan your testing process

Once you have chosen your testing methods, you need to plan your testing process. This means defining your testing objectives, questions, criteria, and measures. For example, if you are prototyping a bicycle, you might want to test how fast, comfortable, and safe it is, by measuring the speed, distance, comfort level, and number of accidents of the users. You also need to plan your testing logistics, such as who will participate, where and when will the testing take place, what materials and tools will you need, and how will you record and analyze the data.

5 Conduct your testing

The final step is to conduct your testing according to your plan. This means preparing your test materials, recruiting and briefing your test participants, setting up your test environment, conducting your test sessions, and collecting and storing your test data. During your testing, you should be flexible and adaptable, as you might encounter unexpected challenges or opportunities. You should also be observant and curious, as you might discover new insights or questions that can improve your solution.

Testing your engineering solutions is not a one-time activity, but a continuous and iterative process. You should test your solutions early and often, and use the results to refine and improve your design. By testing your engineering solutions quickly and effectively, you can create better products and services that solve real problems and satisfy real needs.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?