What is Strategic Design?
Strategic Design, also known as the Strategy Dictated Design method, is a focused project management tool that can be used to identify potential solutions to a problem, create a priority list based on available resources, promote effective iterative design processes, and promote reprioritization based on test results.
While this method can be applied to a wide range of challenges, for the purposes of this article we’ll focus on its application in designing a robot for a competitive robotics program—specifically, one that must perform tasks within a clearly defined set of game rules.
Developing a Strategic Design Mindset
At its core, Strategic Design is a critical thinking exercise that challenges participants to explore problems from new perspectives, encourages creativity, and assists with organizing all of these ideas into a comprehensive approach.
A key principle of Strategic Design is the willingness to entertain every idea, no matter how unrealistic it may initially seem. This can be achieved by recognizing that all solutions are feasible when given the right amount of time, money, man power, and effort. The Strategic Design method never dismisses an idea simply because it seems "impossible.”
While the natural instinct may be to jump straight into problem-solving, the Strategy Dictated Design approach starts by looking at the “what” of a problem before even thinking about the “how.” Strategic Design emphasizes the importance of first gaining a clear, thorough understanding of the challenge and its constraints to understand what the problem really is and what our parameters are before we can offer a solution.
How to Use the Strategic Design Method
The Strategic Design method is a structured, step-by-step process where each stage builds on the next, but where you can always backtrack when things don’t work out as intended. This methodology can be applied to any problem—from what to cook for dinner, to deciding where to go to college, to developing a successful strategy for a competitive robot.
The key is to be data-driven at each step. The effectiveness of Strategic Design depends entirely on the quality of the information used to guide decisions. Inaccurate or incomplete data will result in flawed conclusions.
Strategic design isn’t a one-and-done system; it’s intended to promote the iterative design process. Teams should continuously reassess and reprioritize throughout the season, and make a habit of implementing changes to their robot and scoring strategy.
This article provides a broad and simplified overview of the Strategic Design Process. For a deeper explanation of each step, including sample questions and critical thinking exercises, visit the linked articles for each topic.
- Evaluate Team Resources: The success and direction of your project is significantly influenced by the resources you currently have—or can realistically obtain. Objectively examine what a team is capable of, based on the resources you have available.
- Understand the Problem: Simply put: you can’t play a game if you don’t know the rules—and you can’t compete with a robot if it can’t pass inspection.
- Identify Scoring Opportunities: Identifying every possible scoring opportunity in a game is critical, even if you think you won’t be willing or able to actually do it during a match.
- Calculate the Value of Scoring Opportunities: Determine the value—or return on investment—for each of the scoring actions to determine an estimated overall contribution.
- Prioritize Scoring Opportunities: Organize robot actions and prioritize scoring opportunities based on their strategic value.
- Determine Overall Strategy: Identify the highest possible number of points the team can score, based on actual constraints such as time, materials, skills, and budget.
- Implement Solutions: Begin documentation in the engineering notebook, and document the concept development, CAD work, prototyping process, and testing data for each mechanism.
- Reflect and Reprioritize: Continuously reassess and reprioritize actions that are not meeting strategic objectives.
Credits
This version of Strategic Design is inspired by the work of Karthik Kanagasabapathy, the originator of Strategic Design in competition robotics, and the ideas are used with his permission. Karthik is a former Chair of the VEX Robotics Game Design Committee and a respected mentor in the robotics community. Additional information was provided by the mentors of team 2337, the EngiNERDs, from Grand Blanc High School in Grand Blanc, Michigan.