After listing down our design considerations, we could move on to more specific designs. Concept level design decisions were made using decision trees. Here’s a specific example. We knew that as a truck, our test rig would have to have some form of driving. So we brainstormed the various options available: electric motor, heat engine, etc. We then qualitatively assessed each of these options again the design considerations we had. Based on this, a decision was made that impacted the next step in the decision tree. In this case, we decided to go with the electric motor option and then had to consider how to power it: battery, charged track, etc. We would go back to the assessment stage and keep carrying out this process till we reached the end of the tree, a very specific decision that could not really be debated on. We kept records of these trees in case we ever needed to back track at a later stage.
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