Surname 1 Name Course Tutor Date Summaries Journeys in product development All companies ought to master the art of product design in order for them to remain relevant in the highly competitive market. This article addresses a general overview of product development and design which then builds an outlook on the development of systematic design and a hypothesis on the growth of design as a practice. Further, the article touches on the development of product practices of a number companies which then offers a comparison with own philosophies. This article concludes by examining different theories that have been advanced over time. Product development process is a technical and elaborative process that is prerequisite to bringing a new a new business idea to a market readiness state. Design takes three forms namely original, adaptive and variant design. The design process may as well be classified as the disciplines of designs that cut across various engineering fields such as mechanical, electrical, architectural, industrial, food science, material, furniture, road/bridge, and aerospace. Any product goes through one such designs process during its development. Companies assume a development process that is different from one another and no best development process can be singled out. This process takes three development phases namely understanding the market opportunity, developing a concept, and implementing the concept. Some of the companies that employ modern development process include Xerox Corporation which follows a systematic path of defining market attack plan and technology, defining product and deliver technology, designing the product, demonstrating the product, delivering the product, and delighting customers. Other companies such as Microsoft Corporation have to weather a high competitive market cycle while others such as Raychem Corporation have products that exist in development process much longer than anticipated. This results in difficulty when it comes to forecasting the needs and wants of customers. On the other hand, some companies such as Ford Motor Company employ complex development process whose methods this article does not cover while some companies such as use very technical Raytheon Corporation use very technical development processes. The methodological designs and theories evolve with each passing day as new developments come. Why study the design process The main focus of this article is the establishment and identification of tools that would help in developing designs that are efficient without taking into account the type of product being developed. Some of design problems may arise and should be effectively solved in order to come up with an appealing end product. The important feature design problems apply to any form of design problem may it be mechanical, software, construction projects, or electrical. Some of the factors that that determine the failure or success of a product include production, ...

1. Surname 1
Name
Course
Tutor
Date
Summaries
Journeys in product development
All companies ought to master the art of product design in order
for them to remain relevant in the highly competitive market.
This article addresses a general overview of product
development and design which then builds an outlook on the
development of systematic design and a hypothesis on the
growth of design as a practice. Further, the article touches on
the development of product practices of a number companies
which then offers a comparison with own philosophies. This
article concludes by examining different theories that have been
advanced over time.
Product development process is a technical and elaborative
process that is prerequisite to bringing a new a new business
idea to a market readiness state. Design takes three forms
namely original, adaptive and variant design. The design
process may as well be classified as the disciplines of designs
that cut across various engineering fields such as mechanical,
electrical, architectural, industrial, food science, material,
furniture, road/bridge, and aerospace. Any product goes through
one such designs process during its development. Companies
assume a development process that is different from one another
and no best development process can be singled out. This

2. process takes three development phases namely understanding
the market opportunity, developing a concept, and implementing
the concept.
Some of the companies that employ modern development
process include Xerox Corporation which follows a systematic
path of defining market attack plan and technology, defining
product and deliver technology, designing the product,
demonstrating the product, delivering the product, and
delighting customers. Other companies such as Microsoft
Corporation have to weather a high competitive market cycle
while others such as Raychem Corporation have products that
exist in development process much longer than anticipated. This
results in difficulty when it comes to forecasting the needs and
wants of customers. On the other hand, some companies such as
Ford Motor Company employ complex development process
whose methods this article does not cover while some
companies such as use very technical Raytheon Corporation use
very technical development processes. The methodological
designs and theories evolve with each passing day as new
developments come.
Why study the design process
The main focus of this article is the establishment and
identification of tools that would help in developing designs
that are efficient without taking into account the type of product
being developed. Some of design problems may arise and should
be effectively solved in order to come up with an appealing end
product. The important feature design problems apply to any
form of design problem may it be mechanical, software,
construction projects, or electrical. Some of the factors that that
determine the failure or success of a product include
production, business, and product design.
This article further highlights the importance of studying the
design process as it is the management and organization of
people together with the information they grow the process of
development of a given product. The success of the whole

3. process of design is measurable in regard to quality of the final
product, time required to come up with the product, the cost
incurred to make the final product, the total expenses of the
final product, and the eventual quality of the product. It
becomes important to pay consideration to early phases as cost
is committed at this moment of design process. Concurrent
engineering encompasses all stakeholders in the design process
emphasizing both concern for whole process and the design of
the product.
All products have a life cycle that begins with establishing a
need and ending at retirement. This article is principally
concerned with design process planning development in
engineering requirements, phases of product design, and
conceptual design. The mechanical design process is geared
towards a process where a particular solving problem is solved
which then transforms a given problem into a desirable final
product. The identifiable design problems have various
solutions that are considered satisfactory. The identification
process entails taking seven actions namely establishing the
need, understanding, generating, evaluating, deciding, and
communicating.
Engineering design
Engineers might get jobs at various institutions and work
stations and assume divergent roles such as designing new
products, developing a new concept, designing specialized
facilities that can be used by a certain group of people, and so
forth. The engineering process has three main elements namely
designer, client and the user. Engineering design basically
entails a methodical, intellectual oriented process which
involves generation, evaluation and specifying designs for the
devices, process or systems. This form of design is meant of
tackle difficult engineering design problems as they are usually
open-ended and ill structured. One of the best ways of learning

4. an engineering design is by articulation what one knows and
applying the skills.
One of the definitions that are closely relatable to our
engineering design requires the designers to offer a description
of the organization of the device, its function, the structural
components of the device, and how it works. Engineering design
has evolved from traditional use of drawings and texts to
represent fabrication specification to concurrent engineering
which demands that manufacturing specialists and designers
concurrently and collectively design artifacts together.
Fabrication specifications are an integral part of design
engineering as they provide a basis for evaluating how well a
given design is in line with its inventive design aims. It is worth
noting that these specifications emerge from the design of the
requirements which further result from the ability to transform
the initial client’s objectives into requirements. What should be
emphasized, therefore, is the need to maintain communication
among stakeholders as designing is a social process that
necessitates human interactions. To come up with good
engineering design, however, requires good management of the
design project.
Should Batman kill the Joker?
By Mark D. White and Robert Arp
Published: Friday, July 25, 2008
Batman should kill the Joker.
How many of us would agree with that? Quite a few, we'd
wager. Even Heath Ledger's Joker

5. in "The Dark Knight" marvels at Batman's refusal to kill him.
After all, the Joker is a
murderous psychopath, and Batman could save countless
innocent lives by ending his
miserable existence once and for all.
Of course, there are plenty of masked loonies ready to take the
Joker's place, but none of
them has ever shown the same twisted devotion to chaos and
tragedy as the Clown Prince of
Crime.
But if we say that Batman should kill the Joker, doesn't that
imply that we should torture
terrorism suspects if there's a chance of getting information that
could save innocent lives?
Of course, terrorism is all too present in the real world, and
Batman only exists in the
comics and movies. So maybe we're just too detached from the
Dark Knight and the
problems of Gotham City, so we can say "go ahead, kill him."
But, if anything, that
detachment implies that there's more at stake in the real world -
so why aren't we tougher
on actual terrorists than we are on the make-believe Joker?

6. Pop culture, such as the Batman comics and movies, provides an
opportunity to think
philosophically about issues and topics that parallel the real
world. For instance, thinking
about why Batman has never killed the Joker may help us
reflect on our issues with
terrorism and torture, specifically their ethics.
Three major schools of ethics provide some perspective on
Batman's quandary.
Utilitarianism, based on the work of Jeremy Bentham and John
Stuart Mill, would probably
endorse killing the Joker, based on comparing the many lives
saved against the one life lost.
Deontology, stemming largely from the writings of Immanuel
Kant, would focus on the act
of murder itself, rather than the consequences. Kant's position
would be more ambiguous
than the utilitarian's: While it may be preferable for the Joker to
be dead, it may not be
morally right for any person (such as Batman) to kill him. If the
Joker is to be punished, it
should be through official procedures, not vigilante justice.
More generally, while the Joker

7. is evil, he is still a human being, and is thus deserving of at
least a minimal level of respect
and humanity.
Finally, virtue ethics, dating back to the ancient Greeks (such as
Aristotle), would highlight
the character of the person who kills the Joker. Does Batman
want to be the kind of person
that takes his enemies' lives? If he killed the Joker, would he be
able to stop there, or would
every two-bit thug get the same treatment?
Taking these three ethical perspectives together, we see that
while there are good reasons to
kill the Joker, in terms of innocent lives saved, there are also
good reasons not to kill him,
based on what killing him would mean about Batman and his
motives, mission and
character.
The same arguments apply to the debate over torture: While
there are good reasons to do it,
based on the positive consequences that may come from it, there
are also good reasons not
to, especially those based on America's national character.
Many Americans who oppose

8. torture explain their position by saying, "It's not who we are,"
or "We don't want to turn into
them." Batman often says the same thing when asked why he
hasn't killed the Joker: "I don't
want to become that which I hate."
Applying philosophy to Batman, South Park, or other pop
culture phenomena may seem
silly or frivolous, but philosophers have used fanciful examples
and thought experiments for
centuries. The point is making philosophy accessible, and
helping us think through difficult
topics by casting them in a different light.
Regardless of your position, torture is an uncomfortable and
emotional topic. If translating
the core issue to another venue, such as Batman and the Joker,
helps us focus on the key
aspects of the problem, that can only help refine our thinking.
And Batman would definitely
approve of that.
Mark D. White and Robert Arp are coeditors of "Batman and
Philosophy: The Dark Knight
of the Soul."