Fundamental Principles of Good System Design

Terry Bahill
Systems and Industrial Engineering
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0020
terry@sie.arizona.edu
http://www.sie.arizona.edu/sysengr/slides/goodDesignPrinciples.ppt
© 2002-2006 Bahill

This paper presents two dozen fundamental principles of good system design that should help make a product better. Not surprisingly, many of these same principles will help make a product reusable in a new system and will help reduce redesign costs when requirements change. These principles come from hardware, software, system and test design. But they are general and many can be applied in a large variety of (even nonengineering) fields.

This lecture is it suitable for engineers, computer scientists and anyone else who does technical design. It requires PowerPoint and a computer projector. This talk takes about an hour.