How We Work Together / Technical Documentation
Technical Documentation
Product requirements, specifications, DFMEAs, validation plans, drawing packs, technical files and manuals, written by an engineer who knows how the product goes together and why each detail is there.
Why have a design engineer involved in your planning and documentation?
Because scope and cost creep can often be headed off by getting the basic technical documentation in place, and working, at the front end of a project.
The person developing the product is closest to it, so they’re best placed to keep those documents moving for the life of the project. When that person is me, the documents get updated as part of the design work rather than saved for later. Things go south quickly when they’re left too late.
What documentation do I produce?
01
Drawing packs and production data
Drawing packs to BS 8888 with GD&T, and production data packs of drawings, STEP files and DXFs that a supplier can quote and tool from.
02
Product requirements documents (PRDs) and technical specifications
A product requirements document that sets out what the product has to do, who it’s for, what it should cost and which standards it must meet, so everyone agrees what finished looks like before the detail work starts. Then technical specifications that turn each requirement into numbers a supplier can quote against and a test can check.
03
DFMEAs and design validation plans (DVPs)
Design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA) that finds the ways a design can fail while they’re still cheap to fix, and design validation plans that tie each requirement to a test, with sample sizes, timing and pass criteria agreed up front.
04
Technical files
The file of drawings, calculations, risk assessment and test reports that sits behind a product’s declaration of conformity, kept up to date as the design changes.
05
Manuals, service guides and labels
Owner’s manuals, assembly instructions, service and repair guides, and the labels and warnings on the product itself, written by the person who knows why each warning is there. I lay them out in InDesign and Illustrator, ready for print or screen.
How does an engagement work?
Documentation usually runs alongside design, so it’s written while the decisions are still fresh. It also works as a fixed scope: a drawing pack ready for tooling, a manual set before launch, or a service guide for a product already in the field. There’s more on how engagements are set up on the How We Work Together page.
If writing it down shows the design needs to change, that’s Product Design Engineering, and I do both.
Case studies: EnoughEnergy EV charger
Ready to take the next step?
Tell me about your project and I’ll get back to you within one working day.