Fred Brooks Explained

00:00 WSOM Design Requirements Workshop .. what is it? what is WSOM? What are “design requirements?

WSOM-Workshop on Self-Organizing Maps

“WSOM 2011 will bring together researchers and practitioners in the field of self-organizing systems, with a particular emphasis on the self-organizing maps. It will highlight key advances in these and

closely related fields. WSOM 2011 is the eighth conference in a series of bi-annual international conferences started with WSOM'97 Helsinki.”(http://www.dsprelated.com/showmessage/142195/1.php)

In a classical view the design requirements are: Imitation, Development, Implementation, Operation/Maintenance

00:00 Case Western University .. what is it and where is it?

A private research university in Cleveland, Ohio,  USA.

“Case Western Reserve is particularly well known for its medical school, dental school, law school, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Department of Biomedical Engineering and its biomedical teaching and research capabilities.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Western_Reserve_University)

00:10 someone said “take one out of the bank” .. Collie? Callie? Kalli? Who is this person

Collie from Case Western University said it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC-DlX-PaF4)

00:17 “.. award lecture from some seven years ago ” .. what award? who is it named for? who gives the award? why did Brooks receive the award?

It’s the ACM A.M. Turing award, from the Association for Computing Machinery, and it’s named after Alan Turing. Fred Brooks was given the award for landmark contributions to computer architecture, operating systems, and software engineering.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award)

00:45 what is this talk about?

The larger concept of the entire design process.

00:50 “oxford english dictionary” .. what is it? when was it written? 

It’s a dictionary of the English language and it began in 1857 but wasn’t published until 1884.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary)

00:51 what is the definition of “design”?
Design- to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan.
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/design)

01:00 “vernacular” .. what does it mean?

“A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is a second language or foreign language to the population, such as a national language, standard language, or lingua franca.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernacular)

01:02 “odd hoak?” .. what is he saying? what does it mean?

“Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning "for this".”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hoc)

01:17 “comes from Mozart” .. who is Mozart?

“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart)

01:21 “three weeks before an opera was due” .. what opera? what does it sound like?
The Abduction from the Seraglio- contains lots of spoken dialogue and incorporates a large amount of percussion."Too many notes. Just cut a few and it will be perfect"- Joseph II

01:24 “his father Leopold” .. who was Leopold? what did he do?
Leopold Mozart, father of Wolfgang, was a famous German composer, conductor, violinist, and personal teacher of Wolfgang himself.

01:29 “due to the duke” .. what duke? duke of where? what is a “duke”? why was an opera due to the duke?

"In the summer of 1781, the 25-year-old musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was chosen by the Emperor Joseph II of Austria to set the opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, for the occasion of a critical state visit to Vienna of the Russian Grand Duke Paul, son of Catherine the Great."(http://american_almanac.tripod.com/mozart.htm)

Duke-"a monarch ruling over a duchy or a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke)

01:30 what did Mozart tell his father regarding the (design of the) opera?
Mozart told his father that everything had been composed, just not written down.

02:00 “why study the design process per se” .. what is “per se”? what is a “design process”? why study it?
Per se- "a unique or incomparable person or thing"(http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/237009?rskey=bOFmTy&result=3#eid)
Design Process- "The formulation of a plan to help and engineer build a product with a specified performance goal"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_design_process)
It is important to study the design process to form a basis for initiating design, teaching others design, and to better organize and manage the design. As design experience is gained and ideas expand, it may seem beneficial to stray away from the basic design process.

02:24 “Francis Bacon” .. who is this person? what did he say? what did he do?

Francis Bacon was a English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon)

He said that new ideas would com about "by a connexion and transferring of the observations of one Arte, to the uses of another, when the experience of several misteries shall fall under consideration of one mans minde."(The Two Books of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Book 2, p 10, 1605) Francis Bacon question whether new designs could benefit from looking at older designs in history.

02:45 what disciplines have contributed to the theory of design?
Older disciplines such as mechanical engineering and building architecture before the new disciplines such as computer engineering and web design.

03:00 According to Brooks, what is new about design in the 21st century when we compare it to classical design in the 19th century?
New design now concentrates on the model of the design and employs large teams to complete the design whereas 19th century design was all solo work.

03:40 “ford” .. who is ford? what did he design?
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Henry ford was most famous the design of the model-T, one of the first affordable automobiles.

03:41 stevenson? stephensen?  .. who is this person? what did he design?

George Stephenson was "an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephenson)

03:41 “edison?” who is that? what did he design?
Thomas Edison- designed the phonograph and a reliable version of a complete electric distribution system.

03:46 bruno leshi? bruun aleshi? .. who is this person? what did he design?
Filippo Brunelleschi- architect who designed several military fortifications around Italy. Other designs included a version of a river boat and a crane mechanism for lifting actors in shows to create the appearance of flying.

03:51 christopher rinn? rynne? .. who is this person? what did he design?

Sir Christopher Wren- Known for being a great architect in England who designed several buildings in the London area, including 51 churches, one being St. Paul’s  Cathedral. 

04:29 what is wrong with raising the level of the design practice?
Raising the level of the design practice results in the field remaining at the same level. The problem is that if that is all you do then the mass will all be at the average. The goal should be to raise the ceiling of the practice which will make the designs to come more innovative and great.

04:45 what is exciting about the process of design?
If we raise the ceiling of the practice then the designs that will be completed are much more innovative and useful to the world around us.

05:00 “the sciences of the artificial” .. what is it?
The Sciences of the Artificial is a book by Herbert Simons that focuses on the science of design and its relationship to artificial intelligence.

05:05 herb simons? .. who is he?
Herbert Simons- Author of design literature. Some of his works include The Sciences of the Artificul and Administrative Behavior.


05:10 “desiderata” .. what is that?

Desiderata- Secondary objectives in a design process which support the overall goal of the design.

05:15 “utility function” .. what is that?
 Utility function- The weighted goodness of each of the desiderata decisions that must be made during the design process.

05:30 “critical budget” .. what is that?
Critical budget- Constraints that have to be allocated to a design during its process. Most often they are monetary but can sometimes be things like time or material.

06:20 “design tree” .. what is that?

Design tree- A way of diagramming all requirements and design propositions in a given project or plan

06:25 “mono-rooted” .. what is that? what would you call a non-mono-rooted tree?

Mono rooted- Means that all of the branches converge to the same point at the top or bottom. A non mono rooted design would never converge and would have multiple, seperate parts of a design

07:45 “engineer’s model” .. what is it? 

Engineer's model- The design process used by engineers, consists of a goal, desiderata, utility function, constraints, and a design tree.

08:25 “so much for the straw man” .. what is a straw man? what straw man is he talking about?

A straw man or straw person is a false argument based in misunderstanding of an opposing viewpoint, he is talking about the misunderstanding that we know what we are trying to design.

08:27 “what’s wrong with this model” .. with *what* model? and what’s actually wrong with it?

we cannot know what we are trying to build, knowing what we are trying to build can cause problems within the design process, in some cases we cannot know what we are designing, this is the hardest part of the design is know what we are designing

09:15 what’s the hardest thing about designing complex systems? 

The hardest part is knowing the full scale of what we are trying to design.

09:20 “eliciting requirements” .. what is “eliciting”?

Eliciting- To provoke a question or reaction from someone, in this case trying to find out what is wanted by a client.

09:42 “north american aviation” .. who are they? what do they do?

They are an aerospace manufacturer for the US, they build aircrafts, they have built many very important aircrafts

09:45 “now part of rockwell” .. who are they? what do they do?

They are a conglomerate of aircraft/space industry manufacturers, conglomerate - multiple businesses working together in the same group often under a parent company.

10:30 “out of my gored? gord?” .. what is that word? what does it mean?

Gord as in gord of a plant. He is referring to being frustrated out of his mind.