The Siren Song

Rapid prototyping is a fairly recent innovation used in the product development process. By starting with a 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) model, a rapid prototyping machine can quickly create a plastic-like part. The various parts of a product can be assembled. This assembly can then be evaluated by project stakeholders in engineering, marketing, and sales. And this is where the ship of product development is lured onto the rocks, just as the mythical Sirens called sailors to their deaths.

There is nothing inherently evil about rapid prototype parts. The fault lies with the tendency of decision makers to self-deceive. They feel as if they have seen the product with their own eyes. They have held it in their hands. But it isn't a product. It is an illusion of a product. The rapid prototype machine creates an accurate representation of the shape of the product. But long lists of questions remain unanswered. Can injection molding machines actually make the parts? Will the product break if dropped? Can we assemble it? Will it meet the cost targets? But the Siren's song drowns out these questions. The questions will return, but not during the scheduled phases of the project. As the evidence of failure mounts, the illusion will recede. In firefighting mode, the stakeholders are compelled to face the uncertainties which had been present all along.

This post is not a plea to abandon the use of rapid prototype parts, or of any other technology which allows us to glimpse the future we seek. It is, however; a warning of the seductiveness of these modern Sirens. Used properly, these technologies can aid us in our efforts. But sailors beware, for they tempt us to abandon our pragmatic natures and plunge forward.