College of Engineering - Purdue University



This lecture talks about design notebooks in research. Even though it is called “Design” notebook, the word design is interpreted in a broad sense. It can mean designing an experiment, designing a tool, designing a solution, etc. Don’t focus on the word design. Instead, focus on the word “notebook”.When students come from the learning mentality, they are not familiar with the need of take notes. When students are acquiring knowledge from other people, such as books, professors, and papers, students do not feel the need of taking notes. After all, the knowledge is already written in the books, papers, or professors’ handouts. Research is quite different. Research is to create new knowledge. The new knowledge does not exist anywhere. It is important to take notes. If a researcher does not take notes, the work is completely lost. It is very important for researchers to take notes, notes with details. In fact, many important discoveries occur because researchers notice some small discrepancies in observations. Such discrepancies can be noticed only if these researchers take notes and pay attention to details. If you want to be a successful researchers, you must take notes and notes must include details.There are many more reasons to take notes. Imagine a situation when you need to provide evidence of your work. If your manager asks you for a report of your work to decide a raise. Your notes will be very helpful. If you don’t have notes, it would be difficult for you to explain what you have done. Sometimes, people are involved in disputes about efforts and accomplishments, for example, who invents something. If your notes do not have enough details, it would be difficult to convince people (in particular a patent court) that you are the inventor.Taking good notes is an indication of professional skills. If you cannot take good notes, it would be difficult to claim that you know how to do professional work.After you understand the importance of notebooks, it is natural to ask what should be recorded in notebooks. The principle is to include enough details so that readers can trace the history of your progress. Please notice that I said “readers” not “you”. You write notes not for yourself only. You write notes for people in your team and outside your team. The notes may be read by some people other yourself. To help trace your progress, every page should have the corresponding date. If you are in a meeting, you should include the names of attendees, the discussed topics, the conclusion, the action items, and so on. Before you do anything, write down the problem you want to solve, why the problem needs to be solved, how you want to solve the problem, how you evaluate the solution. The three important things about notes is details, details, and details.Here is an example of a notebook. It contains many pieces of information.It has the date.It has information about the activity. In this example, it is the record of a meeting.It includes the names of people in the meeting.And the activities in the meeting.It lists things to do.It also has a drawing of the design.These are some of many possible contents in a notebook.Here are some common mistakes and the reasons why they are wrong.Some students say, “I will take notes after I finish the task.”This is wrong because you will forget the details. If the task is complex, you may spend many days. By the time you finish the task, you already forget a lot of things.Another common mistake is believing that taking notes wastes time. It is better to spend time doing the work without taking notes. This is wrong because without notes you will forget what you have done. You will likely repeat the same work and waste much more time.Some students wait until their solutions work.This is wrong because you should record the process, especially when your approach does not work. It is extremely important to clearly record the process and explain why it does not work. If your solution does work later, how can you reproduce it if you do not have notes?This is a common mistake by many students. They believe that professors know everything. This is completely wrong. If your professors know the answers, you are not doing research.Some students told me that they would be able to keep their jobs if nobody else understands the work. This is funny, laughable, and unprofessional. If you do not take notes, you will be fired soon.Some students are afraid someone else would steal their ideas. The true risk is that you forget the details. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would steal your idea. Remember, nobody will steal your ideas.If you have opportunities talking to people that have been known for their innovation, they will tell you, “Nobody will steal your idea.”I have the chances talking to some people that are widely recognized as innovative thinkers, researchers, and entrepreneurs. All of them are eager to share their ideas. In fact, I have specifically asked some of them this question. “You share these great ideas with people. Are you worried that someone would steal your ideas?” Everyone, I mean everyone said the same thing. “Not at all.” Ideas are just ideas. Ideas without execution is nothing. If someone can listen to your ideas and do it, your ideas are not worth protecting and in fact is not protectable. Great ideas need a lot of hard work to make the ideas reality. Very few people in the world have the interest, time, and determination to take that effort. Thus, there is no need to worry about someone stealing your ideas. What are the most innovative ideas have you heard recently? What have you done after hearing these ideas? Nothing.That’s right. You have not pursued any of these ideas because you are busy for your projects. You do not have the resources to pursue these ideas. Did you steal the ideas? No.If you are still worried about someone stealing your ideas, let me explain this in another way. Think of this as risk versus benefits. The risk that someone steals your ideas is extremely small. The risk that you forget the details is extremely high. The benefits of the notes are obvious. Thus, you should not worry about someone stealing your ideas. Here are some frequently asked questions and my answers.Question: Should I use one notebook for all projects or one notebook per project?Answer: Definitely one notebook per project. You do not want to mix information from different projects. Mixing the information makes it difficult to trace your progress made in any specific project.Question: Should I use a paper or an online notebook?Answer: Each has advantages and disadvantages. An online notebook is easy to search and share. A paper notebook is easy to draw; also, a paper notebook needs no battery and takes no time to wake up (or boot). You may keep both.Question: If I use a paper notebook, what should I do if I have something from computers?Answer: You can print it on paper and glue the paper to your paper notebook. Question: Who will read my notebooks?Answer: Yourself and your team members.Question: How much note should I take?Answer: As many details as possible. One to two pages for every hour would be a good approximation.This is what you should do. Give your notebook to someone, maybe your teammate or your friend. Ask the person to explain to you what you have done. If this person can clearly explain your work, your notebook is good. If this person cannot follow, your notebook is insufficient. ................
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