That summer, I saw much of what I learned in Project Management and Product Development classes put to use. An impact sprinkler looks like a simple concept, but there were actually several different performance and design goals that (of course) impacted one another. We went through decision matrices which forced us to prioritize these features. This could consume a whole afternoon but it required the group to make decisions, and that's the only way to move forward (Here's what we're going to do next, this is what we hope to accomplish and these tests will confirm it...).

      I got thrown into this group halfway through the design process and within a couple of days designed new testing methods that answered important questions for the path of the project. I was good at finding the heart of a problem, characterizing it, and creating test methods to verify a theory.

      I also learned that it's very important to keep notes on why we chose a certain path early on. Later in the project, something totally unexpected may come up which invalidates that thinking. Suddenly options that were closed off are once again available, but if you don't remember why the choice was made, you won't see the opportunity.