1. SPECIFICAT
IONS
WEEK 16: SESSION 7

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES
You will:
1. Find out about the different purposes of a specification
2. learn about different forms of specifications
3. use specifications to develop ideas and evaluate
products

3. MYTHS ABOUT
SPECIFICATIONS
Once written they can’t be changed
Only one type of specification
No evidence needed to support a specification
Don’t’ start to write it until you have all of the answers
Only one specification is needed

4. TYPES OF
SPECIFICATION
Design
Product development
Technical
Manufacturing

5. DESIGN/ PERFORMANCE
SPECIFICATION
Summary of your research
What it must do/ what it must look like/ other requirements
ACCESS FM
Pugh’s plate

6. PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Agile is a software engineering philosophy devised in the late
1990s. It is based on the assumption that project
specifications are likely to change during the product
development cycle. Therefore, rather than creating a
comprehensive specification upfront and engineering a
product to fulfil it, the Agile process treats product
development as a series of short iterative loops, lasting only
days or weeks.
Design Council website

7. TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATION
Detailed requirements for the product
Function
Link to manufacturing process
Principles/ directives
Safety requirements

8. MANUFACTURING
SPECIFICATION
Details information for production
Stages of the production process
Details of all the characteristics (shape, size, texture, colour,
flavour etc) required in the final product.
Lists where standard components can be used.