Silicon Prairie Initiative on Robotics in Information Technology Using an Engineering Notebook
What IS an Engineering Notebook? A “Blow-by-Blow” record of all laboratory procedures and observations Audience: the engineer Answers the “why” and “how” of the experiment(s) and measurement(s) May become important legal record Record of failures as well as successes
Engineering Notebook Entries Objectives of the project Preliminary analysis Equipment diagram Experimental procedure Data – including proper labeling Graphs – with proper labeling Calculations Results and conclusions Comments for future work
What an Engineering Notebook ISN’T A notebook is not a report The data from a single notebook record might be used for several quite different reports A notebook is not intended to be completed after the work Don’t use scratch paper. If it’s worth recording, it’s worth putting directly into the notebook
Dialectic Notebook Entries Observation & Response Need-to-know Questions Dialogue Later Reflections . . . . . . ..
If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. Engineering Notebook A significant fraction of engineering time is used just writing things down in the book. If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.