1. Silicon Prairie Initiative on Robotics in Information Technology
Using an Engineering Notebook

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Dialectic Notebook Entries
Observation & Response
Need-to-know Questions
Dialogue
Later Reflections

6. 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.