the seven habits of highly effective people in r&d

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 1

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in R&D

Daniel E. Grupp, PhDgrupp@snow.stanford.edu

March, 2011

PEOPLE WHO GET THINGS DONE

March 2011

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 2

Elements of Success/Sources of Project

FailurePeopleMoneyR&D Strategy

Management: Planning, ProcessFacilitiesHabits

March 2011

hab·it - noun1. Customary practice.2. An acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary: the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 3

1)No finesseDon’t push the limits of materials or machines.Use ingenuity to do the heavy lifting.Don’t walk a tightrope.

Use ingenuity to find a better way across the river. Finesse may be the easy way out.

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Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 4

1)No finesseDon’t push the limits of materials or

machines.

Used “side effect” of etch process. Required fine tuning of etcher. Required “soldier” wafers to sacrifice

and analyze. Stability of process unknown.

Good habit: Robust process. Self-Limiting: Stops by itself. Uses what the machine was designed

to do.

March 2011

BAD HABIT:

Silicon sidewall etch in Lam TCP-9400

Etch down…

…and under

100 nm100,000x

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 5

2)Answer questions fastUnclog pipeline to answers: where’s the

blockage?Ask: I know how to get an answer, but what is in

my way of getting the answer fast?Testbeds, testbeds, testbeds

Pay cost of time and money upfront: saves time down the line.

Isolate element that needs testing.“Don’t launch the space shuttle to test the door

seals.”

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Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 6

The Trade-off Triangle

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Must give up one:

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 7

The Trade-off Triangle

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Cannot have all three without luck.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 8

The Trade-off Triangle

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Best choice for R&D: Give up low cost – pay the price for the test bed up front.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 9

Example: Waterjet TestbedProblem: Need to control properties of a miniature

waterjet that is part of larger device. Variables: nozzles, chamber geometry, and pressure.

Solution: Build a pressure cell that has removable parts that contains chamber and nozzle separately.

Costs:Device cost: $1k, 2 week turn-aroundTestbed cost: $1kChamber “pucks”: $25/part, <2 day turn-aroundTime per test chamber/nozzle combo: 15 minutes.

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Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 10

Waterjet Testbed in Action

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Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 11

Isolation Example: Large system

Problem: Fix fridge. 2 years of downtime.

Challenge: 2 weeks turnaround per test.

Solution: Isolate fridge with internal cap.Time to build and install

cap: 3 weeksTurnaround: 1 day.Result: Fixed in 2 months.

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Fridge to test

Everythingelse

Ultrahigh vacuum chamber with milliKelvin dilution refrigerator. A.M. Goldman Lab.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 12

3)Don’t make assumptions

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Test everything.Be aware and honest

about what you don’t know.

Presume if you don’t know if something will work, it won’t.

You will win in cost and time in the long run: Failures may be rare but

large.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 13

4)“Lightly Wrapped” Testbeds and Prototypes

Need to be able to see inside.Easily changedGet your fingers into itNo “tightly wrapped” testbeds

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Example:“Lightly Wrapped” TestbedGet close to the action: Access with high-power

zoom and ultrafast flash (Prism Sci./MIT)

March 2011Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 14

Width of a hair

Messy

Better

Perfect

Stop-motion Waterjet Images: Nikon D60 with 10x magnifier and Prism Science Works (MIT) strobe with 250 ns flash duration.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 15

5)Don’t be a perfectionistDo just enough at each stage of development to move on to

the next stage. You don’t know how good a stage needs to be until you have done

the next stage or even the one after that. Ask “What do I need to do to move on?”

“Don’t build a pyramid to change a light bulb”. Perfectionists overbuild

Contingencies covered may not occur.Capability may be excessive.

Caveat: Overbuild if you can afford it (as long as you don’t “tightly wrap” it)e.g.: If you don’t know what pressure you will need, buy the biggest

pump you can afford…but not if it becomes impossible to change pumps.

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Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 16

5)Don’t be a perfectionistIterate steps by circling back:

You don’t know how much of A to do until you have done C.

“Do a little of A, a little of B, a little of C, then more of A…”

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A B C D 1 2

3

4

When you know what to do, then be a perfectionist.

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5)Don’t be a perfectionist…

…until the end.

March 2011Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu

R&D Product Development &Manufacturing

A-frame

Steps

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 18

6)Dream bigDream the endpoint of what you

want to do.Avoid saying: this is where I am,

where can I go from here? All you will see is the limits. You will be stuck in what is known.

Engineers are great at building a bridge from here to there once there has been envisioned.

Constraints drive innovation: “It must have, or be able to…”

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Cima Ladder

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 19

7)Pick Do-able ProjectsPick projects you can map out a route from start

to finish . Avoid projects that require finesse.

If you can't say what you need to solve and how at each step then the whole project is finesse.

Steps may require rigorous engineering, but no unknown fundamentals.

Science = finesse

March 2011

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 20

7)Pick Do-able ProjectsInvensense1

“Just” a gyro – 2-axis MEMS 1 month to working testbed6 months working prototype

March 2011

1- Daniel Grupp is not associated with Invensense

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 21

7)Pick Do-able ProjectsInvensense

Sales in 1 year.

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Nintendo Wii remote…

…then everythingRecipe for success: Indentified need with solution

requiring hardcore engineering but no miracles.

Daniel E. Grupp, PhD grupp@snow.stanford.edu 22

7 Habits1) “No finesse”2) “Answer questions fast”3) “Don’t make assumptions”4) “Nothing tightly wrapped”5) “Don’t be a perfectionist”6) “Dream big”7) “Pick do-able projects”

March 2011