There has been some traffic concerning the utility of RP in its various
embodiments (the new 3D machine vs. ... vs. etc.). And all eventually get
compared against the everincreasing capability of computer modeling.
Without taking a position on either side of this debate, I thought that it
might be worth sharing two quotes from an article by Tom Peters - co-autor
of In Search of Excellence and a prolific author of books and articles on
management and evolving business practices.
As published in his regular column in the Forbes ASAP issue of 28 Aug. 1995,
"DO IT NOW, STUPID!":
"Rapid prototyping, and plenty of it, means more and smarter products sooner
- and far fewer bugs. So put down that planning memo and make something!" -
Tom Peters
"More design iterations equal faster development time. ... planning-intense
compression strategy was trounced by the just-do-it experiential/prototyping
approach. Detailed planning ... actually slowed the overall process (it was
simply a waste of time)." in a report by B. Tabrizi and K. Eisenhardt
(Stanford Univ.) as quoted by Peters in the above article.
Food for thought.
Allan Lightman
University of Dayton
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