Tech Tree of Choices

Concept

This is a list of the various possible implementations for a given technology.

The tech tree of choices is important in a Construction Set approach to developing technology because the Construction Set approach can produce different implementations of a technology with less effort than a non-modular approach. Thus, different implementations should be considered and documented. Even though one implementation may be chosen, other implementations should be considered for future work.

For example, a hay rake can have several implementations - such as a linear rake and a rotary rake. The one that offers the best fit or highest performance to OSE Specification is chosen for the GVCS.

Implementation

To document a tech tree of choices, list the different parts, modules, or components of a machine (these should be documented in the Systems Engineering Breakdown Diagram, and list the different ways that these can be implemented.

To make this clear and understandable to others, you may want to consider using diagrams, screenshots of examples, links to examples, etc.

To document, it is helpful to use a spreadsheet, google drawing, or other cloud editable format - allowing other contributors to build upon your work in realtime. The. Est strategy would be to save offline copies of cloud documents as backups, while maintaining the working copy editable by anyone in order to foster zero access barriers to collaboration. It has been our experience that vandalism is not a big issue, as previous versions can be restored readily in the document history, just like on the wiki.

Templates created for the Tech Tree should become commits to our Development Methodology Construction Set - where we build the scalable Development method alongside the GVCS tools.

Sample Technology Tree of Choices

This is a great example of a technology tree of choices for the design of a Hydraulically-Driven CNC Axis Drive System. The point is to show and examine all the different implementation routes from the concept to reality.

Download full document: File:Techtreechoices.pdf

Protocol

1. Use Coggle to generate Tree and embed Tech Tree in wiki. You can drag and drop images into Coggle.
2. Embed the docuement on a wiki page
3. Start a page on the wiki: ''http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Machine or Module Name - Tech_Tree_of_Choices''
4. Use an Edit link at the bottom of the embed so that the image can be updated readily.