Principles of Extreme Manufacturing

Many of these principles have been already captured in OSE specifications. The Test Driven Design aspect and Contract First Manufacturing are unique and not found in the Original OSE Specifications.

1. Contract-First Design - design the interface to other modules before designing the module
2. Test Driven Development - design a series of tests that determines whether it will work, prior to doing design work
3. Extreme Learning - in order to further a zero-waste development process, OSE focuses on training. To this end, we produce lean instructionals intended for rapid learning. This means that we optimize existing instructionals to facilitate the learning curve of advanced development techniques - especially with the interest of bringing people up to speed from zero. We like working with rapid-learning novices, as such people can become effective without the industrial inertia (old and prejudiced design ideas).
4. Optimize for change - agility, adaptability of design is foremost to achieve desired result (complete, functional, minimal viable product)
5. Object-Oriented, Modular Architecture - Modularity is key, as it allows OSE to build a large system in parallel, as long as all the interfaces are well-defined for the modules. Modularity allows for a complete Product Ecology to emerge - for closed-loop manufacturing cycles. Modular architecture allows us to optimize 'borrowing' from other projects such that the development process is globally collaborative.
6. Iterate the Design - (1) Create the test that your design should pass. (2) Create the simplest design possible that enables the test to pass. (3) Improve the design to be simpler or more elegant. (4) Repeat this process ("Iterate on the design") until improving this component is no longer the highest value work you can do.
7. Agile Hardware Design Patterns - wrapper (interface to the interface), common materials, tech recursion (invest in tools that make components and that make materials), Lifetime Design (so that hardware can be repaired easily)
8. Continuous Integration Development - iterate continuously between product test, design, and manufacturing. This involves Design for Manufacturing, Design for Disassembly, Design for Fabricability, Design for Maintainability. A byproduct of this is the emergence of Product Service Systems, which OSE is testing as a scalable enterprise model for open source hardware. Our current beta testing for build efficiency of this model is ongoing with our Extreme Manufacturing Workshops.
9. Continuously Deployed Development - How to go to market fast? Flexible Fabrication concept. Digital fabrication assist. Open Design. Open Source R&D capacity, rapid prototyping, integrated R&D lab a la Edison.
10. Scaling Patterns - Create teams for each module. Teams can work in parallel. Multiple teams can work on same module. Different teams can work on different aspects - design, build, documentation, prototyping, testing. Teams should have open communication channels, such as Work Log on our wiki, or Dozuki structure, or video uploads, plus Forums, Stack Exchange, Design Sprints, and Leader Training Workshops. Scrum of Scrums, Product Owner and Scrum Maseter. Clear Customer Visible Value is generated and iterated. Chief Product Owner (CPO) sequences and refines the Portfolio Product Backlog continuously. User stories are the requirements. Scrum Masters negotiate with other Scrum Masters for resources. All work completed satisfies the quality metric called the Definition of Done. Product owner maintains backlog and clarity. Scrum master maintains transparency of product delivery via documentation. Global remote effort can be maintained by heavy documentation typical of Open Source. OSE Tenet - Heavy Documentation is Key to a Lean Process - which appears counterintuitive at first but is relevant to solving wicked problems.
11. Partner Patterns - Easy sourcing from many partners. Wrapper is key to this flexibility - an interface of the interface design. Design collaboration with industry. University Collaborations for R&D. Wide portfolio of Freelancers to do design, build, and service along a Product Service System model.

More Principles

1. Design for visual inspectability - design such that a visual inspection is sufficient and not misleading. Visual inspection is quick. Tactile inspection is more difficult, and human tendency to 'believe what we see' may erroneously prevent someone from doing a deeper check - in cases where 'something looks OK but really isn't. Thus, it's useful to design in such a way that visual inspection is sufficient and not misleading.
2. Simplify Tooling - do not use specialized tools if people can be trained readily to use common tools without difficulty, without significant decrease of productivity.
3. Use Digital Fabrication or Automation - wherever significant productivity gains can be made. Digital tools assist but do not replace the producers, as the producers migrate to other tasks