The Innovator's Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth, 2nd Edition

Technique 34

Axiomatic Design

Transform what customers want into the best products and services.

 

Axiomatic design is the process by which you translate your customers' jobs to be done and outcome expectations (JTBDs and OEs), into functional requirements (FRs), then design parameters (DPs), then process variables (PVs). It's especially helpful when working with complex systems that contain large numbers of FRs and, consequently, even larger numbers of DPs and PVs—sometimes numbering beyond the thousands. A jumbo jet or a powerful software application are examples of this.

The progressive axiomatic design activity ensures that the final solution is the best design, delivers what the customer needs, and can be reliably manufactured or delivered. While axiomatic design can be readily understood at a high level, applying it to complex systems (its purpose) requires an expert who has extensive education and experience with the technique.

In this chapter and book, we use the terms jobs to be done and outcome expectations in lieu of the classic Axiomatic Design term, customer attributes. Please keep this in mind if you are an experienced Axiomatic Design engineer or Axiomatic Design purist.

Background

Two axioms underlie axiomatic design—the independence axiom and the information axiom.

The independence axiom asserts that all FRs and their associated DPs remain independently attached; therefore, if you adjust a DP to satisfy an FR, you do this without affecting other FRs. Designs ...