Explore every episode of the podcast Quality during Design
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stop Being a Witness to Decisions That You Should be Helping to Shape | 12 Mar 2026 | 00:11:58 | |
Have you ever walked into a meeting (design review, planning session, phase gate) only to realize the decision was already made? That the discussion was just theater, not dialogue? You weren’t there to shape the outcome. You were there to witness it. If that’s happened to you, you’re not alone. In this episode, Dianna explores why this happens, why it feels so frustrating, and most importantly how to fix it. In this episode: Stop waiting for your moment to shine. Start shaping the moment before it happens. Share this with someone who’s been a witness too many times. Visit the blog post for additional notes and transcript: https://deeneyenterprises.com/qdd/podcast/stop-being-a-witness If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Karli Auble THRIVEs: Positive Psychology Meets Engineering Rigor (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts) | 26 Feb 2026 | 00:35:58 | |
In this episode of 'Quality during Design', we delve into how engineers can avoid mistakes and oversights by managing stress and enhancing performance. Host Dianna Deeney interviews Karli Auble, an engineering leader at a global firm in the defense industry. She has unique expertise in systems engineering and positive psychology, with a master's degree in both disciplines. Karli shares insights on her THRIVE framework, focusing on thoughts, habits, relationships, instincts, values, and environments. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing 'error codes' in our bodies, applying practical tools, and fostering better communication within teams. All with an eye of better engineering outcomes. Listeners will learn actionable strategies to improve their work. Visit the podcast blog for more info, including how to contact Karli. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| How to Choose Risk Tools That Actually Help Decisions | 09 Oct 2025 | 00:08:44 | |
If you reach for the nearest “risk” template, it might cause more problems. There are two very different jobs we ask risk tools to do. In this episode, we talk about how to pick the one that actually moves your project forward.
Along the way, we call out organizational risks—supplier failure, regulation shifts, competitor timing—that belong in resilience planning, not product FMEAs. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| The Gifts Others Bring | 21 Dec 2022 | 00:11:35 | |
What are the gifts others bring to new product development? The DFE Part of DFX (Design For Environment and eXcellence) How to Self-Advocate for More Customer Face Time Product Design from a Marketing Viewpoint, with Laura Krick (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts) If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Next Steps after Suprising Test Results | 14 Dec 2022 | 00:09:56 | |
During product development, we're consistently looking for ways to learn more about the product in order to make design decisions. Some of that comes from test. How to Handle Competing Failure Modes Remaking Risk-Based Decisions: Allowing Ourselves to Change our Minds. 5 Aspects of Good Reliability Goals and Requirements If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Choose Reliability Goals for Modules | 07 Dec 2022 | 00:09:56 | |
We have a reliability target for our system. But we're not meeting it. To avoid this scenario, what is something we can do in early development? We talk about using reliability allocation to help us choose reliability goals for modules of our product design. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Start a System Architecture Diagram Early | 30 Nov 2022 | 00:08:20 | |
New product development projects are really exciting at the start. Even though we know very little about what the final product is going to look like, we can still use a quick graphical tool to help us direct our engineering attention. 5 Options to Manage Risks during Product Engineering What do we do with FMEA early in design concept? If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Why Yield Quality at the Front-End of Product Development | 23 Nov 2022 | 00:09:53 | |
We can find Quality at the back-end of product creation, where it's used for compliance. We want to pick up some of it and move it to the front-end, where design decisions are happening. It's there that we can yield it like a tool to work with our cross-functional team, to help us with doing the engineering work that's important for great designs. Quality as a Strategic Asset vs. Quality as a Control More about the PRUNE strategy: Quality during Design Framework: PRUNE - Quality During Design The driving forces behind Quality during Design: First time here? - Quality During Design If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| QDD Book Cast | 16 Nov 2022 | 00:16:54 | |
Where do we sometimes need to look for inspiration? Books! If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Engineering in the Color Economy | 09 Nov 2022 | 00:10:11 | |
What is engineering in the color economy? If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Getting to Great Designs | 02 Nov 2022 | 00:11:48 | |
What makes a great design? If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Get clarity on goals with a continuum | 26 Oct 2022 | 00:08:43 | |
We worked on a project with our team and met our goal! If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Variable Relationships: Correlation and Causation | 19 Oct 2022 | 00:07:34 | |
Relationships matter! And they can be difficult to understand. We're taking relationships between variables. Does one variable affect another? Or do they just correlate? Understanding which matters to the values of our decisions. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Design clarity through cadence: aligning podcasts, Substack, and a playbook for teams | 02 Oct 2025 | 00:08:28 | |
Big changes, clearer focus, and more ways to learn together. We’re tightening our cadence to two episodes a month and building monthly themes that travel across the podcast, blog, and a new Substack home—so you can go beyond ideas and into practice with tools, Q&A, and live community sessions. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Use Meetings to Add Productivity | 12 Oct 2022 | 00:11:41 | |
Meetings to ADD productivity to our day? Yes! Product Design from a Marketing Viewpoint, with Laura Krick (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts) Quality as a Strategic Asset vs. Quality as a Control If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Ways to Partner with Test Engineers | 05 Oct 2022 | 00:08:53 | |
We have test results but realize that testing didn't go as planned. What can we do to help prevent this scenario? We talk about ways to partner with test engineers and test technicians and the importance of still maintaining their independence. Design Input & Specs vs. Test & Measure Capability Choosing a Confidence Level for Test using FMEA If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| What do we do with FMEA early in design concept? | 28 Sep 2022 | 00:07:33 | |
I've mentioned in previous episodes that it's best to do FMEA early in the design concept phases of development. Use FMEA to Design for In-Process Testing Use FMEA to Choose Critical Design Features Choosing a Confidence Level for Test using FMEA If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| A Severity Scale based on Quality Dimensions | 14 Sep 2022 | 00:08:12 | |
We can develop a severity rating scale based on us: our company, our customer, our product... And we can relate the categories that we use to the quality dimensions that matter to us. We talk about the 7 principal quality dimensions of goods and services, the 5 principal dimensions of quality in customer service, and how we might customize our severity scale based on these dimensions. The podcast blog of this episode includes an example severity scale that incorporates these dimensions. 5 Options to Manage Risks during Product Engineering Remaking Risk-Based Decisions: Allowing Ourselves to Change our Minds. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Use a Force Field Analysis to Understand Nuances | 07 Sep 2022 | 00:05:11 | |
A force field analysis is a tool in the quality toolbox. Its typical use case is to help a team analyze a change by understanding the forces involved. We can also use it to help us solve a problem. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Getting Use Information without a Prototype | 31 Aug 2022 | 00:07:46 | |
There is a lot of use information about a new product concept that we can develop, even if we don't have an engineering prototype. We want this information especially before we start prototyping! We talk about what type of information we can gather and a stepwise approach to get it with our cross-functional team. How to Self-Advocate for More Customer Face Time (and why it’s important) Product Design from a Marketing Viewpoint, with Laura Krick (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts) If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Supplements Test | 24 Aug 2022 | 00:08:32 | |
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is not a substitute for product test. It can be used as a supplement to design and test. There are lots of ways to use it during design: to evaluate differences in prototype options, as test inputs, and even to help with root cause analysis. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| 2 Lessons about Remote Work for Design Engineers | 17 Aug 2022 | 00:09:42 | |
What are 2 lessons about remote work, coming out of the pandemic? We talk about a couple of perspectives that can apply to design engineering:
Have you done a lessons learned about your communications, coming out of the pandemic? What are you carrying forward into the next phase of your engineering career? Leave me a comment on the podcast blog, and maybe you'll inspire others with your idea, too. Gemba for Product Design Engineering Internal Customers vs. External Customers If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Always Plot the Data | 10 Aug 2022 | 00:08:24 | |
We don't just rely on the numbers - we always plot the data! We review how we use plots to look past the numbers, and to be aware of common gotchas. Discrete Data vs. Continuous Data - Quality During Design If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Supplier Control Plans and Design Specs | 27 Jul 2022 | 00:09:50 | |
Supplier control plans and design specs can go hand-in-hand in the quest for quality. Control plans aren't just for quality professionals! Learn how partnering with suppliers for a simple control plan can benefit your design process. Prevention Controls vs. Detection Controls How many controls do we need to reduce risk? Design Specs vs. Process Control, Capability, and SPC If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| QDD Redux: Prioritizing Customer Satisfaction in Product Design (the Kano Model) | 18 Sep 2025 | 00:18:29 | |
How do you balance customer wants with project constraints? If your customer-facing teammates are saying our customers want this, that and the other thing, which ones do we prioritize over others? If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Use FMEA to Design for In-Process Testing | 20 Jul 2022 | 00:07:56 | |
Our manufacturing friends are approaching us with a problem. They want to test the product during manufacturing. The way the product is currently designed doesn't let them do this, or not easily. Can we make a design change so they can test?
Imagine that they're coming to us with this question before we've completed the design. Can they really see the future? Perhaps, with strategic use of FMEA. We talk through a scenario of how to do it.
Design Specs vs. Process Control, Capability, and SPC Prevention Controls vs. Detection Controls Use FMEA to Choose Critical Design Features If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Use FMEA to Choose Critical Design Features | 13 Jul 2022 | 00:10:06 | |
We're heading into pilot production, where some initial parts might be made. We've got to finish those design specs and engineering drawings!
Before you pass it along, have you identified what features are critical? Does it align with managing risk? And are you communicating that effectively on your specs and drawings? Creating design specs is an important part of engineering design. We review a way to choose critical design features, based on risk. Check out these other podcast episodes to further explore some of these topics:
Visit the podcast blog for links to related episodes. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Get Unstuck: Expand and Contract Our Problem | 06 Jul 2022 | 00:12:47 | |
We can get stuck when trying to discover a solution to a problem. We talk about a Nine Windows tool and TRIZ - more thought-provoking methods that we can use to get unstuck and move on to the next step. Visit the podcast blog for graphics and lots of helpful links. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Get Unstuck: Reframe our Problem | 28 Jun 2022 | 00:08:24 | |
We can get stuck when trying to discover a solution to a problem. Sometimes it helps to expand our thinking into other avenues. We can reframe our problem within its contradictions. What is it not? We review an Is/Is-Not Matrix: how it's built, its purpose, and how it can help us. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| 5 Options to Manage Risks during Product Engineering | 15 Jun 2022 | 00:10:45 | |
We're uncovering risks during our new product development, about our design. How do we manage risks? What options do we have? If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Prioritizing Technical Requirements with a House of Quality | 08 Jun 2022 | 00:12:15 | |
As a design engineer, you’re tasked with translating vague customer statements into something technical and measurable. And you also need to identify what requirements are important: filtering the “must meet” requirements against the “should have” requirements. And, finally, you need to do this with your cross-functional team. What if you miss something important? It’s difficult. There is a method that we can use. Let’s talk about the House of Quality and how you can use it no matter if your company uses QFD or not. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Gemba for Product Design Engineering | 01 Jun 2022 | 00:07:34 | |
If you have quality friends, you may have heard of Gemba. What is Gemba and can it help with product design? Gemba is an ideology. And, yes, it can help with product design! If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Product Design from a Data Professional Viewpoint, with Gabor Szabo (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts) | 25 May 2022 | 00:59:13 | |
"A Chat with Cross Functional Experts" is a Quality during Design interview series. Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team for new product development. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they're involved and work with product design engineering teammates.
Visit the podcast blog for links to Jocko and Gabor's book recommendation. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| How Does Reliability Engineering Affect (Not Just Assess) Design? | 18 May 2022 | 00:07:11 | |
Reliability Engineering isn't just about assessments. It's about providing information to make decisions. How does reliability engineering affect design?
Related QDD episodes: If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| How to use FMEA for Complaint Investigation | 11 May 2022 | 00:07:28 | |
FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is a tool we can use to help us investigate complaints from the field. The FMEA is the collective team knowledge about the risks of this product, so it’s a valuable source in our investigation about what’s going on in the field. Getting Started with FMEA: It All Begins with a Plan Choosing a Confidence Level for Test using FMEA How many controls do we need to reduce risk? Remaking Risk-Based Decisions: Allowing Ourselves to Change our Minds. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Beyond Requirements: How Quality Methods Provide Actionable Design Inputs | 04 Sep 2025 | 00:14:19 | |
Every product designer knows that critical moment when you must shift from understanding customer needs to actually engineering solutions. It's where the magic happens—and where many projects stumble. Ready to bridge the gap in your next design project? Visit the podcast blog and links to other episodes. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| 3 Tips for Planning Design Reviews | 04 May 2022 | 00:13:06 | |
Many presentation books and guides seem to focus on presentations that we see at conferences, for sales pitches, or for executive meetings about business topics. They don't seem applicable to the technical design reviews that engineers host. But they do relate. We talk about just 3 ways that we can change how we can plan technical design reviews, using some of the principles of presentations. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Product Design from a Marketing Viewpoint, with Laura Krick (A Chat with Cross Functional Experts) | 27 Apr 2022 | 00:30:00 | |
"A Chat with Cross Functional Experts" is a Quality during Design interview series. Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team for new product development. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they're involved and work with product design engineering teammates.
Listen to A Chat with Laura. Gain a different perspective and get actionable advice. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| UFMEA vs. DFMEA | 20 Apr 2022 | 00:15:15 | |
FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is a super-tool for a team, especially when developing concepts and requirements. Done early, iteratively, and treated as a "living" analysis helps teams throughout development and beyond. Some people seem to either love it or hate it. I don't have a strong reaction like that, but I do think it can be a valuable option for teamwork and design - so much so that I've dedicated a few episodes to it (including this one). We touch on some of the objections to it, too. FMEAs can have different focuses and can be built to suit the goals of the team. There are two FMEAs, in particular, that can be done in the early concept stages of development: “use” UFMEA and “systems design” DFMEA.
Visit the blog post for a VENN Diagram and additional info. Visit these other blogs to explore these topics further: Getting Started with FMEA: It All Begins with a Plan Choosing a Confidence Level for Test using FMEA Remaking Risk-Based Decisions: Allowing Ourselves to Change our Minds. Prevention Controls vs. Detection Controls The Designer's Risk Analysis affects Business, Projects, and Suppliers If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Design Input & Specs vs. Test & Measure Capability | 13 Apr 2022 | 00:08:16 | |
When defining design inputs and specifications, what does a design engineer need to consider about the test and measure capability? What are the typical ways that we assess the variability that a test or measurement introduces into our result? Statistical vs. Practical Significance If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| ALT vs. HALT | 06 Apr 2022 | 00:13:32 | |
Reliability engineers may suggest environmental stress tests. There are many types of tests in an RE's toolbox. We compare two types of commonly known tests that are used for design: ALT vs. HALT. What are the important distinctions between these two methods? What value do they each bring to design engineering? And how do they fit into other reliability test methods? HALT! Watch out for that weakest link. Results-Driven Decisions, Faster: Accelerated Stress Testing as a Reliability Life Test Environmental Stress Testing for Robust Designs Getting Comfortable with using Reliability Results 5 Aspects of Good Reliability Goals and Requirements If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Quality as a Strategic Asset vs. Quality as a Control | 25 Mar 2022 | 00:15:20 | |
Viewing Quality as a strategic asset to new product development can help us create those products that others love, for less. We talk about some challenges with new product development, the ideal state, and how we can use quality to get there. Use quality engineering and reliability engineering to P.R.U.N.E. the development process so we can develop the best products that we can. Types of Design Analyses possible with User Process Flowcharts Getting Started with FMEA – It All Begins with a Plan Choosing Quality Tools (Mind Map vs. Flowchart vs. Spaghetti Diagram) If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Design Specs vs. Process Control, Capability, and SPC | 16 Mar 2022 | 00:12:05 | |
This fourth episode of the "QDD Versus" series focuses on concepts relating to Design for Manufacturability. Understand how design specs fit into process control, process capability, and SPC and where they typically don't fit at all. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Internal Customers vs. External Customers | 09 Mar 2022 | 00:11:02 | |
We talk about customers of design information. It takes many people to realize a product design into something that can be sold and used. Those people need design information to ensure that they're performing their tasks to produce a high-quality product, and to be able to use our product appropriately. We review who our customers are and what type of information they need from design engineers. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Discrete Data vs. Continuous Data | 02 Mar 2022 | 00:10:22 | |
Once we've decided to control something (think of our prevention and detection controls), we then need to decide how to measure it. Different controls may need different measuring requirements, which can give us discrete or continuous data. We treat these data types differently when collecting it, determining sample sizes, and analyzing it for results. Tune-in to learn more about how to take the next step in defining controls: figuring out how to measure it and considering the data. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Prevention Controls vs. Detection Controls | 23 Feb 2022 | 00:10:45 | |
Not all controls are equal, and we don't have to wait for something bad to happen to start designing with them. We compare different types of controls in product development and design engineering: Prevention Controls vs. Detection Controls. We review concepts, uses for controls, risk-based controls, and how to prioritize design efforts for the right controls. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Map the User Journey: Design for Seamless Experiences | 21 Aug 2025 | 00:10:37 | |
This episode explores the critical importance of evaluating the customer's use process during concept development. Rather than focusing solely on what your product does, understanding how users will interact with it creates opportunities to design more intuitive, enjoyable experiences. By mapping out the steps users take from beginning to end using process flowcharts, development teams gain clarity on inputs, outputs, and the journey between them. Whether you need to simplify complex steps, compare competitor approaches, or identify critical-to-quality elements, these analytical methods help prioritize design decisions based on what truly matters to users. The goal is creating products that feel intuitive and natural, preventing those awkward validation testing moments when engineers want to shout, "You're doing it wrong!" When we evaluate the use process early, we develop products others love while minimizing costly redesigns and user frustration. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Try this Method to Help with Complex Decisions (DMRCS) | 16 Feb 2022 | 00:09:12 | |
Your team is faced with a complex decision. Maybe it's complex because you have a lot of options or maybe it's complex because it's technically challenging and requires some testing. You may want to consider a structured approach: DMRCS. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Overlapping Ideas: Quality, Reliability, and Safety | 09 Feb 2022 | 00:07:39 | |
We’ve identified safety concerns about our product design. How concerned do we need to be about quality while we’re determining root causes? There is an intersection of quality, reliability, and safety. We talk about how they fit together. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||
| Using SIPOC to Get Started | 02 Feb 2022 | 00:12:26 | |
We’re at the concept phases of our product design, trying to get our heads around the high-level steps that our users are going to take to use our product. We have an idea that we’ll have many different user groups interacting with our product, but we’re not so clear about the big picture – who is doing what, when and who needs what afterwards. To put it all together, we can help ourselves with a common quality tool: a SIPOC diagram. If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk. ABOUT DIANNA | |||