I can compare before-and-after data, verify requirements, and justify either another iteration or a design freeze.
POE Unit 5 • Lesson 5.15
Iteration and Design Freeze
Focus question: How can teams make evidence-based revisions and decide when additional changes create more risk than value?
Mission Briefing
Today’s Plan
A focused sequence that advances the capstone without creating unnecessary documentation.
Opening promptConcept modelGuided workInteractive applicationEvidence checkExit ticket
Lesson Targets
What You Will Be Able to Do
Iteration comparison and design-freeze decision
The decision references measurable improvement, unresolved risk, schedule impact, and verification status.
Activity Flow
How the Lesson Moves
Each step produces a decision, artifact, or test result needed for the capstone.
1. Select a targeted revision
Change the cause of the highest-priority performance gap.
2. Retest consistently
Use the same metric and conditions for a fair comparison.
3. Conduct the freeze review
Confirm requirements, risks, interfaces, and documentation status.
Lesson Interactive
Decide Whether to Freeze the Design
Apply the lesson concept to a capstone aerospace-systems scenario. Use the feedback to correct your reasoning before completing the main deliverable.
Iteration Evidence
Baseline success rate: 72%. Revised success rate: 92%. Required success rate: at least 90%. All critical safety and interface checks now pass.
Compare both versions to the requirement and account for unresolved critical risk before freezing.
Today’s Work
Main Deliverable
Iteration comparison and design-freeze decision
Create one focused engineering artifact that demonstrates today’s capstone progress.
- Compare baseline and revised performance using the same metric.
- Complete a design-freeze decision that identifies any deferred issues and their consequences.
Exit Ticket
Capstone Debrief
State the most important engineering decision your team made today.
Name the evidence, requirement, interface, or risk that supports that decision.
Identify the next action and the person responsible for completing it.
Resources
Lesson Resources
Lesson 5.15 PowerPoint
Use the presentation to review the lesson concepts, examples, and activity directions.
Principles of Engineering
Return to the POE course hub for units, resources, certifications, and course information.
Aerospace Systems Capstone
Return to Unit 5 to review the capstone sequence, deliverables, and project challenges.