What is Set-Based Thinking™?

Set-Based Thinking™ is the first giant step in the Learning-First Product Development journey.

In a nutshell, Set-Based Thinking™ is the shift from developing and testing the design for a particular project to testing, learning, and considering a larger set of possible designs. Rather than only thinking about the specific specifications that the development project needs to satisfy, you think deeply about the ranges of reasonable values around those specified. By investing in that learning up front (when development is relatively inexpensive), you buy your organization flexibility that pays off big later when development is relatively expensive.

Furthermore, by learning that set and capturing it properly so that you can use that knowledge later in the project, you can also use that knowledge in the next project. In that way, your organization will only need to learn a particular set once and will be able to use that Set-Based Knowledge in every project that follows. Toyota is able to produce superior designs in a fraction of the time as their competitors because they've effectively been developing the Camry for 50 years.

We have developed sophisticated tools and methods to help engineers map out and capture their Set-Based Knowledge such that it will be reusable. We have incorporated the essential elements of Learning-First Product Development, such as the LAMDA learning cycle and A3 thinking, to form practical approaches that you can apply immediately for Set-Based Problem Solving and Set-Based Trade-Off Analysis.

We offer a set of Workshops to fully teach Set-Based Thinking™; and a sophisicated Software solution to take what was learned to the next level. Our software is not necessary to implement what you are taught in our training; but we do believe the value added by the software will make it a compelling choice to all graduates of the Set-Based Thinking™ workshops.

After some time of building up its Set-Based Knowledge, your team will be able to move to the next level of capability, Targeted Convergence™, allowing them to fully leverage that knowledge into their product designs (and the end of specifications as you know them).