(15) Keep on Track

Had a conversation with my designer today; it appears he headed down a singularly inventive path himself with respect to a very tricky part of the assembly. When I talked it through with him, the approach was in fact quite elegant, yet didn't correspond to all the contextual variables and foresight I had developed over the past year, thinking about this invention day and night, in the car, in the bathroom. His approach ended up (1) having to be operated by hand, whereas my conclusions had it being operated by foot, and (2) had it designed to custom match another component of the assembly, whereas my conclusions had more universal direction, to match many like components (and not be so custom). We spoke through it, and he was re-directed, back on track. The eventual design should be efficient from a customization perspective, i.e., if changes are necessary, major modifications are kept to a minimum. Also, the end design needs to cater specifically to the target audience, and be as helpful, non-intrusive, and user-friendly as possible.

The lesson here is to keep constant communication with the designer, so as to catch directional changes quickly, before they violate the planning and expectations (and cost parameters!) you've already established as the 'expert' in your own invention. Certainly the designer will come up with some innovative approaches and conclusions, that you haven't thought of, but always make sure your 'gut' is satisfied and all the thinking you've personally put into it is clear and present.

Still waiting on the 'waiver' from my day job company, that tells me they're not interested in my invention, so I can officially go somewhat public with the officially USPTO-filed idea in the invention contest - needs to happen next week, before the entry deadline.