Designing Entrepreneurial Engineers Part II: Systems Design and Agile Prototyping
Part II of a two-course entrepreneurial capstone framework, addressing the transition from opportunity identification to engineered prototype realization. Building on outputs from Part I (user stories supporting evidence, and a conceptual prototype), this course teaches a lightweight, systems engineering framework that preserves iterative momentum while enforcing traceability from user requirements to engineering specifications to evidence-based verification and validation. A simplified Quality Function Deployment matrix links user stories to four classes of engineering specifications, guiding the architecture, detailed design, and test plan. The course distinguishes technical verification from user validation to operationalize an evidence-based definition of “done” and integrates sprint-based prototyping with review gates. Targeted entrepreneurship instruction (branding, financial analysis, pricing, and pitching) refines venture documentation once a product is under development. This paper presents the design criteria, framework, and assessment structure supporting these outcomes.