What does it mean when someone says mental trial and error?

There is no doubt that if your company designs, machines and fabricates prototypes or technically advanced components or sub-assemblies for your customers, you are likely to qualify for R&D tax credits. However, the variety of projects means a variety of approaches. 

It takes effort to understand how HMRC defines research and development. It is essentially experimentation to resolve technical uncertainties using a combination of mental and physical trial and error. Whilst physical trial and error is the most used method to generate new knowledge and improve the processes, the mental part of development typically gets neglected. Mental trial and error - is a problem-solving activity to resolve technical uncertainties which cannot be readily deducible by a competent professional. It begins when conventional knowledge and methods have been exhausted with no resolution to the problem. 

The majority of precision engineers follow the route where major activities constitute physical trial and error, when they spend most of their time and resources on experimenting with various parameters, tools, materials, until they are able to resolve the problem and achieve the required outcome or until they decide that the problem is unachievable and abandon the project. It is important to note that a project doesn’t have to be successful to qualify.

For example, a specialist manufacturing company developing an enhanced nozzle for drain jetting has to carry out major experimentation to determine the optimal shape, size and surface finish, and how different materials and angles of the jet affect the navigation and performance of the jetting machine. The outcome of each experiment is not readily deducible, and variations of different combinations have to be physically trialled to resolve the problems and achieve the optimal solution. 

However, in some industries, expensive materials and strict regulations do not allow for extensive experimentation, which means that the design has to be right first time. In this case, all the fun happens at the mental stage, which involves extensive modelling, calculation, whiteboarding, assumptions, discussions and rejections. 

For instance, a precision engineering company developing an intricate component for the aerospace industry is typically supplied a sufficient amount of material to produce only one component and there is no room for any physical experimentation. All the critical dimensions and combinations of machining methodologies should be identified at the modelling and evaluation stage prior to using the machines. 

Modelling itself involves extensive trial and error, including calculating and running the parameters whilst testing the outcome. It requires many “what if” questions to resolve technical unknowns. As no engineer works on a problem in solitude, it typically involves discussions where various options are evaluated and rejected because they are suboptimal due to various factors. The trial and error continues until there is certainty that the component will be produced, 100% accurately the first time.

What does mental trial and error include?

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