SIMULATING DESIGN PROCESSES TO INCREASE MANAGERS' UNDERSTANDING
DS 32: Proceedings of DESIGN 2004, the 8th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Year: 2004
Editor: Marjanovic D.
Author: O'Donovan, B.; Eckert, C.; Clarkson, P.J.
Section: DESIGN RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
Page(s): 447 - 452
Abstract
Beginning a design project is challenging. Managers need to understand where the risks lie in the new process. They need to plan tasks and allocate resources to them. Most products are designed by modification, so that designers have some idea what the target product will look like. Design managers can draw on this to describe what tasks they will need to undertake and the information that will be required to do so. However this is not enough, they need to find a sequence of tasks that minimises the risk of running over time and over budget with given resources. Inefficiencies arise when resources are used inappropriately or are missing, thereby delaying the process. This paper describes a new approach to such planning.
Keywords: design processes, resource allocation, risk