Research

Service

Name. Tunnel design.

Design object. A tunnel through rock, soil, or water.

Specifics. Fixed price.

Situation

Description. Designers of seven different disciplines each make partial designs of a tunnel to be constructed. They align their partial designs regularly to form an integral design. When they find conflicts between their partial designs, they resolve them by modifying their partial designs.

Critical success factors. The process of finding and resolving conflicts between partial designs takes precious time.

Current position. The service is:

• Valuable.
• Not rare.
• Not inimitable.
• Not sufficiently organized.

Ambition

Kind of advantage to achieve. Higher team performance.

Formulation. Designers manage conflicts between their partial designs in less time.

Possibilities

Options. Ways to improve conflict management:

• Find a conflict between partial designs as quickly as possible.
• Resolve a conflict between partial designs as quickly as possible.

Analysis. Worth pursuing.

Frame

Prevention is better than cure to improve conflict management:

• Prevent a conflict between partial designs as much as possible.

Expectations

Ways to improve conflict management:

1. Prevent a conflict between partial designs as much as possible.
2. Find a conflict between partial designs as quickly as possible.
3. Resolve a conflict between partial designs as quickly as possible.

Problem

Question. How can designers prevent a conflict between partial designs as much as possible?

Issue. While making partial designs, designers do not know from each other what the other is doing.

Prognosis. Favourable: there are possibilities to do something about it.

Concept

Question. How can designers prevent a conflict between partial designs as much as possible?

Idea.

• Express a tunnel design in a common formal digital language.
• Process a tunnel design in a shared digital repository.
  • Create
  • Read
  • Update
  • Archive
  • Delete

Solution

Idea. Express a tunnel design in a common formal digital language.

Action.

1. Define a design ontology.
2. Transform the design ontology in a formal meta-model.
3. Manage the formal meta-model.

Solution

Idea. Process a tunnel design in a shared digital repository.

Action.

1. Create a digital repository.
2. Implement the formal meta-model in the digital repository.
3. Train designers in designing using the digital repository.
4. Manage the digital repository.

Service

Name. Series aircraft design.

Design object. Aircraft similar to other aircraft identified by the same grouping key.

Specifics. Design a variation of aircraft identified by the same grouping key.

Situation

Description. A team of designers is tasked to design a series aircraft. The team consists of senior designers and junior designers.

Critical success factors. Junior designers slow down whenever there are no senior designers looking over their shoulders or sparring with them.

Current position. The service is:

• Valuable.
• Not rare.
• Inimitable.
• Not sufficiently organized.

Ambition

Kind of advantage to achieve. Higher team performance.

Formulation. The design team designs a series aircraft more quickly.

Possibilities

Options. Ways to design a series aircraft more quickly:

• Learn to design a series aircraft as senior designers do.

Analysis. Worth pursuing.

Frame

To design a series aircraft more quickly, wisdom comes with experience:

• Learn to design a series aircraft as senior designers do.

Expectations

Ways to design a series aircraft more quickly:

1. Learn to design a series aircraft as senior designers do.
2. Learn to design a series aircraft according to a common way of working.
3. Reduce time waste in the design process.

Problem

Question. How can junior designers learn to design a series aircraft as senior designers do?

Issue. Senior designers are not aware of their way of working.

Prognosis. Favourable: there are possibilities to do something about it.

Concept

Question. How can junior designers learn to design a series aircraft as senior designers do?

Idea. Learn how to use design rationale while designing.

Solution

Idea. Learn how to use design rationale while designing.

Action.

1. Find out how senior designers retrieve and reuse design rationale of aircraft identified by the same grouping key.
2. Find out how senior designers revise and retain design rationale of aircraft while designing.
3. Train junior designers on how to use design rationale while designing.