Improving communication in design

Recommendations from the literature

Conference paper (2011)

Authors

Anja Maier Technical University of Denmark

Denniz Dönmez ETH Zürich

Clemens Hepperle Technische Universität München

Matthias Kreimeyer MAN Truck and Bus AG

Udo Lindemann Technische Universität München

P.J. Clarkson University of Cambridge

Affiliation

External organisation

Collaborative design Success factors Design management Human behaviour in design Design communication

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Published Date

2011

Language

English

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Abstract

Communication permeates every aspect of an engineer's work-from clarifying product specifications to shaping social ties. This paper offers an overview of recommendations from literature to improve communication within and among engineering teams. We assume communication problems are often the outcome of underlying factors and that it is fruitful to study and improve these influences. Having been empirically elicited in prior research, 24 factors considered in this paper include, e.g., availability of information about product specifications, roles and responsibilities, and overview of sequence of tasks. To improve these factors in order to enable effective communication, this paper collates more than hundred recommendations from journal articles and textbooks published in the fields of engineering design, management science, sociology, and psychology. Recommendations include, for example, identify priorities through risk and bottleneck analysis, give clear descriptions and role expectations, and employ effective process modeling tools. Contributions of this paper are a list of recommendations for industry practitioners and an effort-benefit evaluation of individual recommendations.