scholarly journals SIMULATION OF GRADIENT-BASED INDIVIDUAL DESIGN BEHAVIOUR IN DISTRIBUTED DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1579-1588
Author(s):  
F. Wöhr ◽  
M. Stanglmeier ◽  
S. Königs ◽  
M. Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Design Teams ◽  
Development Cost ◽  
Solution Quality ◽  
Team Interaction ◽  
Distributed Development ◽  
Design Behaviour ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Gradient Based ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Individual Design

AbstractAs current vehicle development processes in the automotive industry are highly distributed, the interaction between design teams is limited. In this paper we use a simulation in order to investigate how the rate of design team interaction affects the solution quality and development cost. Results show, that in case of no limiting constraints, a low rate of interaction yields the best results regarding solution quality and development cost. If design activities are affected by constraints, however, the rate of interaction is subject to a conflict between solution quality and development cost.

Managing User-Centered Design Activities in Distributed Agile Development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sultan Alyahya ◽  
Ohoud Almughram
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Design ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Development Teams ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
User Centered

Abstract The integration of user-centered design (UCD) activities into agile information systems development has become more popular recently. Despite the fact that there are many ways the merging of UCD activities into agile development can be carried out, it has been widely recognized that coordinating design activities with development activities is one of the most common problems, especially in distributed environments where designers, developers and users are spread over several sites. The main approach to coordinate UCD activities with distributed agile development is the use of informal methods (e.g. communication through using video conference tools). In addition to the temporal, geographical and socio-cultural barriers associated with this type of methods, a major limitation is a lack of awareness of how UCD activities and development activities affect each other. Furthermore, some agile project management tools are integrated with design platforms but fail to provide the necessary coordination that helps team members understand how the design and development activities affect their daily work. This research aims to support the effective management of integrating UCD activities into distributed agile development by (i) identifying the key activity dependencies between UX design teams and development teams during distributed UCD/agile development and (ii) designing a computer-based system to provide coordination support through managing these activity dependencies. In order to achieve these objectives, two case studies are carried out. Our findings revealed 10 main dependencies between UCD design teams and development teams as shown by six types of activity. In addition, the participatory design approach shows that developing a computer-based system to manage seven of these selected dependencies is achievable.

scholarly journals Heterogeneous Simulated Annealing Teams: An Optimizing Search Algorithm Inspired by Engineering Design Teams

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher McComb ◽  
Jonathan Cagan ◽  
Kenneth Kotovsky
Keyword(s):  
Simulated Annealing ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Simulated Annealing Algorithm ◽  
Search Algorithm ◽  
Random Search ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Design Cognition ◽  
Gradient Based ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Annealing Algorithms

Although insights uncovered by design cognition are often utilized to develop the methods used by human designers, using such insights to inform computational methodologies also has the potential to improve the performance of design algorithms. This paper uses insights from research on design cognition and design teams to inform a better simulated annealing search algorithm. Simulated annealing has already been established as a model of individual problem solving. This paper introduces the Heterogeneous Simulated Annealing Team (HSAT) algorithm, a multi-agent simulated annealing algorithm. Each agent controls an adaptive annealing schedule, allowing the team develop heterogeneous search strategies. Such diversity is a natural part of engineering design, and boosts performance in other multi-agent algorithms. Further, interaction between agents in HSAT is structured to mimic interaction between members of a design team. Performance is compared to several other simulated annealing algorithms, a random search algorithm, and a gradient-based algorithm. Compared to other algorithms, the team-based HSAT algorithm returns better average results with lower variance.

scholarly journals Investigating the Impact of Spatial Augmented Reality on Communication between Design Session Participants - A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1973-1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Giunta ◽  
Fatma Ben Guefrache ◽  
Elies Dekoninck ◽  
James Gopsill ◽  
Jamie O'Hare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Models ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Set Design ◽  
Design Activity ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Spatial Augmented Reality ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Impact

AbstractSAR provides an unobtrusive implementation of AR and enables multiple stakeholders to observe and interact with an augmented physical model. This is synonymous with co-design activities and hence, there is a potential for SAR to have a significant impact in the way design teams may set-up and run their co-design activities in the future. Whilst there are a growing number of studies which apply SAR to design activities, few studies exist that examine a particular element of a design activity in a controlled manner. This paper will begin to fill this gap through the controlled study of SAR and its effects on the communication between participants of a co-design activity. To do so the paper compares a controlled design session, using more traditional methods of design representations (3D models on a screen), to sessions run using SAR. The sessions are then analysed to gather information on the gestures used by the participants as well as the overall efficiency of the participants at completing the set design task. The paper concludes that the data gathered tentatively supports a link between the use of SAR and improved communication between design session participants.

Longitudinal Design Teams: Students Teaching Students

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet M. Rice ◽  
Robert H. Allen ◽  
Artin A. Shoukas
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Faculty Mentors ◽  
Individual Design

Abstract We report on the characteristics of our year-long Longitudinal Design Team (LDT) courses, which have been taught since Fall 1998. Our main goal in these courses is to have teams of undergraduates at all educational levels work together solving problems that involve design in biomedical engineering. Consisting of about ten students, each team is composed mostly of freshmen, who, with the help of upperclassmen mentors and an upperclassman Team Leader, are able to use the knowledge they have gained in their introductory courses and from their life experiences and apply it to biomedical engineering problems. In the Fall semester, teams work on one or two projects, where they design, perform, measure and apply principles of physics to develop an understanding of a bio-mechanical event. In the spring, teams work on individual design projects proposed by “customers.” Faculty mentors interact with the team leaders and they decide how to proceed with their respective projects. Because the course is open to all educational levels, freshman students often reregister for the course as more upper level students. In addition to a learning environment, the design team is also a place for underclassmen to develop relationships with upperclassmen and vice versa. These relationships have proved particularly useful to the freshmen in choosing their courses, as well as in deciding summer and research plans. The upperclassmen are also learning how the knowledge they have gained in their coursework applies to solving practical problems. Although only in operation for three years, others perceive tangible results as well. In particular, the majority of customers are satisfied with the prototypes they receive. These preliminary results indicate that this unique program helps our students become acclimated to our curriculum and in preparing them for their profession.

Back and Forth: Using Conversation Analysis to Explore Dialogues of Sharedness of Mental Models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Yi ◽  
Nicole B. Damen ◽  
Christine A. Toh
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Design Practice ◽  
Team Mental Models ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Design Activities

Abstract Shared mental models have been shown to enhance team performance. However, research has not observed the different types of sharedness of mental models that may uniquely impact the design process. Therefore, this study examines the types of sharedness of mental models that occur in design teams using Conversation Analysis on data collected from two design teams that performed activities in the early design process in a controlled lab environment. Designers were asked to develop an agreed upon list of ranked design principles, and then generate one or two solutions using the list. These design activities allow for the examination of the varying ways that designers share knowledge, negotiate, and reach understanding. Through our analysis, we identify characteristics of conversation that designers used to build shared understanding. Our results also show how team mental models are built from patterns of conversation that are evident during open-ended and unstructured design discussions. This work sets a foundation for future research to gain a deeper understanding of how designer mental models are shared in unstructured conversations that take place during design practice.

scholarly journals The problem of urban design universals: modeling and planning of ensemble spaces

2020 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 04004
Author(s):  
Sergey Norenkov ◽  
Evgenia Krasheninnikova
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Universal Model ◽  
State University ◽  
Garden Cities ◽  
Modern Cities ◽  
Urban Territories ◽  
Inductive Methods ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Development Processes

The purpose of the article is to pose the problem of the universals of urban design and show schematic features of its solution in modeling and planning ensemble spaces of modern cities. An integral, correlatively universal model of urban design is yet to be created in the paradigm of sustainable development of “smart garden-cities” - as opposed to stochastic random development processes of urban territories following some quick-fix projects. Deductive and inductive methods are proposed as a basis. The general methodology is developed in the spectrum of transitions from generalized vision in the logic of universals, to particulars, revealing in the specifics of the unique. In a city that lives its own life, as a kind of faceted, multisided “Philosopher’s stone”, the universals are present everywhere and realized in the consistency of each and every element. Urban ensemble spaces that organically link the unique expressiveness of every historical chronotope gain their own algorithms in the process of urban design, supported by modeling and planning. The main results relating to the productivity in application of the universals as criteria for the estimation of architectural urban design were obtained in the design activities of the LLC “SynARChiya” and in the educational process in Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

An Investigation on the Implications of Design Process Phases on Artifact Novelty

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Ozge Ozaltin ◽  
Mary Besterfield-Sacre ◽  
Gül E. Okudan Kremer ◽  
Larry J. Shuman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Technical Design ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Research Questions

Innovation, including engineering innovation, is essential for economic growth. Currently, while most design practices in engineering education focus on aspects of “good” technical design, elements of innovation may be neglected. This research investigates design process activities that yield innovative artifacts. Specifically, we examine the types of design activities, their timing, and the associations among each other. Specifically, two research questions are explored. First, what design activities do teams engage in that relate to the innovativeness of the resultant design artifact? Second, how do these design activities impact the succeeding activities across the design process (from problem definition to working prototype (WP))? To explore these questions, 16 senior capstone bioengineering design teams are followed as they advance from initial conceptualization to WP over an average 23 week period. Several significant measures suggest that innovative teams differ from their noninnovative counterparts in terms of what activities they engage in, how much they engage in the particular activities, and in what phase they conduct the activities. Specifically, certain activities utilized in the early phase (e.g., marketing) are essential for innovation. Moreover, in terms of iterations through activities, spending significant time and effort while developing a design, as well as having smooth, rich iterations throughout the process contribute to the innovativeness of the artifact.

AN EXPERIMENTAL MULTI-AGENT ENVIRONMENT FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN

1996 ◽  
Vol 05 (02n03) ◽  
pp. 131-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
WEIMING SHEN ◽  
JEAN-PAUL A. BARTHES
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Multidisciplinary Design ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Design Environment ◽  
Open Design ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
The Individual

Real world engineering design projects require the cooperation of multidisciplinary design teams using sophisticated and powerful engineering tools. The individuals or the individual groups of the multidisciplinary design teams work in parallel and independently often for quite a long time with different tools located on various sites. In order to ensure the coordination of design activities in the different groups or the cooperation among the different tools, it is necessary to develop an efficient design environment. This paper discusses a distributed architecture for integrating such engineering tools in an open design environment, organized as a population of asynchronous cognitive agents. Before introducing the general architecture and the communication protocol, issues about an agent architecture and inter-agent communications are discussed. A prototype of such an environment with seven independent agents located in several workstations and microcomputers is then presented and demonstrated on an example of a small mechanical design.

scholarly journals Determining polytechnic teachers' professional development and curricular quality through collaborative curriculum design

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 68-79
Author(s):  
Marie Afua Baah Bakah ◽  
Joke Voogt ◽  
Jules Pieters
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Domain Knowledge ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Design Activities

In this collaborative curriculum design i.1 addressed as an effective method for the continuing Professional development of teachers in a polytechnic in Ghana during curriculum reform. Three design teams have been working 10 update engineering syllabus to commensurate contemporary industrial skill demands as well as update their own knowledge in their subject areas for fourteen weeks. They embarked on industrial visits, incorporated relevant information in their courses and conducted teaching try-outs. Mixed methods were employed for data collection during design activities. Results indicated that teachers updated their domain knowledge and skills, design teams improved teacher collaboration while teacher ownership pf and commitment to quality curriculum increased. Furthermore, teaching try-outs of updated courses were a success from both teachers and students perspectives. It was concluded that the relational nature of the interdependencies between social and individual contributions to curriculum design illuminates the fabric of teachers’ continuing professional development.

scholarly journals Designing the Characteristics of Design Teams via Cognitively Inspired Computational Modeling

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher McComb
Keyword(s):  
Simulated Annealing ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Optimization Algorithm ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Solution Quality ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Team Characteristics

Teams are a ubiquitous part of the design process and a great deal of time and effort is devoted to managing them effectively. Although teams have the potential to search effectively for solutions, they are also prone to a number of pitfalls. Thus, a greater understanding of teams is necessary to ensure that they can function optimally across a variety of tasks. Teams are typically studied through controlled laboratory experiments or through longitudinal studies that observe teams in situ. However, both of these study types can be costly and time-consuming. Months, if not years, pass between the initial conception of a study and the final analysis of results. This work creates a computational framework that efficiently emulates human design teams, thus facilitating the derivation of a theory linking the properties of design problems to optimized team characteristics, effectively making it possible to design design teams.This dissertation first introduces and validates the Cognitively-Inspired Simulated Annealing Teams (CISAT) modeling framework. The central structure of CISAT is modeled after simulated annealing, a global optimization algorithm that has been shown to effectively mimic the problem-solving process of individuals. Specifically, a multi-agent analog of simulated annealing is used in CISAT to mimic the behavior of teams. Several additional components, drawn from the psychology and problem-solving literature, are then included in the framework to enable a more accurate description of individual activity and interaction within the team. CISAT is then used to investigate the relationship between design problem properties, team characteristics, and task performance. Multiple computational simulations are conducted in which simulated teams with various characteristics solve a variety of different configuration problems. These simulations are then post-processed to produce a set of equations that make it possible to predict optimal team characteristics based on problem properties, thus enabling the optimal design of design teams. To validate these equations a behavioral study is designed and conducted in which teams of engineering students interact at different frequencies while designing a complex system. Results of the study offer a limited validation of the predictive equations.This dissertation further highlights the resource efficiency and versatility of CISAT by demonstrating its use in two additional applications. In the first, a new numerical optimization algorithm is derived directly from CISAT by stripping away all but the most quintessential team-based characteristics. The team-based characteristics of this algorithm allow it to achieve high performance across a variety of objective function with diverse topographies. In the second application, CISAT is used in conjunction with Markov concepts to examine the order in which designers make changes to their solutions. Although it has been demonstrated that humans apply changes in a specific order (called a sequence) when solving puzzles, such patterns have not been examined for engineers solving design problems. It is shown that operation sequences are used by designers, and improve solution quality. This dissertation demonstrates how characteristics of individual designers and design teams can be captured and accurately reproduced within a computational model to advance our knowledge of design methodology. Future extensions of this work have the potential to inform a deeper and more holistic understanding of the search process.

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