Abstract
The pattern of information flow through the network
of interdependent design activities is thought to be an important
determinant of engineering design process results. A previously
unexplored aspect of such patterns relates to the temporal dynamics
of information transfer between activities as those activities are
implemented through the network of people executing the project.
To address this gap, we develop a dynamic modeling method that
integrates both the network of people and the network of activities
in the project. We then employ a large dataset collected from an
industrial setting, consisting of project-related e-mails and activity
records from the design and development of a renewable energy
plant over the course of more than three years. Using network
metrics for centrality and clustering, we make three important
contributions: 1)We demonstrate a novel method for analyzing information
flows between activities in complex engineering design
projects; 2) we show how the network of information flows in a
large-scale engineering project evolved over time and how network
analysis yields several managerial insights; and 3) we provide a useful
new representation of the engineering design process and thus
support theory-building toward the evolution of information flows
through systems engineering stages. Implications include guidance
on how to analyze and predict information flows as well as better
planning of information flows in engineering design projects
according to their individual stage and activity characteristics.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Journal | I E E E Transactions on Engineering Management |
Volume | 62 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 604-617 |
ISSN | 0018-9391 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Bibliographical note
(c) 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.Keywords
- Complex system development
- Design activities
- Design process
- Engineering communication
- Information flow
- Network analysis
- Project management
- R&D management
- Electronic mail
- Information exchange
- Organizational aspects
- Systems engineering and theory