Incorporating Uncertainty into the Design Management Process

Abstract

Design and management are ubiquitous words that are used in different contexts. We read or hear about automobile designers, dress designers, architectural designers, system designers, aircraft designers, and so on. We also hear about people who are project managers, office managers, product managers, and the like. In fact, design and management are part of human history, and people have always designed artifacts and managed processes in any way that was necessary.Early designs were well integrated with manufacture; people tested their designs and tried to address their shortcomings or failures. With accumulating experience, rules of thumb and best practices were established. Modeling of phenomena related to product function through physics and other theoretical disciplines augmented predictive power and made it more possible to quantify design parameters a priori.

Communication in Multidisciplinary Systems Architecting

“…Blanchard and Fabrycky make mention of the issue [37], but more research is needed, as already initiated by [38].…”

Coping with Uncertainties: The Little Secret of Design Leaders

“…Dealing with uncertainty is considerably important in design, in design management, and especially in design leadership (Rajabalinejad, 2009; Rajabalinejad and Spitas, 2011, 2012a, 2012c). Indeed, leadership itself generally becomes more important in times of uncertainty than in times of stability (Gordon, 1966).…”

“…Generally, new and relevant information reduces uncertainty (Rajabalinejad and Spitas, 2012a) for design leaders. This information requires investment.…”

“…Design leaders are against any scenario in which information would lower the product cost but cause uncertainties in the project. (Further information about these possible scenarios is presented in Rajabalinejad and Spitas, 2011, 2012a.) They are the aspects of a long‐term product design leadership process that will ensure design success.…”

A Bayesian Framework for Uncertainty Formulation of Engineering Design Process

“…These are important elements in the design process since designers start the design with a program of requirements which include a large amount of uncertainty [1,2]. Then, data and information are used to reduce uncertainty and to improve the prior information of the designer.…”