Visual Management - on Communication in Product Development Organizations

Product development implies a need for information processing capability due to its uncertain and ambiguous nature. Uncertainty is troublesome as it limits an organization’s ability to plan for, and make decisions about, the activities that need to be made in order to reach the objectives of the organization. Ambiguity stems from individuals having differing interpretations of a situation, which further complicates communication and decision making. This thesis discusses visual management as a way of improving an organization’s information processing capability. Visualization seems to be able to provide a support for information processing in R&D organizations, but the research on visualization in management is not as advanced as in other fields, such as marketing and education. Thus, the overall purpose of the research presented in this thesis is to explore visual management and its use in product development organizations. Visualizations in product development are typically related to the communication of products and design concepts. However, this thesis is primarily focused on task communication, i.e., how the process, the tasks and the deliverables are communicated. The purpose is further concretized through three research questions: 1) What are the implications of using visual management in product development? 2) How can visual management be implemented and evaluated in product development? 3) How can the accessibility of information be increased to support information processing in product development?These questions are answered by three empirical studies and a conceptual study. The empirical data is primarily collected through 99 interviews at six large product development organizations. The findings show that the cognitive benefits of visualization can support managerial tasks, and that visual management can play a role in supporting communication between individuals. The thesis argues that visualizations trigger and support the teams’ information processing capability through an improved overview together with the use of rich, synchronous and frequent communication using non-canonical boundary objects based on real-time information. Such objects used for task communication increase the team’s information processing capability, thereby reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. The thesis contributes to theory on Visual management with empirical evidence of the link between using Visual management and more purposive means of communication. It also discusses the accessibility of information as a prerequisite for information processing, and suggests strategies for improving the accessibility. It also discusses how Visual management can be implemented and evaluated

The "documentation paradox" - on knowledge reuse through document repositories in R&D organizations

Document repositories are a central tool for large R&D organisations. The purpose of those repositories is to be able to reuse information. Yet, it is common from an engineering perspective to consider them as “black holes”, i.e. countless documents go into them, but the leverage of the stored information is non-obvious. This paper intends to take a more critical stance towards the input of information into the repositories, especially regarding whether there is a clear recipient of the documents, which is not necessarily the case. The conditions for reuse of information are highly dependent on for whom the information is documented, and the recipient is pointed out as crucial in the reuse process. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the document creator’s awarenessof the intended recipient when creating documentation. 35 in-depth interviews with engineers and managers at four large R&D organisations were conducted to investigate the potential for reuse of information. A main finding is that even though it is of great importance for successful information transfer to have a good perception of who the recipient is, a common reason for creating and storingdocumentation in repositories is that the recipient is unknown. In this paper, this is referred to as the “documentation paradox”. As identified in other studies, if the recipient had been known, a personalization approach had been preferred in most cases. The findings contribute empirically to theory on the use of document repositories, and provide R&D managers and Knowledge Management officers with a potential to improve the reuse of information

Visual Management - on Communication in Product Development Organizations

Product development implies a need for information processing capability due to its uncertain and ambiguous nature. Uncertainty is troublesome as it limits an organization’s ability to plan for, and make decisions about, the activities that need to be made in order to reach the objectives of the organization. Ambiguity stems from individuals having differing interpretations of a situation, which further complicates communication and decision making. This thesis discusses visual management as a way of improving an organization’s information processing capability. Visualization seems to be able to provide a support for information processing in R&D organizations, but the research on visualization in management is not as advanced as in other fields, such as marketing and education. Thus, the overall purpose of the research presented in this thesis is to explore visual management and its use in product development organizations. Visualizations in product development are typically related to the communication of products and design concepts. However, this thesis is primarily focused on task communication, i.e., how the process, the tasks and the deliverables are communicated. The purpose is further concretized through three research questions: 1) What are the implications of using visual management in product development? 2) How can visual management be implemented and evaluated in product development? 3) How can the accessibility of information be increased to support information processing in product development?These questions are answered by three empirical studies and a conceptual study. The empirical data is primarily collected through 99 interviews at six large product development organizations. The findings show that the cognitive benefits of visualization can support managerial tasks, and that visual management can play a role in supporting communication between individuals. The thesis argues that visualizations trigger and support the teams’ information processing capability through an improved overview together with the use of rich, synchronous and frequent communication using non-canonical boundary objects based on real-time information. Such objects used for task communication increase the team’s information processing capability, thereby reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. The thesis contributes to theory on Visual management with empirical evidence of the link between using Visual management and more purposive means of communication. It also discusses the accessibility of information as a prerequisite for information processing, and suggests strategies for improving the accessibility. It also discusses how Visual management can be implemented and evaluated

The "documentation paradox" - on knowledge reuse through document repositories in R&D organizations

Document repositories are a central tool for large R&D organisations. The purpose of those repositories is to be able to reuse information. Yet, it is common from an engineering perspective to consider them as “black holes”, i.e. countless documents go into them, but the leverage of the stored information is non-obvious. This paper intends to take a more critical stance towards the input of information into the repositories, especially regarding whether there is a clear recipient of the documents, which is not necessarily the case. The conditions for reuse of information are highly dependent on for whom the information is documented, and the recipient is pointed out as crucial in the reuse process. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the document creator’s awarenessof the intended recipient when creating documentation. 35 in-depth interviews with engineers and managers at four large R&D organisations were conducted to investigate the potential for reuse of information. A main finding is that even though it is of great importance for successful information transfer to have a good perception of who the recipient is, a common reason for creating and storingdocumentation in repositories is that the recipient is unknown. In this paper, this is referred to as the “documentation paradox”. As identified in other studies, if the recipient had been known, a personalization approach had been preferred in most cases. The findings contribute empirically to theory on the use of document repositories, and provide R&D managers and Knowledge Management officers with a potential to improve the reuse of information

Using Self-regulation to develop presentation skills in an integrated curriculum in higher education

The focus on developing generic skills in engineering education in parallel with developing domain skills is increasing, perhaps as a response to the increasing demands on the ability of contemporary engineers to communicate within and across knowledge domains. However, the mere addition of such generic skills training to the curriculum seems to fall short. Research shows that the training needs to be an integrated part of the curriculum to get traction, and to improve learning and resource efficiency. This paper describes the development and evaluation of an integrated presentation skills module using a self-regulated learning strategy in an engineering Master’s programme. The qualitative evaluation reveals a number of findings that guide the design of such modules

Task visualization in product development - improved communication for development teams

This paper deals with how product development teams internally communicate the tasks and the status of the work they are currently occupied with. The product development context is complex and uncertain, and it is crucial that the team can navigate through this environment to perform the tasks successfully. One way to handle this navigation is by visualizing the activities and deliverables to improve the communication of that information within the team. The method “Visual planning” aims to do just that. The method is used by product development teams to continuously monitor and control the tasks by using physical representations of the tasks. It is used by an increasing number of industrial companies, and is at the center of this study. The paper presents the results from a multiple case study of four technology based companies with internal R&D organizations that use Visual planning. The purpose of the study is to investigate the implications of the method on team communication in product development. The analysis shows that the kind of visualization that Visual planning provides encourages communication safety, reflexivity and task communication, three constructs that are positively related to team performance. A more general conclusion is that visualization can be beneficial not only when it comes to communication of product ideas, but also in the monitoring and controlling of tasks on a team level

Agile Beyond Software - A Study of a Large Scale Agile Initiative

Central to the effectiveness of design teams is how the planning of the design work is organized and coordinated. This paper describes how Saab Aeronautics, a large Swedish developer of jet fighter airplanes, has adopted an agile methodology on a large scale. The paper discusses central mechanisms of agile methodology including development of both software and hardware. The findings indicate two main factors that play an important role in reaching the benefits of agile in a large organization: setting up a system allowing focused team-work and giving the teams an empowered role in planning