Decision-making: a laboratory-based case study in conceptual design

The engineering design process may be seen as a series of interrelated operations that are driven by decisions: each operation is carried out as the consequence of an associated decision. Hence, an effective design process relies heavily upon effective decision-making. As a consequence, supporting decision-making may be a significant means for achieving design process improvements. This thesis concentrates on how to support selection-type decision-making in conceptual engineering design. [Continues.

Decision making in conceptual engineering design: an empirical investigation

This paper describes the aims, methodology and results of an empirical research project. The aim was to gather new insight about how collaborative decision-making processes in the conceptual engineering design phase of the product development process takes place. The insight contributes to bridging the gap between the theoretical development of new decision-making methods in academia and the needs of practitioners. The researchers observed, recorded and transcribed three workshops involving groups that were engaged in the collaborative decision-making processes. Through analysing the transcripts, a set of decision-making related activities was identified. Each activity's time consumption was quantified, and a number of decision-making process models at different levels of detail were developed. During this analysis, various observations on particular process characteristics were made. It was observed that generating formal structures and documentation was beneficial to the decision-making process. This was particularly true with respect to developing problem understanding and consistency. The outcomes should be valuable for the design and development of improved decision-support systems