Rupani, Sidharth

Rupani, Sid

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MIT     Engineering Systems Division Ph.D. Program  esd             Name:  Sid Rupani (sidrup@mit.edu)   Thesis advisor:  Prof. Warren Seering             Start date:  Sep. 2005                         Expected Graduation: Sep. 2009 Commonality in Enterprise Product Development ProcessesOverarching QuestionCreation of a measure of process commonalityUnderstanding of factors that drive process variationMethods to help understand the effect of processstandardization or diversity on performanceConsidering organizational processes as families andthe applicability of techniques from product familydesign to processesFramework to make decisions about process designsexplicitly considering the effect of commonality onorganization-level and project-level outcomesProblem“Companies made up of many different business units will facean important question as they make the shift to a processenterprise:Should all units do things the same way, or should they beallowed to tailor the process to their own needs?In a process enterprise the key structural issue is…processstandardization versus process diversity.There’s no one right answer.”Hammer and Stanton, 1999Motivation Research Questions and DesignExpected Contribution“The need to achieve organizationwide convergence ofdevelopment processes often conflicts with the need to executeprojects that vary widely in nature, scope, duration, orsophistication.”              Ramaswamy, 2001Benefits of Standardization•“Standard development processes build trust, enabledevelopment speed through precise synchronization,and are key to successfully managing the very complexprocess of developing new vehicles.•Process standardization enables true concurrentengineering and provides a structure for synchronizingcross-functional processes that enables unmatchedvehicle development speed…•standard development processes are the onlyconceivable way to run a multi-project developmentfactory and gauge the performance and progress of anyindividual program.”Morgan and Liker, Toyota Product Development System, 2006However,•Projects are different! PD projects differ in factors likescale, complexity, technology uncertainty, schedule,environments, goals, domain, available resources, andproject team capability.MacCormack and Vergnanti, 2003; Dvir, Shenhar, andAlkaher, 2003; Cockburn, 2000; Glass, 2000;  Lindvalland Rus, 2000•A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is difficult to work inproduct development.MacCormack and Vergnanti, 2003; Lindvall and Rus, 2000.•“…process diversity offers one big advantage: itallows different kinds of [projects] to be managed indifferent ways”Hammer and Stanton, 1999What is the right level of commonality acrossproduct development processes for a given contextin an organization and how can it be managed?

Commonality in Enterprise Product Development Processes

Ph.D. Program2008Poster SessionESS MIT ESDCommonality in Enterprise Product Development ProcessesSidharth Rupani, Ph.D. Candidate Thesis advisor: W.SeeringStart date: September 2005Research Group: Lean Advancement Initiative“Companies made up of many different business units will face an important question as they make the shift to a process enterprise:Should all units do things the same way, or should they be allowed to tailor the process to their own needs?In a process enterprise the key structural issue is…process standardization versus process diversity. There’s no one right answer.”Hammer and Stanton, 1999“The need to achieve organizationwide convergence of development processes often conflicts with the need to execute projects that vary widely in nature, scope, duration, or sophistication.”Ramaswamy, 2001Standardization• “Standard development processes are the only conceivable way to run a multi-project development factory and gauge the performance and progress of any individual program.”Morgan and Liker, Toyota Product Development System, 2006Diversity• A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is difficult to work in product development.MacCormack and Vergnanti, 2003; Lindvall and Rus, 2000.Problem Research Questions and DesignOverarching QuestionMotivationz Creation of a measure of process commonalityz Understanding of factors that drive process variationzMethods to help understand the effect of process standardization or diversity on performance on project-level and organization-level outcomesPreliminary ResultsNext StepsExpected ContributionsSid Rupaniz Test and create measures of process commonality working with process databasez Select and develop coding for projects and work with database to test project-process characteristic correlationsz Develop interview/survey method to elicit factors driving process variation and then rank them by relative importancez Create conceptual foundations for model by determining from literature which links are well-established and their strengths etc.z “Variety decisions are driven by a combination of inertia, historical precedent, ad hoc criteria, and rational decision-making.” (Ramdas, 2003)z Breaking down process standardization into commonality along various process attributes or dimensions provides opportunities for much more fine grained analysisz Process attributes along which standardization provides benefits may not entirely coincide with those that drive project performance outcomes.  This provides opportunities to harness benefits of both standardization and diversityWhat is the right level of commonality across product development processes for a given context in an organization and how can it be managed?Research Framework

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Commonality in Enterprise Product Development Processes

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