Transcript Summary of 1st Workshop of Design Performance Cluster

Summary of 1st Workshop of
Design Performance Cluster
University of Strathclyde
9th February 2005
http://www.dmem.strath.ac.uk/desperf/
Focus of Cluster
• Design growing in importance to UK companies
as we reposition ourselves in the value stream
• Very little attention has been paid to managing the
performance of the design process
• Different design communities have their own
ideas, approaches, concepts etc.
• The overall aim of the cluster is to provide a
platform to facilitate the sharing, consolidation
and promotion of activities in design performance
research and practice.
Aims & Objectives
• Bring together researchers from diverse communities who
can really lead the field in design performance at an
international level.
• Develop a research agenda, along with priorities and
groupings to take the key research issues forward.
• Start groupings of collaborative activity to tackle key
research issues and form innovative research partnerships.
• Encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas, concepts,
frameworks and approaches.
• Create a dialogue between designers, artists, engineers,
architects, social scientists, etc.
• Involve industry in these key discussions.
• Disseminate information to the wider community.
Core Members
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Simon Austin, Loughborough
Hilary Bates, Warwick
Umit Bititci, Strathclyde
Alan Bridges, Strathclyde
John Clarkson, Cambridge
Chris Clegg, Sheffield
Helen Driva, Nottingham
Alex Duffy, Strathclyde
Steve Evans, Cranfield
Bill Ion, Strathclyde
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Dave Langford, Strathclyde
Fiona Lettice, Cranfield
Chris McMahon, Bath
James Moultrie, Cambridge
Bill Nixon, Dundee
Kul Pawar, Nottingham
Sheng Feng Qin, Brunel
Nigel Slack, Warwick
Palie Smart, Cranfield
Derek Thomson, Loughborough
Attending
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Workshop
Hilary Bates, Warwick (ops. management, automotive, outsourcing)
Umit Bititci, Strathclyde (PM, strategy)
Alan Bridges, Strathclyde (architecture, arch. computing)
Chris Clegg, Sheffield (org. psychology, org. change, innovation)
Mary Duffy, Cardiff (innovation, NPD)
Mark Haffey, Strathclyde (design optimisation, processes)
Margo Hutchison, Cluster Co-ordinator
Jill MacBryde, PI (design process, value, PM, team performance)
Chris McMahon, Bath (design education, design collaboration)
James Moultrie, Cambridge (industrial design, SMEs, design mgt.)
Bill Nixon, Dundee (design evaluation, accounting link to NPD)
Kulwant Pawar, Nottingham (ops management, NPD)
Shengfeng Qin, Brunel (collaborative design, distributed design)
Emerging Themes
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Lifecycle
Strategy
Collaboration
Skills, training and culture
Design process performance
Modelling of the design process
Other
Lifecycle
• How do we feed longer term performance
issues back to the designer?
• How do we measure the real lifecycle cost
• Designing to extend or shorten product life
• Sustainability (legislation, responsibility, reuse etc)
Strategy
• Design is about more than product development (branding,
image, value, space) – but do we measure design
performance in a wider context?
• Alignment, consistency & coherence – how to measure?
• How can we develop measures that will help with
decisions about investment in design, risk management
etc.?
• Can we quantify the impact of design?
• With blurred boundaries between manufacturing & service
– is what we mean by design changing? What are the
implications for strategy and measurement?
Collaboration
• Where does design fit in the extended enterprise –
and what are the management implications?
• Can we learn from construction industry?
• Outsourcing of design – how much design
expertise to retain in-house?
• Does the use of design consultants really impact
on design performance?
• How can we measure shared risk, benefits, IPR?
• What working practices are needed for design
collaboration?
Skills, training & culture
• Can we articulate and measure key skills needed
for design?
• Skills in teams – what should be the balance of
internal and external expertise?
• Is there a measurable risk associated with buyingin skills for parts of design process?
• Do we have a design culture in the UK? How does
this affect design performance?
• Changing views of performance – what are the
implications for designers and educators?
Design process
• Are we overplaying efficiency measures at the
expense of effectiveness measures?
• Should we be rethinking the design review as a
performance measure?
• What would a balanced scorecard for design
performance look like?
• “world class design” – should we have an audit
tool as in “world class manufacture”?
• What measures are needed for distributed design
process performance?
• What is the link between value and performance?
Modelling
• What modelling tools to use?
• We can model the process - but not the
human factors?
• Is it possible to simulate design process?
• Process models normally help us address
efficiency – but what models can we use to
measure effectiveness?
Other
• What do we mean by design - and is this
changing?
• Is the design environment really different – and if
so what sort of management and measures are
needed?
• If we can’t measure, are we going to stifle
investment?
• Impact of legislation?
• How can SMEs move up the value chain by
leveraging design capability and at what cost?
Planned Activity
• Workshop 1 – report on current activity and
emerging themes
• Workshop 2 – development of themes and
research agenda. SWOT analysis.
• Workshop 3 – research challenges, agenda and
priorities
• Workshop 4 – mini-conference; presentation of
research proposals
• Summer school
• Website
• Course materials