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Item type:Publication, Access status: with files , Challenges in early phase of product family development processes(Elsevier, 2021-06-02); ; ; ; The early phase of product development is often described as particularly challenging. Especially in the case of innovations, various challenges that can be attributed to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) are said to come into play. Far more often than breakthrough innovation projects, however, product development projects found in industrial practice incorporate incremental innovations on component or module level. This is especially the case for product developments within product families, where often a large part of modules and technical solutions are used in several products simultaneously and over several development cycles. The aim of this paper is to identify specific challenges especially in the context of the early phase of product families, to assign them to the four dimensions of VUCA and to put them in the context of different boundary conditions, such as novelty degree. For this purpose, a two-part approach was chosen: first, empirical studies concerning the early phase of the product (family) development are summarized, second, three explorative and semi-structured interviews were conducted. As a result, it can be concluded that challenges related to complexity, such as difficult decision-making in balancing internal and external goals or due to interdisciplinary cooperation and coordination between the partners involved, ambiguity, such as due to different interpretations of the same information, as well as uncertainty, such as not knowing about future customer requests, are of particular importance. Challenges related to volatility, on the other hand, were mentioned only sporadically. Furthermore, closeness to the customer, for example, seems to be a boundary condition that favours or prevents the occurrence of certain challenges in the early phase of product family development.Publicationtype: Conference PaperScopus© Citations 7 116 195 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , Kaleidoscope of User Involvement : Product Development Methods in an Interdisciplinary ContextInvolving user perspectives into product development activities means involving empiric science methods into engineering sciences. On the one hand, human-centered research methods should assist engineering designers in problem definition, solution generation, decision-making and evaluation aligned to the users. On the other hand, different research logics and approaches of problem solving can be an obstacle to the application of methods from other disciplines. The article presents a terminology aimed at supporting interdisciplinary understanding of methods and its underlying conceptualizations.Publicationtype: Conference Paper142 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Access status: without files , Overcoming fuzzy design practice: Revealing potentials of user-centered design research and methodological concepts related to user involvementAs more and more research on involving users in design was published, the heterogeneity of design principles, methodologies and tools increased, leading to a variety of new terms being used to distinguish between the different types of solutions on how to support designers. Recently emerged research on human-centered or participatory design leads to small-scale differentiation, ending up in fuzziness. Influences from various disciplines form a conceptual landscape, in which the analytical boundaries become blurred and the conditions of certain design principles are characterized more by soft characteristics than systematic specifications. Consequently, practitioners feel challenged by the need of selecting the best suitable method for involving users into specific design tasks. Additionally, the term 'method' is perceived differently and in quite flexible ways. Hereby, the relationship between methods, tools and design methodologies is not taken into considerations. By analyzing the different methodological approaches of user-centered development practice, this paper reveals that not only the exchange between academia and practice, but also between different research communities lacks a consistent communication basis. To overcome this gap, a clarification of the essential terms necessary for describing the different methodological concepts related to user involvement is necessary. A first proposal towards a collection of these terms is given.Publicationtype: Conference Paper249