Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture Tomislav Martinec A MODEL OF INFORMATION PROCESSING AND INTERACTIONS IN TEAMS DEVELOPING TECHNICAL SYSTEMS DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Zagreb, 2019. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture Tomislav Martinec A MODEL OF INFORMATION PROCESSING AND INTERACTIONS IN TEAMS DEVELOPING TECHNICAL SYSTEMS DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Supervisor: Prof. Mario Štorga, PhD. Zagreb, 2019. Fakultet strojarstva i brodogradnje Tomislav Martinec MODEL PROCESA OBRADE INFORMACIJA I INTERAKCIJA U TIMSKOM RAZVOJU TEHNIČKIH SUSTAVA DOKTORSKI RAD Mentor: Prof. dr. sc. Mario Štorga Zagreb, 2019. – Engineering design process; Teamwork; Information processing; Technical systems development; Conceptual design; State-transition model; Ideation activity; Concept review activity Technical Sciences Mechanical Engineering University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture Prof. Mario Štorga 204 48 37 271 – Prof. Neven Pavković (University of Zagreb, Croatia) Asst. Prof. Stanko Škec (University of Zagreb, Croatia) Prof. Gaetano Cascini (Politecnico di Milano, Italy) University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture I want to thank my supervisor Prof. Mario Štorga, for the consistent encouragement and patience, as well as numerous advice and practical suggestions. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the examiners, Prof. Neven Pavković, Asst. Prof. Stanko Škec, and Prof. Gaetano Cascini, for reviewing the thesis and providing insightful comments. Thanks to everyone with whom I had the pleasure to work with during this period. I am particularly grateful to my dear colleagues at the Chair of design and product development. Special thanks go to Philip Cash (TU Denmark) for providing the multimedia data of the experiment sessions. Veliko hvala obitelji i prijateljima. Hvala mami, tati i sestri na strpljenju i pomoći kad god je trebalo. Hvala Maja i Marac. Posebno hvala Ivani na razumijevanju i bezuvjetnoj podršci. Abstract .................................................................................................................................... VI Prošireni sažetak .................................................................................................................... VIII List of figures ........................................................................................................................ XIII List of tables ....................................................................................................................... XVIII List of abbreviations and symbols ......................................................................................... XXI Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Research focus, aim and hypothesis ............................................................................... 4 1.2. Research methodology ................................................................................................... 7 1.3. Scientific contribution .................................................................................................. 10 1.4. Thesis structure ............................................................................................................. 11 Research background ........................................................................................................... 14 2.1. Product development: The big picture ......................................................................... 16 2.1.1. Decomposition of NPD process ............................................................................ 16 2.1.2. NPD stage-level information processing ............................................................... 21 2.1.3. Categories of NPD projects ................................................................................... 22 2.2. Engineering design process .......................................................................................... 27 2.2.1. Stages of engineering design process .................................................................... 27 2.2.2. Information processing in engineering design ...................................................... 32 2.2.3. Types of engineering design projects .................................................................... 35 2.3. Team design activity ..................................................................................................... 38 2.3.1. Experimental studies of team design activity ........................................................ 39 2.3.2. Design information processing in team design activity ........................................ 41 2.3.3. Common team design activities: Ideation and concept review ............................. 45 2.4. Research gap ................................................................................................................. 47 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................................ 50 3.1. Fine-grain decomposition of team design activity ....................................................... 50 3.2. State-transition model of team design activity ............................................................. 54 3.3. Variables and measures ................................................................................................ 57 3.3.1. Proportions of design operations ........................................................................... 58 3.3.2. Proportions of design operation sequences ........................................................... 59 3.3.3. Probabilities of design operation sequences .......................................................... 61 3.3.4. Proportion visualisation ......................................................................................... 63 Protocol analysis study ........................................................................................................ 67 4.1. Experimental dataset .................................................................................................... 68 4.1.1. Ideation activity ..................................................................................................... 69 4.1.2. Concept review activity ......................................................................................... 69 4.2. Protocol analysis ........................................................................................................... 71 4.2.1. Coding scheme ...................................................................................................... 71 4.2.2. Inter-rater reliability .............................................................................................. 73 4.3. Protocol analysis results ............................................................................................... 74 4.3.1. Observed proportions of design operations ........................................................... 75 4.3.2. Observed sequences of design operations ............................................................. 78 4.3.3. Moving average analysis of experiment sessions .................................................. 93 Mathematical model .......................................................................................................... 102 5.1. Modelling proportions of design operations ............................................................... 104 5.2. Modelling sequences of design operations ................................................................. 107 5.2.1. Sequences of ASE design operations .................................................................. 107 5.2.2. Sequences of problem- and solution-related design operations .......................... 111 5.2.3. Sequences of ASE within and in-between problem and solution space .............. 114 5.3. Mathematical model testing ....................................................................................... 117 Computational study .......................................................................................................... 124 6.1. Computational tool ..................................................................................................... 125 6.2. Computational study setup ......................................................................................... 129 6.2.1. Adaptive design computational study setup ........................................................ 131 6.2.2. Innovative design computational study setup ..................................................... 132 6.2.3. Comparison of adaptive and innovative computational study setups ...................... 133 6.3. Computational study results ....................................................................................... 133 6.3.1. Simulated proportions of design operation ......................................................... 135 6.3.2. Simulated sequences of design operations .......................................................... 138 6.3.3. Simulated change in proportions throughout conceptual design ......................... 145 Discussion and validation .................................................................................................. 149 7.1. Reflection on the state-transition model ..................................................................... 149 7.2. Team conceptual design activity ...............................................................................