The role of communication in creation of total design process management

Communication: The Oxford English dictionary describes communication as the imparting, conveying, or exchange of ideas, knowledge, information, etc. (whether by speech, writing, or signs). In practice this definition may be simplistic when considering the intricate role communication plays in the complex product design process management. Communication in Design process Many companies are often less than satisfied with the quality of communication in their organization; however, they may also find it difficult to articulate their concerns. Communication issues are often mistaken for other problems in processes or blamed on individuals and their performance. An Overview of the Design Process Design: it is the process by which the needs of the customer or the marketplace are transformed into a product satisfying these needs. It is usually carried out by a designer or engineer but requires help from other people in the company. Design essentially is an exercise in problem solving. Typically, the design of a new product consists of the following stages:

The development of a new product may also require the development of a prototype to prove that new technologies work before committing resources to full-scale manufacture. The traditional view of the design to manufacture process is that it is a sequential process; the outcome of one stage is passed on to the next stage. This tends to lead to iteration in the design, i.e. having to go back to an earlier stage to correct mistakes. This can make products more expensive and delivered to the marketplace late. A better approach is for the designer to consider the stages following design to try and eliminate any potential problems. This means that the designer requires help from the other experts in the company for example the manufacturing expert to help ensure that any designs the designer comes up with can be made. So what factors might a designer have to consider in eliminating iteration? Manufacture - Can the product be made with our facilities? Sales - Are we producing a product that the customer wants? Purchasing - Are the parts specified in stock, or why do we have to order them? Cost - Is the design going to cost too much to make? Transport - Is the product the right size for the method of transporting? Disposal - How will the product be disposed at the end of its life?

Roles of communication in different stages of design process creation Design Brief The design brief is typically a statement of intent i.e. "We will design and make a Formula One racing car". Although it states the problem, it isn't enough information with which to start designing. So there is a need to communicate the design process effectively.

Product Design Specification (PDS) This is possibly the most important stage of the design process and yet one of the least understood stage. The PDS is a document listing the problem in detail. It is important to work with the customer and analyze the marketplace to produce a list of requirements necessary to produce a successful product and this is where proper communication plays a vital role. Concept Design Using the PDS as the basis, the designer attempts to produce an outline of a solution. It is important when designing a product that you not only consider the product design specification but you also consider the activities downstream of the design stage. Downstream activities typically are manufacture, sales, transportation etc. By considering these stages early, you can eliminate problems that may occur at these stages. While here again one needs to communicate with the other departments about the feasibility. Concept generation Typically, designers capture their ideas by sketching them on paper. Annotation helps identify key points so that their ideas can be communicated with other members of the company. There are a number of techniques available to the designer to aid the development of new concepts. One of the most popular is brainstorming. This usually sparks ideas from other team members. By the end of a brainstorming session there will be a list of ideas, most useless, but some may have the potential to be developed into a concept. Brainstorming works better if the members of the team have different areas of expertise. Concept evaluation Once a suitable number of concepts have been generated, it is necessary to choose the design most suitable for to fulfill the requirements set out in the PDS. The product design specification should be used as the basis of any decision being made. Ideally a multifunction design team should perform this task so that each concept can be evaluated from a number of angles or perspectives.

Detail design In this stage of the design process, the chosen concept design is designed in detail with all the dimensions and specifications necessary to make the design specified on a detailed drawing of the design. The designer should also work closely with manufacturing department to ensure that the product can be made. Communication skills can make or break any design project that youre working on. What Roles Communication Plays for Design Process Manager? By nature many design process managers are introverted and do not naturally have strong communication skills (of course this is a generalization). Most people enjoy working on their own and creating something special, but communicating with clients may not be one of their favorite activities. If this is the case see how communication affects performance: Design is a Client Service Any type of work that is a service to clients will always require communication between the service provider and the client. As a client service, there is plenty of back and forth communication. There will be very few design processes that will allow you to carry work on your own and then present a finished product to a client without much communication in during the process. Clients Know Their Business Better Than You Do The product designing for a client is being created for a specific business and to achieve specific results. As design managers, we really dont know much about most of our clients in comparison to what they know. They know who falls into their target market. Without effective communication, gathering this information will be difficult or impossible.

Sometimes Clients Worry Being able to check in with clients and communicate throughout the process will help them to know that you are making progress and that theyre important to you. Some clients will have a tight schedule that you need to work with, and if they dont hear much from you theyll wonder if things are still ok. You can keep them happy by just keeping them up-to-date with the progress and getting their feedback throughout. Good Communication Skills help in Getting Clients So far all of the factors that have been mentioned have assumed that you have already landed the client. The truth is, most clients will shop around a little bit and they may talk to a few different designers before making a decision. If you can effectively communicate with potential clients and show them that youll do a great job for them, youll get more clients as a result.

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If project staff does not know what their tasks are, or how to accomplish them, then the entire project will grind to a halt. If you do not know what the project staff is (not) doing then you will be unable to monitor project progress. And if you are uncertain of what the customer expects of you, then the project will not even get off the ground. Maintaining open, regular and accurate channels of communication with all levels of project staff and stakeholders is vital to ensuring the smooth flow of instructions from customer to factory floor and sufficient warning of risks and changes to enable early assessment and preparation.

The Information that You Need to Give In creating the design process, it is your job to keep a number of people well-informed. It is essential that your project staff know what is expected of

them; what they have to do, when they have to do it, and what budget and time constraints and quality specification they are working towards. It is also your job to keep the stakeholders informed of project progress. The stakeholders usually include the Executive (person ultimately responsible for the project), and representatives from the User and the Supplier.

The Information that You Need to Receive In order to keep the relevant people informed, you must have regular and complete access to all information about the project; customer needs and objectives, plan, constraints, changes/risks and progress. With disciplined adherence to a system of regular and focused communication, you will avoid the misunderstandings and delays that so frequently lead to project failure and ensure that all your project staff and stakeholders are secure in their knowledge of what has to be done, and who is doing it.

Major roles of communication in creation of design process: 1. Work Group Coordination: It helps in developing work group coordination that is necessary for every team member to harmonize and stimulate with each other. Degree of participation is adjusted based on project requirement to reach maximum project benefit. 2. Relation Connection: It assists the members of collaborative design team create inter- relationship via direct, indirect, formal and informal approach to enhance understanding of current status. 3. Knowledge Sharing: Through good communication members of the collaborative design team can share their own professional knowledge and transfer tacit knowledge of design to explicit knowledge. 4. Cognition Integration: The whole team recognizes the importance of partnership, with the identical vision and establishes the value network. 5. Generate consensus: Coordination between the transmitter and the receiver helps in developing consensus and thus supports in continuing the design process.

Conclusion: The design team reaches the design goal together and shares knowledge in collaborative manner during each design process. It forms a spiral type of design process communication where the design process team is composed of designers, engineers, suppliers, customers, design development consultants and marketers. Individual values based on versatile discipline, opinion, market experience, product experience, know-how and culture are connected and interacted to turn into common value throughout the creation cycle of total design process management.