Access Logics for Situation-Appropriate Selection and Introduction of Methods in Engineering Design

Abstract

Development methods from Systems Engineering (SE) or agile product development support companies in dealing with current challenges like increased interaction of subsystems and multidisciplinary. However, for many companies, these methods and approaches are still unfamiliar. Developers are often unaware of a suitable development method. Therefore, guides are used to find the appropriate methods and assist their application to the company's specific problems. The main shortcoming of existing guides is that they rely heavily on fixed activities and process-maturity levels and give little attention to the specific situation of the application context. Consequently, methods often miss the actual demand and do not trigger the hoped-for process improvements. The objective of this research is to improve the access to development methods by assisting in clarifying the problem situation and interactions to process activities be addressed when selection methods. The essential goal is to increase the contextual awareness required to identify and implement suitable development methods. To characterize different engineering activities, goals, variables, and key performance indicators were identified based on a literature review. These elements were used in two different projects to develop access logics which are used to select the methods. The results of this short-term research are an online guide and a simulation game to develop an awareness of development methods and enable developers to identify methods according to their specific context information. Within the online guide, the link between goals and variables, a series of predefined questions and the characteristics of the goals, and a set of described methods are used to guide the user to his individual method selection with the help of interactive question trees. Within the simulation game, a set of variables is used to characterize each method, and interactions with process activities, tools, and roles are given. Based on a simulation model effectivity and impact of the methods are indicated. It becomes possible to raise awareness for the use of the method and suggest methods that fit the situation at hand by capturing (online guide) and simulating (simulation game) the context for method application.