Uncertainty during the design process

Research Theme: Process Management

The objectives of this project are to understand how uncertainty impacts the design process, to model the evolution of uncertainty during the design process, and ultimately to show how an appreciation of uncertainty can help improve and monitor project performance.

Motivation

Many types of uncertainty exist during design. For instance, one form of uncertainty is lack of knowledge, that may introduce risks to the outcome and execution of a process. Uncertainty levels may be reflected in contextual clues like the product lifecycle stage,the status of work (in progress, draft etc.) - but it is often not clearly defined or expressed. For instance, although document life-cycle management tools can be used to manage versions of design data across iterations, the associated uncertainty is not represented explicitly in these systems.

Objectives

  • Investigate the dependency between uncertainty levels and the maturity of the emerging design.
  • Investigate how uncertainty levels during design influence how the design process unfolds.
  • Develop approaches to improve design process co-ordination through consideration of uncertainty levels.

Selected Publications

  • WYNN, D.C., GREBICI, K. and CLARKSON, P.J. "Modelling the Evolution of Uncertainty Levels During Design" in International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (2011) DOI: 10.1007/s12008-011-0131-y.
  • Grebici K., Wynn D.C. and Clarkson P.J. Modelling the Relationship between Uncertainty in Design Descriptions and Design Project Duration. IDMME 2008.