Requirements for Product Development Self-Assessment Tools

The successful execution of complex PD projects still poses major challenges for companies. One approach companies can use to improve their performance is self-assessment tools to optimize their organization and processes. This paper investigates the requirements regarding self-assessment tools for...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Knoblinger, Christoph, Oehmen, Josef, Rebentisch, Eric, Seering, Warren, Helten, Katharina
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Design Society 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80877
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8846-4851
Description
Summary:The successful execution of complex PD projects still poses major challenges for companies. One approach companies can use to improve their performance is self-assessment tools to optimize their organization and processes. This paper investigates the requirements regarding self-assessment tools for PD organizations. It summarizes the current literature on PD-related self-assessment tools and derives tool requirements from an industry focus group (US aerospace and defense industry) as well as from interviews at a major American defense contractor. The resulting requirements are: 1. Focus on proven PD best practices; 2. Formalized implementation process; 3. Tool customization guidelines; and 4. Integration with other process improvement approaches. A gap analysis comparing these requirements to the previously identified tools is performed. The paper concludes with the outline of an example PD self-assessment tool that addresses these requirements.