How Designers Communicate Ideas to Each Other in Design Meetings
DS 30: Proceedings of DESIGN 2002, the 7th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik
Year: 2002
Editor: Marjanovic D.
Author: Williams, A.; Cowdroy, R.
Section: Multidisciplinary aspects of design
Page(s): 947-952
Abstract
Multi Disciplinary Design Teams (MDDTs) are used extensively in the industrial manufacturing world to integrate the broad knowledge bases required for application of diverse technologies necessary in major projects. This paper reports on a study of how the members of a MDDT communicated design ideas of technical information and design concepts. Video was used to document design meetings, which were subsequently analysed using “Interaction Analysis”. The study documents the diversity and frequency of the communication strategies employed in this MDDT. The study also reports on the relative effectiveness of these communication strategies in achieving shared understanding.
Keywords: Multi Disciplinary Design, Teams, Communication, Shared Understanding