Start Date
6-6-2017 12:00 AM
Description
Short Abstract:
Organizations rely heavily on cross-functional engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle. Managers of these teams rely on heuristics that don’t rigorously address the factors contributing to costly rework cycles, or successful execution. This presentation summarizes specific “vexing issues,” current NSF research, and potential intersections of research and practice.
Full Abstract:
Organizations engaged in product development rely heavily on cross-functional teams to conduct activities throughout the product lifecycle. Despite this ubiquity, the “fundamental physics” of team behavior which can help or hinder project execution is poorly understood. As a consequence, management of teams relies on collections of heuristics that do not rigorously account for the factors contributing to costly rework cycles, or successful execution. This presentation will use the example of one geographically distributed engineering program to summarize specific “vexing issues,” current NSF research in this area, and potential opportunities for further intersection of research and practice.
Behavioral Challenges in Engineering Teams: An Intersection of Research and Practice
Short Abstract:
Organizations rely heavily on cross-functional engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle. Managers of these teams rely on heuristics that don’t rigorously address the factors contributing to costly rework cycles, or successful execution. This presentation summarizes specific “vexing issues,” current NSF research, and potential intersections of research and practice.
Full Abstract:
Organizations engaged in product development rely heavily on cross-functional teams to conduct activities throughout the product lifecycle. Despite this ubiquity, the “fundamental physics” of team behavior which can help or hinder project execution is poorly understood. As a consequence, management of teams relies on collections of heuristics that do not rigorously account for the factors contributing to costly rework cycles, or successful execution. This presentation will use the example of one geographically distributed engineering program to summarize specific “vexing issues,” current NSF research in this area, and potential opportunities for further intersection of research and practice.