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Visualizing Communication Patterns in Design Teams Over Time

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Systems Engineering in Context

Abstract

The design of complex systems requires communication between several teams of people or “disciplines” responsible for the various, interdependent subsystems contained within the system. In this paper, we build on current Design Structure Matrix techniques for representing communication. These techniques only allow for bilateral and static communication to be seen. We are able to the capability this tool to include multilateral communication as well as changes in communication over time. By collecting communication data from a concurrent design facility, we are able to provide an example of the context in which these tools can be used as well as several insights gained from our observations.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant CMMI—1563408.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Connor Forsythe, Nikolai Joseph, Zoe Szajnfarber & Erica Gralla

Authors
  1. Connor Forsythe
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  2. Nikolai Joseph
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  3. Zoe Szajnfarber
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  4. Erica Gralla
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Connor Forsythe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Stephen Adams

  2. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Peter A. Beling

  3. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    James H. Lambert

  4. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    William T. Scherer

  5. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Cody H. Fleming

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Forsythe, C., Joseph, N., Szajnfarber, Z., Gralla, E. (2019). Visualizing Communication Patterns in Design Teams Over Time. In: Adams, S., Beling, P., Lambert, J., Scherer, W., Fleming, C. (eds) Systems Engineering in Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00114-8_37

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