Cooperation in aircraft design

Abstract

We describe how aircraft are designed in a large organization. We discuss the different phases of design and interaction with the customer. We then describe the models used by each specialist department and the interactions among departments during the design process. We observe that the main design choices are refinement operations on the design. We then briefly describe how the negotiation process is controlled by an organizationally agreed sequence of commitment steps. We then describe negotiation at higher levels in the organization. What decisions are made, the compromises worked out, and the effect of these higher-level commitments on the design process.

We conclude that: (1) aircraft design proceeds by thecooperation ofspecialists (specialist teams or departments); (2) each specialist has its ownmodel of the design, and may use several different models or partial models for different purposes; (3) specialists have limited ability to understand each other's models. They communicate using ashared vocabulary, but not necessarily shared technical knowledge; (4) design proceeds by successiverefinement of the models, which are coordinated and updated together; (5) the design decisions, which are acts of commitment and model refinement, arenegotiated by the specialists among themselves; (6) one way this negotiation process is organized and controlled is by the use ofcommitment steps; (7) negotiations occur at higher levels in the organization, resulting in commitments which greatly influence and constrain the design process and its organization, and which have the greatest effect on the cost of the product.