Ordering of information in engineering design organizations

Abstract

We identify four orthogonal dimensions along which information in engineering design organizations can be ordered, namely (i) the principle of ordering (top down vs. bottom up), (ii) the structure of ordering (aggregation-decomposition vs. generalization-specialization), (iii) the breadth of ordering (diversity vs. parsimony) and (iv) the perspective of ordering (horizontal vs. historical). Four aspects of the top down vs. bottom up dimension are also identified, i.e. the strategy, style, focus and source of ordering. Four of our case studies of design organizations are used to illustrate the above and also to demonstrate the tension (either in conjunction or in cyclic sequence) and/or balance between the extremes of the above dimensions. A high level approach for identifying tensions and creating a balance between bottom up generation and top down influence is proposed, and tools and techniques to support identification of tensions to support the balancing of the top down vs. bottom up ordering.