Planning unplanned design iterations using risk management and learning strategies

Figures & data

Figure 1. Outline of the research method.

Table 1. Case company background, number of interviews and interviewee details.

Company ID	Industry	Major business region	Number of interviews at the company	Interviewee job area
Company A	Health Care	Global	5	A1: DE A2: DE A3: PM A4: PM A5: PM
Company B	Health Care	Global	1	B1: PM
Company C	Mining	Global	1	C1: PM
Company D	Health Care	Global	3	D1: DR&D D2: LE D3: RMg
Company E	Health Care	Global	1	E1: CEO
Company F	Oil & Gas	Nordic	1	F1: CEO
Company G	Oil & Gas	Global	1	G1: BRD
Company H	ICT	Global	1	H1: PM

Note: DE = Design engineer, PM = Project manager, DR = Director R&D, RMg = Risk manager, LE = Lead engineer, CEO = Chief executive officer, BRD = Business Risk Director.

Figure 2. Thematic categories from thematic area ‘reducing unplanned design iterations using PRM’.

Table 2. Summary of important results from 4 thematic categories.

Thematic category (Subsection)	Empirical results	Illustrative quotes
Thematic Category 1: Risk assessment in NPD process	Generally, design teams employed risk assessment process with the help of risk management experts, and some design teams did not use risk management	'I don’t do risk analysis as such, but I assess together with our risk manager’ (D2-D)	'we are not using risk management explicitly’ (H1-H)
	Design teams most frequently applied HAZOP, FMEA and brainstorming for identifying and assessing the risks. Some design teams did not get enough resources to perform risk analysis	'for project risks we use PowerPoint and Word […] and from the first concept, the first design, we will do iterations on HAZOP, and on FMEA’ (D3-D)	'I would often say that the risk analysis didn’t get the attention and the resources, and I think one of the reasons for this is that it’s challenging.’ (A5-A)
Thematic Category 2: Risk mitigation strategies in NPD process	The design teams mostly used learning methods, e.g. prototyping, simulations and testing for mitigating technical risks	‘(after risk assessment) then it’s my role to figure out, well, what’s the most effective way forward. So, I can say do either simulation or some experimentation or this kind of things to mitigate the technical (unplanned design iteration) risks’ (D2-D)	'If we have more prototypes, then we have fewer risks’ (A1-A)
	In case of technical risks, failing fast was another option of the companies to choose alternative risk mitigation strategies. It was also observed in some NPD projects that the design teams experienced re-occurring risks despite using risk mitigation strategies	‘we do have some cases where it (engineering design) failed technologically […] that’s an inherent part of the project, to get to that failure point as early as possible. And if you get to it, then you start over’ (C1-C)	'we have a couple of risks that keep re-occurring […] and we are trying to mitigate them, but they are still re-occurring because they are hard to mitigate’ (C1-C)
Thematic Category 3: Risk monitoring in NPD process	Almost all design teams stated that continuous risk monitoring was an effective method and some design teams showed lack of communication and ownership to monitor and report risks to higher management	'I use very active risk assessment (in the design phase) and I think it’s become apparent also to others that it’s a pretty effective way of working’ (D2-D)	‘we try to have these (risk monitoring) meetings regularly and you create risk reports and so on. And basically, I have found it very, very difficult to make that work’ (G1-G)
Thematic Category 4: Triggers of unplanned design iterations	Several respondents reported triggers of unplanned design iterations including tight project schedule, changing product requirements, lack of communication between design teams, the bias of the people, lack of knowledge and experience in designing the product and complexity of the product under development	‘I think some of the main problems are not being able to define the requirements in the early stages and continuously evolving requirements’ (A4-A)	‘I think from this project, it’s primary communication if we don’t communicate efficiently, […] then we often do double work’ (D2-D)
	Some respondents also reported additional triggers of unplanned design iterations including human error, willingness to take the risk, lack of ability to assess user needs, lack of continuous risk assessment in the later stages of the NPD process	'we would say that we have a high risk of hitting this problem. We need this (action) to prevent it, and then they (higher management) were often willing to take that risk […] then we would hit it, and then the project would be delayed’ (A5-A)	'for our part of development, our biggest challenge is getting a customer on board with testing (the equipment for assessment of the user needs)’ (C1-C)

Figure 3. Thematic categories from thematic area ‘reducing the impact of unplanned design iterations using RFL’.

Table 3. Summary of important results from 3 thematic categories with thematic area ‘Reducing the impact of unplanned design iterations using RFL’.

Thematic category (Subsection)	Empirical results	Illustrative quotes
Thematic Category 1: Most Frequent Learning Methods to Resolve Unplanned Design Iterations	The interviewees frequently referred to prototyping, experimentation, testing, proof of concept, outsourcing and assistance from technical experts.	'we have several SLA (stereolithographic apparatus) machinery for building prototypes in very high quality. So, this is something that we have a high focus on it’ (C1-C)	'if we have three possible solutions to a problem, then we often just have to select one of them that we believe in, and sometimes pick the wrong choice’ (D2-D)
	However, in general, the companies lacked a proper selection criterion for the most suitable learning methods to resolve unplanned design iterations
Thematic Category 2: Learning from Mistakes and Failures in NPD Process	The data analysis indicates that most companies lacked a structured process for converting knowledge from failures and mistakes into organisational learning.	'we have tried (to establish a process), but we don't have a consistent process for our lessons learned, and it is something that is on the table. There is a framework to do that, but that framework is currently not running’ (C1-C)	'we have tried to make databases on this (to secure knowledge), and it ends up in not being used. People are so busy with the projects, so they don't use all this stuff. What we instead do is that we try to circulate people between projects, bringing knowledge from one project to another’ (D1-D)
	On the other hand, the health care company (D) used a special task force to secure the new knowledge and transfer it to other projects
Thematic Category 3: Most Frequent Unplanned Design Iterations	Generally, during the NPD projects, the engineering design teams could not reduce the unplanned design iterations regarding changing requirements and complexity of the product.	‘I think some of the main reasons of the problems (unplanned design iterations) is that I am not able to define the requirements in the early stages (of NPD process). The requirements keep evolving the further you get in the process’ (B1-B)	‘when we didn’t manage to resolve (unplanned design iterations), […], everything delayed on the project, and often also delays in time to market’ (A4-A)
	The unplanned design iterations impacted the timeline and development cost of the NPD projects