Combining Design Thinking and Systems Engineering to Improve Customer Outcomes

Overview

The field of engineering is a major contributor to the economic stability and growth of the UK and other economies. Therefore, the efficient operation of engineering companies and firms is vital. However, design projects undertaken by large engineering organizations are often beset with a number of problems and constraints that stem from the decision-making process and design process that have been selected. This PhD aims to investigate whether the design processes of design thinking and systems engineering can be combined. This would lead to better customer outcomes and reduced time to market, and thus remove the problems often found in large engineering organizations to improve the overall operational efficiency. The overarching research methodology used in this investigation will be action research and is likely to be predominantly qualitative in nature as it has been found that it is very difficult to establish quantitative metrics for design.

Keywords:

• design thinking
• systems engineering
• user centred design
• large engineering organization
• qualitative research
• design process

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Dr Jo Hare, Mrs Marion Gillet and Dr Louis Rice as members of the supervisory team for the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brandon James Milne Robertson

Brandon is a PhD student at the University of the West of England studying the implementation of user centred design methods in large engineering organizations; in particular with design thinking and systems engineering methods. Previous to this he completed his MEng in Aerospace Engineering at UWE, Bristol.