Information Hiding in Product Development: The Design Churn Effect
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Information Hiding in Product Development 4333-02.pdf
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Author(s)
Yassine, Ali
Eppinger, Steven D.
Whitney, Daniel
Braha, Dan
Joglekar, Nitin
Date Issued
June 7, 2002
Series/Report no.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper;4333-02
Abstract
Execution of a complex product development project is facilitated through its
decomposition into an interrelated set of localized development tasks. When a local
task is completed, its output is integrated through an iterative cycle of system-wide
integration activities. Integration is often accompanied by inadvertent information hiding
due to the asynchronous information exchanges. We show that information hiding leads
to persistent recurrence of problems (termed as the design churn effect) such that
progress oscillates between being on schedule and falling behind. The oscillatory
nature of the PD process confounds progress measurement and makes it difficult to
judge whether the project is on schedule or slipping. We develop a dynamic model of
work transformation to derive conditions under which churn is observed as an
unintended consequence of information hiding due to local and system task
decomposition. We illustrate these conditions with a case example from an automotive
development project and discuss strategies to mitigate design churn.
Subjects
Information Hiding
Component and System Performance Generation
Product Development
Decomposition and Integration
Design Process Modeling
Design Churn
Persistent DSpace Link
