meeg 401 – senior design concept generation & selection & project management phase 2...

MEEG 401 – Senior Design

Concept Generation & Selection& Project Management

Phase 2 Kick-Off MeetingMEEG401 – Senior Design

Fall 2011

MEEG 401 – Senior Design

Ideas!•New product•System component•Modeling technique•Whole solution (very rarely!)

Ideas!•New product•System component•Modeling technique•Whole solution (very rarely!)

2

Concept Generation & Selection

Divergent Process

Defer judgmentFocus on quantityPlay off of other’s ideas

Convergent Process

Identify patternsCombine solutions

Focus on feasibility

ITERATE

MEEG 401 – Senior Design 3

Concept Selection Tools

UDesign

(Available on coursewebsite under Phase 2)


Well defined Project ScopePrioritized Sponsor Needs & WantsProject ConstraintsMetrics associated with Constraints

Working PrototypeComplete Design PortfolioClear Hand-Off to Sponsor

Milestone #1

Milestone #2

Milestone #3

Milestone #4

Bad ProjectManagement

Good ProjectManagement

Project Management


Do This Not That

Make a list of all project tasksThink only in terms of major milestones

Make a master schedule with all tasks, milestones

Wing it

Add a time cushion, particularlyfor testing & fabrication

Have no time cushion

Maximize usage of all availableresources…delegate!

Have one person do all the work

Track progress on schedule &revise schedule & tasks

Do it once & forget about it

Calculate time for each task (beconscious of items w/ lead time)

Toss a random number out there

Comm

on sen

se, n

o?


Sponsor: Prof. Mike Keefe

Team: Buckley, Cloud, Fagerstrom, Glancey, Harris

Project: Hydraulic lifts on UD 15-passenger vans


This is not project management.

Is he doing allthe work?


Project Management Tools

Advantages Disadvantages

Calendar Familiar & easy to set up

StaticNo inherent relationship between tasks

Tool


Milestone Tasks Lead PersonSept Oct Nov Dec

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Phase 1: Design Requirements & Project Scope

Review project proposal & formulate initial questions for sponsor SPOC - Cloud

Site visit(s) & reports from visits sent to Advisor Fagerstrom

Benchmark car hydraulic lift systems Glancey

Eng calcs to determine necessary lift force Harris

Finalize constraints/metrics Buckley

Draft of Phase 1 report to advisor SPOC - Cloud

Final Phase 1 report to advisor SPOC - Cloud

Phase 2: Concept Selection & Project Plan

Group brainstorming session - chassis modification SPOC - Cloud

Eng justification for/against each chassis modification Glancey / Fagerstrom

Cost/assembly time for each idea Harris

Design selection - hydraulic lift, chassis modification SPOC - Cloud

Draft Schedule through project completion - time estimates for each task Buckley



Phase 3: Detailed Design & Test Plan



Phase 4: Performance Validation & Path Forward



Draft schedule is one of the deliverables for Phase 2


Milestone Tasks Lead PersonSept Oct Nov Dec

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Phase 1: Design Requirements & Project Scope

Review project proposal & formulate initial questions for sponsor SPOC - Cloud

Site visit(s) & reports from visits sent to Advisor Fagerstrom

Benchmark car hydraulic lift systems Glancey

Eng calcs to determine necessary lift force Harris

Finalize constraints/metrics Buckley



Phase 2: Concept Selection & Project Plan

Group brainstorming session - chassis modification SPOC - Cloud

Eng justification for/against each chassis modification Glancey / Fagerstrom

Cost/assembly time for each idea Harris

Design selection - hydraulic lift, chassis modification SPOC - Cloud

Draft Schedule through project completion - time estimates for each task Buckley



Phase 3: Detailed Design & Test Plan

Order hydraulic lift (6 week lead time) Fagerstrom

Detailed design - chassis modification Glancey / Fagerstrom

Secure shop tools for final assembly Glancey

FE analysis of chassis Harris

Data synthesis & design package assembly Buckley



Phase 4: Performance Validation & Path Forward

Modify chassis Glancey

Hydraulic lift received Fagerstrom

Assemble system on car Harris

Fatigue testing of system Buckley



Task dependencies& parallel tasks are difficult to visualize…You may want to use another tool.






Gantt Chart Easy to understandIndustry standard

Not easy to see precedence, relationships

Tool


Gantt Chart

Clearer display of parallel tasks

Dependencies displayedbut not completely obvious.






Gantt Chart Easy to understandIndustry standard

Not easy to see precedence, relationships

Pert/CPM Network Charts

Easy visualization of task relationships

Complex & difficult to maintainHard to visualize timeline/dates

Tool


Network Diagram

Task dependencies are very clear.

Use to identifycritical path.

Dates/timelinenot easy to identify


• Use divergent processes to generate pool of ideas & convergent processes to select best option…Iterate until you have a solution.

Take Home

• Generate a detailed project schedule early.

• Identify & delegate tasks & sub-tasks

• Identify dependencies amongst tasks

• Work backwards from deadlines & add a time buffer.

• Different project management tools may be useful depending on level of project complexity.

• Simple schedule (Excel)

• Gantt Chart, Network Diagram (MS Project)

meeg 401 – senior design concept generation & selection & project management phase 2...

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