CHAPTER
Design Teams
22
Source: Shutterstock/bluebay.
“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team.”
Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computers.
22.1 INTRODUCTION
The design process involves a series of creative steps that lead to a solution to a problem.
In engineering, the problem often involves designing a new product that accomplishes a
task that meets customer needs. An inventor can sometimes carry out these steps alone,
but in large companies, design problems are solved by teams of trained engineers, tech-
nicians, marketing personnel, and sometimes lawyers, called design teams.
While all teams are groups of people, not all groups are teams. Team members
must work together toward a common goal, whereas members of a group only share
common interests or characteristics. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference
between a team and a group. For instance, two or more students might meet to discuss
homework or watch TV. They may have an agenda and a purpose, but this is a group
meeting, not a team meeting. The scope and duration of their meeting is too small
to involve the amount of coordination, resources, and effort that teamwork requires.
Engineering students do not always realize that their future success depends on
how well they work together in a team. Everyone on a design team comes from a dif-
ferent background. They have different strengths, cultural values, philosophies, and
work ethics. Yet they have to join together to form a coherent and productive group.
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490 CHAPTER 22 Design Teams
In this chapter, the elements that define a successful design team are discussed. These
elements range from project management to team building, team goals, and leadership.
22.2 HOW TO MANAGE A DESIGN TEAM PROJECT
Design team project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to
accomplish a specific project (for example, designing and constructing a robot vehi-
cle to be entered into a competition on a specific date).
Project management includes developing and implementing a plan that defines
the project goals, specifies how and by whom the goals will be achieved, identifies
needed resources, and develops budgets and timelines. Project management is usu-
ally the responsibility of an individual team leader. When the project team members
have been identified, the team (or the course instructor) selects one of its members
to be the project manager. This person has the responsibility of guiding the team in a
professional, organized, and timely manner. The project manager is also responsible
for meeting deadlines and ensuring that the team members are carrying fair work-
loads. Successful project management involves the following:
• Understand the project’s goals. You should be able to state the goals of your
project in a single sentence.
• Engage all team members. Subdivide the work into individual work assign-
ments, and make sure that everyone knows what he or she is responsible for to
meet the project goals.
• Keep the project moving forward. Work methodically to meet your bench-
marks; don’t wait until the last minute and rush to meet a deadline.
22.2.1 GANTT AND PERT CHARTS
Design team leaders need to control the timing of all operations, so they develop
schedules that show specific tasks to be performed during the design process. They
assign tasks to work groups, set timetables for the completion of tasks, and make sure
that resources will be available when they are needed. There are a number of schedul-
ing techniques, but the most common are Gantt and PERT charts.
A Gantt1 chart is a horizontal bar chart that provides a graphical illustration of
a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project. Gantt
charts may be simple versions created on graph paper or more complex automated
versions created using project management applications such as Microsoft Project or
Excel, as in Fig. 22.1.
A Gantt chart is constructed with a horizontal axis representing the total time span
of the project, broken down into increments (for example, days, weeks, or months)
1 Developed as a production control tool in 1917 by Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social
scientist.
22.2 How to Manage a Design Team Project 491
FIGURE 22.1
Gantt chart illustration.
and a vertical axis representing the tasks that make up the project (for example, if
the project was designing and constructing a robot vehicle, the major tasks might
be: define the problem, brainstorm possible concepts, develop the detailed design,
construct the design, and so forth).
Horizontal bars of varying lengths represent the time span for each task. Using
the same robot vehicle example, you would put “Define Problem” at the top of the
vertical axis and draw a bar on the graph that represents the amount of time you
expect to spend on defining the problem, and then enter the other tasks below the
first one and representative bars at the points in time when you expect them to be
undertaken. The bar spans may overlap, as, for example, you may start construction
while refining the design during the same time span.
Gantt charts give a clear illustration of project status, but they do not tell how
one task falling behind schedule will affect other tasks (however, the PERT chart
described below is designed to do this). More complex Gantt charts show more infor-
mation, such as the individuals assigned to specific tasks and notes about the proce-
dures. Gantt charts should be adjusted frequently to reflect the actual status of project
tasks when they diverge from the original plan.
EXAMPLE 22.1
Tom, Jim, and Sue have a difficult team assignment in their freshman design course. They must
design and construct a small robot that will collect Ping-Pong balls scattered on a table and deposit
them into a box. Since the project was not well defined regarding the table’s size, robot controls, and
collection time limit, they decided to take a week (five days) to define the project with the course
instructor.
Since the assignment needed to be completed in 26 days, they created the Gantt chart below
to plan the sequence of events. They realized that some of the tasks could overlap. For example,
they decided to begin brainstorming solutions one day before the problem definition was finished.
Construction could also begin a day before the design was completed, and so forth.
They also began to assign responsibilities to team members. Sue was assigned to clarify the
problem definition, all three would contribute to the brainstorming effort, Jim and Sue would focus
on the design, Tom would be responsible for construction, and they would all participate in the
remaining tasks.
492 CHAPTER 22 Design Teams
This chart was updated throughout the project and the schedule was adjusted as needed to meet
the completion deadline. The Gantt chart allowed continuous progress and kept everyone alert to
their responsibilities.
Gantt charts are useful when the design and production process is fairly simple.
For more complex schedules, PERT charts are used.
A PERT2 chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and
coordinate tasks within a project. It presents a graphical illustration of a project as a
network diagram consisting of numbered nodes that represent milestones in the proj-
ect linked by labeled arrows that represent tasks in the project. The direction of the
arrows indicates the sequence of tasks. In Fig. 22.2, tasks A and E must be completed
in sequence. These are called dependent tasks. However, task B does not depend on
the completion of task A and thus Tasks A and B can be done simultaneously. These
tasks are called independent tasks.
The critical path is the path that takes the longest amount of time. It is determined by
adding the times for the tasks in each sequence and determining which path takes the lon-
gest time to complete the project. Thus, the critical path determines the total time required
for the project. If you want to produce a product quicker, you have to save time on this
path. If you only saved the time on any of the other paths, you still wouldn’t produce a
product any quicker. You gain efficiency only by improving performance on one or more
of the activities along the critical path. The amount of time that noncritical path tasks can
be delayed without delaying the entire project is called the slack time.
t = 4 mo t = 1 mo
D F
t = 3 mo t = 3 mo
1 3 5
A E
t = 4 mo B C
t = 3 mo
FIGURE 22.2
A PERT chart for a project with five milestones (1 through 5) and six activities (A through
F). The critical path is tasks A to D to F that requires a total of 10 months to complete.
2 PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique, a methodology developed by the U.S. Navy
in the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile program.
22.3 Effective Teaming 493
EXAMPLE 22.2
In the PERT chart below the letters represent tasks and the numbers represent days to complete the
task. The label “A,2” means task A requires two days to complete.
a. Which tasks are on the critical path?
b. What is the slack time for tasks C, D, and G?
c. If task C is delayed by one day what effect would this have on the completion date of the proj-
ect? Why?
Solution
a. Possible paths to completion:
Path 1: A to B to C to E to I = 2 + 3 + 1 + 4 + 3 = 13 days
Path 2: A to B to D to F to I = 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 14 days
Path 3: A to G to H to I = 2 + 2 + 5 + 3 = 12 days
Since Path 2 requires the longest time to complete, it is the critical path.
b. Path D to F takes six days and Path C to E takes five days. The time difference between Path D
to F and C to E is one day. This is the slack time.
c. If task C is delayed by one day it would have no effect because task C has one day’s slack time.
22.3 EFFECTIVE TEAMING
Working in teams on a design project is both a joy and a challenge. While there is a
sense of security in knowing that others are venturing into the unknown alongside
you, the unpredictability of human interactions can be as perplexing as the design
itself. To reduce the risk of ineffective teaming, rules of conduct are presented in this
section. These are well-accepted best practices based on observations of effective
teams.
Several advantages accrue from attacking a design project in teams. First, design
requires a wide range of skills and areas of knowledge. No one person is experienced
enough to pursue every unfamiliar design challenge in isolation. Teaming provides
an opportunity to expand the talents and life experiences brought to bear on the
design problem. Second, if done right, teaming serves to keep personal biases in
check. Third, more people should mean that more is accomplished in a shorter period
of time, although it is puzzling to often see team members standing by politely as
494 CHAPTER 22 Design Teams
one team member does all the work (especially during manufacturing). When best
practices are followed, a team is greater than the sum of its parts.
For design projects during the freshman and sophomore years, three students are
the ideal team size. Teams of just two students may not experience all of the team
dynamics and may not learn as much about teaming. With four student teams it may
be too easy for one team member to hide and not contribute. Student design teams at
this level may not be assigned a team leader by the instructor. Leadership typically
emerges within the team. If a team leader is assigned, the role is not to be the boss but
rather to organize and facilitate participation by all team members.
Student teams need to understand these basic rules of teaming:
Assign clear roles and work assignments
A few things are best done as a team, such as brainstorming and evalua-
tion of concepts. Most of the time, it will pay off if everyone has his or her
own assigned responsibilities and tasks to which each is held accountable by
the team. These tasks should be assigned or updated at the end of each team
meeting.
Foster good communication between team members
An atmosphere of trust and respect should be maintained, in which team
members feel free to express their ideas without retribution. That trust extends
to allowing for civilized disagreement, delicately done so as not to suppress
ideas or discourage participation. Everyone should participate in the discus-
sions. Sometimes, this means reaching out with sensitivity to the shy members
of the team. If you succeed, you will have a team operating on all cylinders.
Share leadership responsibilities
If there is a designated team leader, that person should empower the other
team members with significant leadership responsibilities. This gives those
students a strong sense of ownership in the project. At the same time, team
members must be willing to step forward to assume leadership roles.
Make team decisions by consensus
Teams can make decisions in one of three ways: (1) the team leader makes the
decision; (2) discussions continue until everyone agrees; or (3) after discussions
are exhausted, the team takes a vote. Those who disagree with the outcome of the
vote are then asked if they can put their opinions aside and move forward in the
best interests of the team. In a college-level design project the best ways to make
decisions are (2) and (3), which are examples of decision making by consensus.
22.3.1 HOW TO WRITE A GOOD MEMO
A memo (or memorandum) is used for internal communications within your design
team about meeting schedules, design updates, interactions with the course instructor
or other teams, and so forth. A memo is usually sent as an email and can replace the
need to have an entire meeting about a small subject which could be explained in a
memo. The general format for a good email memo is shown below.
22.3 Effective Teaming 495
To: Design team member(s) email addresses.
Subject: Give a one-sentence explanation for the memo.
Body: Your memo should convey all the information in the smallest amount of
text possible. The last part of the memo should say exactly what action you
want people to take.
Sender: Give your name and title.
EXAMPLE OF A GOOD MEMO:
To: annay@[Link]; genet@[Link]; tomasp@[Link]
Subject: Schedule for our first design team meeting.
Body: I have reviewed your class schedules and have scheduled our first design team meeting for
September 15 at 4:00 p.m. in room 213 of the Kosky engineering building. The agenda for the meet-
ing is attached. Please read it and be prepared to discuss the items.
Sender: William Keat, Team Leader
22.3.2 TEAM BUILDING
Working as a team implies group accountability in addition to individual account-
ability, and results in a collective work product. Team building encourages a “team”
approach to working on a project. The advantages of this approach include
• Increased flexibility in overall skills and abilities of the team.
• More productive than a random student group with individual mindsets.
• Encourages both individual and collective team development and improvement.
• Focuses on team goals to accomplish tasks.
• Improved range of team objectives such as collaboration, communication, and
creative or flexible thinking.
• Realization that a necessary part of team building is negotiation, consensus
building, and compromise.
Team building centers around various exercises designed to bring a group closer
together and create an understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses. It
increases camaraderie and team morale, which in turn leads to increased productiv-
ity. There are many types of team building exercises that range from simple games
to challenges that involve complicated tasks designed to improve team performance.
These exercises usually involve interpersonal skills like communication, problem
solving, and planning, in contrast to technical skills directly involved with the proj-
ect. Team building tasks can also stimulate interpersonal skills that will increase team
performance. Some examples of team building exercises are shown below.
Communication Exercise
Communications exercises are geared toward improving communication skills. The
issues teams encounter in these exercises are solved by communicating effectively
with each other.
496 CHAPTER 22 Design Teams
A typical communication exercise is to give everyone in a group a sheet of paper
and tell them to close their eyes. Then tell everyone to:
1. Fold their paper in half.
2. Fold the lower left corner over the upper right corner.
3. Turn it 90° to your left.
4. Fold it in half again.
5. Turn it 90° to their right.
6. Rip a half-circle from the middle of the right side.
Now tell everyone to open their eyes and unfold their piece of paper. Even though
they all received the same instructions and had the same starting material, nearly
everyone will have a different result.
A communication problem occurred because they didn’t all start from the same
point (some held their paper vertically some held it horizontally), some interpreted
ripping a half-circle as removing a big piece, some as a small piece, while others
found the instructions vague.
Problem-solving Exercise
Problem-solving exercises focus specifically on groups working together to solve
difficult problems or make complex decisions. Here is a typical exercise: put a
mathematical symbol between 6 and 9 to get a number that is greater than 6 but
less than 9 (the answer: a decimal point).
Planning Exercise
These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being adaptable to change. A typi-
cal example is to plan a surprise party for a mutual friend. The group is to develop
a plan to find a time and place for the party without the friend becoming suspicious,
invite trusted guests, arrange for food and entertainment, and do so in an organized
and effective manner.
22.3.3 TEAM LEADERSHIP
Here are some qualities that a good team leader should have.
Honesty
If you make honest and ethical behavior a key value, your team will trust you.
Ability to delegate
Delegation involves both identifying the strengths of your team members and trust-
ing them to achieve their assigned tasks. If they find a task interesting or enjoyable,
they will put more effort into it.
22.3 Effective Teaming 497
Good communication skills
Being able to clearly describe what needs to be done is extremely important. If the
project’s goals can’t be clearly explained to the team, they won’t be working toward
these goals.
A sense of humor
Team morale influences productivity, so a team leader can inspire a positive attitude
by having a sense of humor.
Confidence
A team leader should be technically competent and goal-oriented. A team takes cues
from its leader, so if the team leader is focused and confident the team will respond
positively.
Commitment
If a leader expects the team to work hard and produce results, she/he needs to lead
by example. Once you have gained the respect of your team, they are more likely to
deliver the peak amount of quality work possible.
A Positive Attitude
You want to keep your team motivated toward the goals of a project so be enthusiastic
about the project.
Creativity
As a team leader, it is important to think outside the box. By utilizing all possible
options before making a decision you can more easily reach the project goals.
22.3.4 TEAM ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK
A team can carry out a self-assessment process to determine its effectiveness and
improve its performance. To assess itself, a team needs feedback from group mem-
bers to find out the team’s current strengths and weaknesses. Feedback from the team
assessment can be used to identify gaps between the where they are and where they
would like to be.
498 CHAPTER 22 Design Teams
Table 22.1 Team Assessment Questionnaire.
Disagree Undecided Agree
Function (Enter 0) (Enter 1) (Enter 2)
1 The team has a clear vision of the project
goals.
2 The team has the skills and resources to
achieve its goals.
3 Everyone on the team has a clear role in
the design, construction and testing.
4 The team has adequate meeting time,
space, and resources.
5 Team meetings are attended by all team
members.
6 The team members work together
effectively.
7 The team members understand the project
requirements and timeline.
8 Team members are promptly informed of
design changes.
9 Team meetings are run efficiently.
10 Everyone on the team participates at a
satisfactory level.
Total score =
Team assessment can be done in a variety of ways. One of the simplest is to
have each team member fill out a questionnaire like the one shown in Table 22.1.
Each entry can be given a numerical value, for example, in Table 22.1 we have set
Disagree = 0, Undecided = 1, Agree = 2. Then a total score can be computed for each
member of the team by summing all the entries. The best possible score would be 20
(“Agree” is selected for every question). Lower scores could be an indication that the
team is not functioning efficiently and that corrective actions may need to be taken.
EXERCISES
1. T
he Balloon Tower Challenge
Equipment: each group receives 10 small uninflated party balloons and a roll of
scotch tape.
Procedure:
• Split the class into teams of 3–5 students.
• Instruct the teams that they need to make the tallest tower possible with the
material supplied. The tower cannot be attached to anything except the base
(table, etc.) upon which it stands.
Exercises 499
• They must demonstrate a design plan.
• The teams have 20 minutes to complete the task.
• They must not use any other equipment and the tower must be free standing.
Scoring: based on the design plan and the final tower height.
2. Arrange to have your team visit a group of working engineers and have them
explain how they function as a team. The engineering team should be one that
has worked together for some time. Ask them to explain how a project goes
from the idea phase through the production phase. After the presentation, have
your student team talk about all the ways the working engineers used teamwork
to see their idea through. This activity will give your team a chance to see the
value of professional teamwork.
3. Gantt chart exercise: Prepare a Gantt chart covering a week of classes that
shows how you divide each day into tasks like meals, classes, study time, leisure
time, and so forth.
4. Gantt chart exercise: Prepare a Gantt chart for the web site development process
shown in the table below. Add appropriate dates for task completion.
Item Task Duration Date
Design Home page design 4 days
Product pages design 1 week
Shopping cart design: Purchasing 1 week
Shopping cart design: Checkout 1 week
Coding Shopping cart coding 2 weeks
Contact us form coding 1 day
Testing Website testing 1 day
Shopping cart: Purchasing testing 1 day
Shopping cart: Payment testing 1 day
Delivery Deliver website to client 1 day
Receive feedback and make changes 1 week
5. PERT chart exercise: What is the critical path on the PERT chart shown below?
C, 1
E, 4
D, 3 F, 3
6. P
ERT chart exercise: Develop a PERT chart that shows how you schedule or
organize the tasks you follow when you prepare for school in the morning.
Start with getting out of bed and end with arriving at your first class.
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7. C ommunication exercise: Students write directions for making a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich for someone who has never made a sandwich before and
will be following your instructions exactly. Discuss what the sandwiches might
look like after reading your directions.
8. Problem-solving exercise: At a university all the students are majoring in engi-
neering, business, or both. Fifty-five percent of the students are engineering
majors and seventy-seven percent are business majors. If there are a total of
500 students, how many of them are majoring in both engineering andand
business?
(Answer: If 55% of the students are engineering majors, we know that 45%
are not engineering majors. And if 77% of the students do major in business then
23% are not business majors. 45% + 23% = 68% of the students are not major-
ing in both engineering and business, therefore 100%−68% = 32% are double
majors and 500 × 0.32 = 160 students.)
9. Problem-solving exercise: The goal is to build a structure that will prevent an
egg from breaking when it is dropped from a height of 8 feet. The only materi-
als allowed are 10 paper drinking straws and 15 inches of half inch–wide
masking tape.
10. Problem-solving exercise: The goal is to transfer a “radioactive” beach ball
from a table in one room onto a table in another room (preferable on another
floor of the building) without the beach ball touching the ground, any part of
the building, or any body part. The only materials allowed are a ball of string
and a roll of half inch–wide masking tape.
11. Planning exercise: You are in a cave in the mountains of Colorado. It is winter
and a terrible blizzard that will last for a week has covered the ground around
the cave with five feet of snow. In the cave you have a metal pot, cigarette
lighter, dry wood, warm clothing, knife, two candy bars, snowshoes, and a
flashlight. You have no food, water, or telephone. Form a plan to survive.
(Answer: Planning priorities: You need water to survive a week or more in
the cave. Build a fire and melt snow in the metal pot for drinking water, but do
not eat snow (why?). Ration the candy bars and keep warm. Clear the opening to
the cave and when the blizzard stops put on the snowshoes and head for home.)
12. Ethics exercise: At a team meeting you are asked to report on the progress of
your project. A team member asks you to report that his/her part of the project
is finished even though it is not. He/she tells you that it will be done in three
more days. What do you do? Use the engineering ethics matrix.