Digital support for net-based teamwork in early design stages
by Christoph Ganser, Thomas Kennel, Andreas Kunz
J. of Design Research (JDR), Vol. 6, No. 1/2, 2007

Abstract: The early stages of the Product Development Process are the most important ones. Decisions made here affect the success of a new product. Owing to the complexity of products, a multidisciplinary knowledge is required. In the globalised world, the company's internal and external experts are spread all over the world. Time and cost pressure impedes teamwork with personal attendance. As a result, personal meetings are strictly limited and teamwork is often reduced to e-mail or phone communication, combined with shared document repositories. Especially for these early stages in product development, there is no suitable support by means of Information Technology. Creativity methods like brainstorming have been shown to be valuable in this phase. But in order to support them, it is very important not to influence the user's creativity by handling an intricate computer system. Thus, we introduce a system which allows a net-based collaboration that goes far beyond today's existing technology. In addition to typical audio and video communication, intuitive interfaces like pencils or erasers allow users to work simultaneously on a shared digital workspace. Therefore, the system supports not only net-based collaboration, but also co-located teams to perform team sessions in the early stages on an intuitive digital basis.

Online publication date: Mon, 29-Oct-2007

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