TY - GEN
T1 - The subjective aspects of design structure matrices - Analysis of comprehension and application and means to overcome differences
AU - Maurer, Maik
AU - Pulm, Udo
AU - Ballestrem, Felix
AU - Clarkson, John
AU - Lindemann, Udo
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Design Structure Matrices (DSMs) are a widely spread and useful tool for structuring and analysing design processes and related aspects such as products themselves, organisations, etc. Though this tool is simple, yet quite powerful, problems might arise in using them due to the subjectivity of the set up model within the DSM, as it is with every model building exercise. This contribution looks at the individual differences in filling out a DSM, the reasons for those differences, as well as means to overcome them. This covers a clear procedure for using DSMs, extended tools using and supporting DSMs, and a better understanding of this matrix approach. The latter covers different issues and "linkage types" that can be addressed by a DSM and its use in a system theory context. It also emphasises that DSMs are just one method using a matrix approach, which is only one representation of a graph or a network, with other methods using similar approaches and covering other useful aspects. A simple, yet important contribution of our research is the appropriate direction of DSMs, i.e. the dependencies going from rows to columns or vice versa, since this is an often discussed subject concerning DSMs.
AB - Design Structure Matrices (DSMs) are a widely spread and useful tool for structuring and analysing design processes and related aspects such as products themselves, organisations, etc. Though this tool is simple, yet quite powerful, problems might arise in using them due to the subjectivity of the set up model within the DSM, as it is with every model building exercise. This contribution looks at the individual differences in filling out a DSM, the reasons for those differences, as well as means to overcome them. This covers a clear procedure for using DSMs, extended tools using and supporting DSMs, and a better understanding of this matrix approach. The latter covers different issues and "linkage types" that can be addressed by a DSM and its use in a system theory context. It also emphasises that DSMs are just one method using a matrix approach, which is only one representation of a graph or a network, with other methods using similar approaches and covering other useful aspects. A simple, yet important contribution of our research is the appropriate direction of DSMs, i.e. the dependencies going from rows to columns or vice versa, since this is an often discussed subject concerning DSMs.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33845805287&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/esda2006-95200
DO - 10.1115/esda2006-95200
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33845805287
SN - 0791837793
SN - 9780791837795
T3 - Proceedings of 8th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis, ESDA2006
BT - Proceedings of 8th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis, ESDA 2006
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
T2 - 8th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis, ESDA2006
Y2 - 4 July 2006 through 7 July 2006
ER -