<p>The socio-technical perspective on engineering system design emphasizes the mutual dependence between interdisciplinary interactions and technical factors (e.g. design interdependence and system performance). Understanding the temporal dynamics of this dependence is necessary to identify and structure efficient interaction patterns, so that we can lead system design efforts to better outcomes. Towards that goal, this paper's research objective is to quantify temporal dynamics between interdisciplinary interactions, system performance, and given design interdependence. To capture these temporal dynamics, we present a stochastic network-behavior dynamics model that describes discipline-level decisions&nbsp; (link formation in interaction network), such as how much to interact and with whom to interact, as well as the changes in the system performance (behavior). We employ two datasets, one of student subjects designing an automotive engine and the other of NASA engineers designing a spacecraft. Then, statistical Bayesian inference is implemented to estimate model parameters and compare insights across two datasets. The results indicate that design interdependence and social network statistics have strong positive effects on interdisciplinary interactions for the expert and student subjects alike. For the student subjects, an additional modulation of interactions against system performance is observed. Inversely, the total number of interactions, irrespective of their discipline-wise distribution, has a weak but statistically significant positive effect on system performance in both cases. However, too much mirroring between interactions and design interdependence, and inflexible design space exploration reduce system performance. These insights support the case for open organizational boundaries as a way for increasing interactions and improving system performance.</p>

Co-Evolution of Communication and System Performance in Engineering Systems Design: A Stochastic Network-Behavior Dynamics Model

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2021/volume/85369

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