Course syllabus

Course goals and aims

The main aim of the course is to highlight key prerequisites for an effective and efficient industrial product development activity, especially with respect to organizational issues, development processes, and methods and tools. The goal is to give the students a general understanding about these three areas. Through the look at how the development process, from the idea stage to the realization of the product, can be framed and structured in terms of phases, process steps, iterations, models, gates and milestones students will acquire knowledge about how to monitor and manage this process. The organizational issues includes basic understanding about the contingency theory, the need for cross-functional integration and interaction in organizations, different patterns of communication across functional boarders and different ways to organize and lead product development projects including management of cross-functional teams. Finally, the students will gain insights in when, where and how to use engineering methods and tools that work across functional borders with their primary aim to achieve integration and unity among the various functions in an organization.

Pedagogical Philosophy

The basic pedagogical philosophy is to foster understanding of the subjects taught. This means that formal lecturing will be kept to a minimum. Instead students will; work with information gathering regarding contemporary practical issues, read and discuss relevant literature, work with hands on tools, and conduct a development game.

Lectures

The course includes a number of lectures. The purpose of the lectures is to present and discuss the central issues in the literature and to support students in developing an understanding of these issues. The lectures will not cover all details in the literature. Instead, the lectures build on the premise that the student has read and reflected upon the relevant chapters before the lecture. In this way, students have an opportunity to ask questions on relevant issues during the lectures.

Literature

The course will primarily cover Wheelwright, Steven C. & Clark, Kim B (1992), Revolutionizing Product Development, Chapters 5-12. However, selected additional readings will be handed out through out the course, see course web page for information.