Duration: 3 months
The Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) gathers experts with different backgrounds to work simultaneously on multiple subsystems and applies Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) to ensure dependencies are resolved. Experts use domain-specific tools to carry out their work, yet they also communicate with the rest of the team through a centralized model (i.e. COMET). Research in Cognitive Science showed that tools are integral to professional practice: using unfamiliar/inappropriate tools can limit the quality of expert contribution, or even their ability to recognize aspects of a situation that they would consider important or problematic. MBSE methods rely on shared tools but it is unclear how practitioners appropriate these tools and integrate them into their existing technical ecosystem. This project will employ cognitive ethnographic methods to:
(1) Map out the tool ecosystem of a CDF study, including both shared and non-shared tools, and the flow of information within it: What information is kept and what is lost? Who gets access at any given stage, and can provide input, feedback, or monitor risks? Previous work analyzed the information flow within the CDF process at a system level but not at a cognitive level.
(2) Identify differences in what tools each CDF domain uses and how, and potential points of friction when information is exchanged or integrated between them. Previous work evaluated the use of specific tools but not the complex interaction between different tools, including tools that are not accounted for by the Facility itself.
(3) Evaluate design interventions at a product-service system level and the promise of integrating emergent/alternative technologies at critical points. Previous work started from specific technologies to evaluate their potential in the CDF system rather than from the system’s needs to compare different technologies or interventions.
