TOWARDS EFFECTIVE DESIGN COORDINATION - A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

The design of medium- and large-sized projects is an iterative multi-d isciplinary process often challenged by a tight budget and limited tim e. A quality design is highly dependent upon effective coordination am ong the diverse teams involved in the process. With the current fast p ace of technological advances, design coordination becomes an essentia l element of success particularly within the prevailing market pressur es on design firms to downsize, restructure operations, and work more productively and cost effectively. Despite its importance, however, co ordination is neither simple nor error free, and has traditionally bee n applied through manual procedures that are slow and costly. As a ste p towards effective design coordination, this paper presents the resul ts of a questionnaire survey conducted among 12 leading Canadian desig n firms. The survey elicited the manner by which expert designers prev ent mistakes, detect mismatches, and effectively communicate design ch anges. Accordingly solutions to some coordination-related problems hav e been presented and areas of potential improvement to the design proc ess identified. A suggested coordination scheme has been presented and common interrelationships within the design development process have been explicated. Recommendations toward a more efficient design proces s have been presented.