Effective Design Project Management with a Spreadsheet Based Approach

Abstract

The use of team projects as a way to teach engineering design is pervasive across all engineering disciplines and throughout the curriculum. The success of any design team --both in learning design concepts and performing well -- requires that students have a good grasp of technical and management aspects of the design process. Accordingly, poor management or lack of communication within a team and between teams and their faculty advisor/instructor will typically result in a mediocre project, no matter how technically proficient team members are. The importance of team management and common methods to achieve a successful design experience has been discussed. Common methods for project management include team calendars, work breakdown structures (WBS), Gantt/milestone charts and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) diagrams. This article does not introduce new management methods, but instead focuses on how these 'textbook' methods can be effectively implemented using a common spreadsheet application, in this case Microsoft Excel (Excel). Our experience with the proposed implementation strategy is also presented. Assessment of implementation indicates that our approach is effective in terms of students' perception on: (1) the importance of project management in design projects, (2) the effectiveness and timing of project management concepts introduced, and (3) the impact of project management techniques used on their design performance.