Better design control in engineering and any other creative industry. Here's a tool to diagnose and fix design projects which are late, overspent or not meeting customer expectations.

1. Balcroft Consulting Ltd,
Ground Floor,
2 Woodberry Grove,
North Finchley, N12 0DR
Phone: +44 (0)800 772 3466
E-mail: info@balcroft.com
Better Design Control
The Problem
At Balcroft we believe design projects can be managed well just like any other project, it’s just a
question of using the tools and techniques appropriate for the design environment. We work across
many sectors and industries where designing things is the life-blood of the company, but we often see
design projects that are over-spent, late and not providing what the customer wants. The problem is
that standard project management tools don’t communicate well in the context of design. Why?
 Designers are good at turning ideas into real products
 Designers work from an often incomplete specification to produce workable solutions
 They are problem/solution-based rather than time-based
 They expect to have problems to solve and work with assumptions
 Design always contains iteration
Whereas:
 Project Management tools are time, money and people-based
 Project Management tools assume best-case, low-risk, linear progression of the design
 They do not allow for iteration
 They assume that there are no unknowns
This is why a designer finds it difficult to give an accurate answer to the question “what percentage
complete is the job?” and it is the source of frustration between ‘Project’ and ‘Engineering’ teams.

2. Balcroft Consulting Ltd,
Ground Floor,
2 Woodberry Grove,
North Finchley, N12 0DR
Phone: +44 (0)800 772 3466
E-mail: info@balcroft.com
The Solution
The designer needs a methodology which allows him/her to consider the following parameters as
the design progresses:
 Client Requirements – am I meeting them?, does the system work?
 Assumptions – are they still valid?
 Interfaces – does the system fit where it’s supposed to?
 Risks – have I reduced technical risk as far as possible?
To do this, Balcroft offer the Design Managers Workbook©
which provides the Design Team with the
right tool for their needs, and which also provides the Project Management Team with the accurate
information they need to monitor progress.
Design Managers Workbook©
This a desktop-based software tool which uses the UWUG©
design progression model as its
fundamental modus operandi. The tool accepts the following input data:
 Design Phase (Concept, Scheme, Detail, Manufacture)
 Project Summary information
 Project Stakeholder names
 Client requirements & source reference
 Assumptions
 Initial risks
 Initial interface information
The Workbook then becomes the central repository, reference point and communication tool for the
design team and is managed and controlled by the Design Manager.

3. Balcroft Consulting Ltd,
Ground Floor,
2 Woodberry Grove,
North Finchley, N12 0DR
Phone: +44 (0)800 772 3466
E-mail: info@balcroft.com
Once the project has commenced and the data has been entered into the workbook the following
outputs become available and are usually the basis of the Design Managers Weekly report:
 Number of client requirements satisfied by the design process
 Key risks and actions to achieve mitigation
 Number of assumptions left (turned into requirements or deleted as no longer relevant)
 Number of interfaces established and managed
 A graphical plot showing the progression of the design (see Figure 1.)
This plot gives the Design Manager and the Project Manager an accurate picture of the progress of
the design and allows the Design Manager to refocus team effort to tackle aspects of the design
which need more attention.
Figure 1. shows that the design data converges to an end point and the average slope of the curves
towards the end of the project give good confidence that the project is coming to a close with all
requirements and interfaces satisfied. This project is ready for a Design Review.
No.Active
Date
Requirements
Assumptions
Risks
Interfaces
Figure 1. Graphical Plot from the Design Managers Workbook Output

4. Balcroft Consulting Ltd,
Ground Floor,
2 Woodberry Grove,
North Finchley, N12 0DR
Phone: +44 (0)800 772 3466
E-mail: info@balcroft.com
Cost Control
The Design Managers Workbook©
limits design team activity to only the essential functions of
satisfying requirements; reducing risk; eliminating assumptions and making sure interfaces work. This
means that the team has a clear focus and this reduces wasted effort and unnecessary cost.
An example of this in action was the design of a complex nuclear transportation flask for a client who
had already spent £2.5M and over two years designing a similar flask. With the Design Managers
Workbook©
the new flask was designed in 3 months for £100k, using a much smaller team.
Project Diagnostic/Design Review Aid
For projects already in some difficulty the Design Managers Workbook©
can be used as a diagnostic
analysis tool to find the source of the problems.
An example of this was a project that, when analysed, showed that the design team were not
accounting for the work they had done to close out the requirements and were doing too much
additional work beyond what was required to satisfy them. The team had also missed some key
interfaces which proved costly to fix with an advanced design.
This team continually underperformed at the client’s design reviews because they did not have the
proof that the requirements had been met and that the interfaces had been satisfied.
Although difficult, once the Design Managers Workbook©
was put in place, the project recovered
client confidence and won further business.
Using the Design Managers Workbook©
in your projects
For a demonstration or licensing details please email richard.cronin@balcroft.com