ESTIMATING DESIGN EFFORT NEEDS OF PRODUCT DESIGN PROJECTS USING CAPTURED EXPERT KNOWLEDGE – A PROPOSED METHOD

Abstract The quick and accurate estimation of design effort can be make or break for all but the largest product consultancies. Traditional project planning see designers being taken away from metaphorical drawing board to spend time assessing briefs estimating workloads. Typically these base estimates on their tacit knowledge experience, most part, they are accurate. However, this is time-consuming therefore (indirectly) costly, as spent planning, not designing. Many more sophisticated approaches have been developed, many require large bodies past data analysis, such artificial neural networks; others highly-specific use cases. This paper proposes a new method develop tool captures experience team members replicates it quickly effectively; graphically modelling factors that influence needs in projects.