A Process-Social Perspective for Understanding Design Information Flow

Question: How can we better understand the impacts of lean practices and BIM-based design on the flow of design information? Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a formerly unexplored perspective that integrates both the process, i.e., flow of design information, and the social network, i.e., interactions among design teams. This process-social perspective is used to understand, measure, and analyze information flow within communication networks to assess the impacts of lean practice and BIM-based design on design workflow. Research Method: Agent-based modeling and social network analysis Findings: This novel design management strategy focuses, simultaneously, on interaction dynamics and information diffusion to assist design teams in enhancing design flow, knowledge transformation, and value generation while reducing wastes. Limitations: The developed agent-based model and social network analysis need to be tested on real-life case studies. Implications: The approach captures the dynamics of lean practices and the use of Building Information Modeling on communication and information exchange between design participants. When applied to case studies, results can set path for decision makers to implement desired changes to improve design workflow between teams so that the design intent can properly flow and be transformed into value adding output. Value for authors: This study presents a novel method that has not yet been explored to aid researchers and decision makers in better understanding and analyzing the underlying dynamics of information flow during design as well as highlighting and counteracting problems with current design flows.