Honors Program

 

Date of this Version

Spring 3-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Gentry, L. (2018). Proposal for New Design Studio Draft Process. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Comments

Copyright Libby Gentry 2018

Abstract

The Design Studio capstone program begins each school year with a draft. This draft forms the teams for all product development projects. After conducting an end-of-year survey on all product development team leads for the 2016-17 academic school year, one of the top complaints about the program was the draft process which had formed these teams. This paper proposes two alternative processes for how the draft could be reshaped, along with several componentized additions, if only smaller improvements are possible at first. A student-led draft with an elongated communication period and more transparent decision-making is the ultimate suggestion, with additional tools proposed to make the drafting decisions easier. These additions are mostly straight-forward communication-based improvements, with a few additions that would require technical implementation. If this alternative draft process is implemented, students will have much more data against which to make drafting decisions, and can even optimize their team based on work schedule, to align their working hours with those of their sponsor and to free up evenings. These benefits lead to a less tense, and thus, more enjoyable, capstone experience. Further research is highlighted on related topics in multi-agent team synergy, ad hoc team collaboration, and developer onboarding.

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