From DBT To TDB – A New Approach To Design-Build Projects

CDIO emphasizes active and experiential learning. One of the characteristics of a true CDIO engineering programme is that it contains two or more design-implement projects (CDIO Standard #5). CDIO institutions therefore have well equipped laboratories available to their students. Academic development projects are often carried out in the sequence Design – Build – Test (DBT), resembling the prevalent industrial development process. In this, an early decision is made on which solution to the problem at hand should be developed, after which a prototype is built and tested while attempting to meet all conditions put up by the market and other stakeholders. One of several drawbacks associated with this approach is its haphazard selection of the best alternative among several unfinished designs. In recent years, an alternative development method has attracted positive attention. This “Lean Product Development” (LPD) philosophy implies that careful attention should be given to the earlier stages of the development process, in order to gain sufficient knowledge to solve the problem. To align academic design project with the LPD philosophy, we propose a shift in design-build experiences from the Design – Build – Test of today to the Test – Design – Build (TDB). By teaching TDB, the activities central to the process of developing new products and systems are enhanced. It provides a foundation upon which deeper conceptual understanding can be built, and is thereby well aligned with the CDIO principles. The proposed shift from DBT to TDB also makes design-build experiences applicable to engineering disciplines where size and cost of prototypes have previously been obstacles to implementation, such as architecture and civil engineering. However, a TDB approach put higher demands on the educational institutions, both in the form of resources in labs and workshops, and in the form of teacher competence, which is what this paper discusses.