Concurrent product development and new communication technologies - a research framework

Development and design have always been driven by the need for communication to integrate different technology and market perspectives into an innovative and successful product or service. The possibilities and characteristics of communication such as face-to-face, telephone, or more recently e-mail, are strong factors determining processes and organisational structures in product development. As new communication technologies - most notably presence-based real-time communication and rich media conferencing - become increasingly available, we can expect that the organisation and management of product development will change considerably towards more “virtual” and distributed forms. However the principles and routines of virtual collaboration and their embedding in projects and multi-project, multi-company networks are so far ill understood leading to high risks. The paper proposes a layered research framework on routine, project and network level to support the development of a systematic body of knowledge for organising and leading concurrent product development utilising the new communication technologies. It understands managing product development as interdependent and dynamic system of organisational setup, working/management methods, and technology usage. Research methodologies must be adapted to the context and newness of the ICT. We propose using business experiments in a Living Lab setting as complementary research approach.