It's Not Personal: Can Logbooks provide insights into engineering projects?

Chris Snider, Hamish McAlpine, James Gopsill, Simon Jones, Lei Shi, Ben Hicks

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

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Abstract

Engineering projects are often large, complex, high-value, high-risk, and distributed. As a result, it is vital to monitor and understand what is happening within each as it progresses, and highly challenging to do so. Without detailed understanding, management becomes difficult and falls back upon generic principles that are not always appropriate for each project context. To approach this issue, this paper studies the written logbooks of three engineers, and explores how the marks within can be analysed to generate project-level understanding, particularly that which informs engineering project management. This occurs through the study of three engineering logbooks using two detailed coding schemas, one classifying content and the other activity, creativity and novelty. By this analysis, this paper aims to understand and assess efficacy of studying logbooks given their time-consuming and difficult-to-code nature. From the results, feasibility is shown of developing detailed understanding of typical project progress, and the identification of specific events within a project upon which a manager may act. The efficacy of the study of logbooks for this purpose is then assessed.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDS 80-10 Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 15) Vol 10
Subtitle of host publicationDesign Information and Knowledge Management Milan, Italy, 27-30.07.15
EditorsChristian Weber, Stephan Husung, Marco Cantamessa, Gaetano Cascini, Dorian Marjanovic, Srinivasan Venkataraman
PublisherThe Design Society
Pages219-230
Number of pages12
Volume10
ISBN (Print)978-1-904670-73-5
Publication statusPublished - 30 Jul 2015
EventICED15: International Conference on Engineering Design - Italy, Milan, United Kingdom
Duration: 27 Jul 2015 → …

Publication series

NameIECD
ISSN (Print)2220-4334

Conference

ConferenceICED15: International Conference on Engineering Design
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityMilan
Period27/07/15 → …

Keywords

  • Knowledge Management
  • Logbooks
  • Design Process
  • Project Management

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  • LOCM: The Language of Collaborative Manufacturing

    Gopsill, J. A. (Researcher), McAlpine, H. C. (Manager), McMahon, C. A. (Co-Principal Investigator), Snider, C. M. (Researcher), Shi, L. (Researcher), Watts, L. (Co-Principal Investigator), Jones, S. (Researcher), Johnson, P. (Co-Principal Investigator), Newnes, L. (Co-Principal Investigator), Payne, S. (Co-Principal Investigator), Culley, S. (Co-Principal Investigator) & Hicks, B. J. (Principal Investigator)

    1/02/1331/07/18

    Project: Research

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