Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
Learning to See Product Development Flow: A Causal Reference Model of Key Mechanisms
Bugueno, Milenko; Paetzold-Byhain, Kristin
Type:
Year:
2026
Editor:
Paetzold-Byhain, K.; Krause, D.; Wartzack, S. and Koch, A.
Author:
Series:
DfX
Institution:
Siemens AG, Germany; Dresden University of Technology, Germany
Page(s):
219-227
DOI number:
Abstract:
Product development organizations often recognize flow problems through symptoms such as long cycle times, low throughput, and congestion, while the underlying causes remain difficult to see. This paper addresses this visibility challenge by developing an initial causal reference model of product development flow. Drawing on established flow literature, the study identifies 34 influencing factors and 60 causal relationships and analyzes their structural roles using MICMAC cross-impact analysis. The findings suggest that the network is driven by a small set of capacity-, batch-, cadence-, and queue-related factors, which ultimately shape economic outcomes. Practitioner interviews indicate that these mechanisms are plausible, but often only weakly visible in everyday development practice.
Keywords:
