Resumen de Distributed ideation: idea generation in distributed capstone engineering design teams

Michael W. Glier, Susanne R. Schmidt, Julie Linsey, Daniel A. McAdams

• This paper documents two studies in distributed idea generation at Texas A&M. The first study is a controlled two-factorexperiment wherein three-person groups of mechanical engineering capstone design students generate solutions to a simple designproblem using either brainstorming or a modified 635 method in either a distributed or collocated team. Eight groups participatedin the experiment; two were assigned to each of the four experimental conditions. The ideas produced are evaluated in terms ofquantity, quality, novelty, and variety, using a series of metrics described in the paper. The modified 635 method produced thehighest quantity of non-redundant ideas; the team’s distribution had no significant effect on the number of ideas they produced.Distributed teams using the modified 635 method generated the highest quality ideas, while collocated teams using the samemethod produced the most variety. Collocated brainstorming teams generated the most novel ideas. The other study presented inthis paper documents the performance of two globally distributed Mechanical Engineering capstone design teams. These studentteams are composed of members from Texas A&M College Station and Texas A&M Qatar in Doha Qatar. The two teamsparticipate in a controlled ideation experiment to generate possible solutions to their respective design problem; a third team withall its members in College Station also participates in the experiment. The teams generate ideas using the modified 635 method.This experiment confirms that the modified 635 method is a viable ideation technique for distributed teams and seems to confirmthat the quantity of ideas generated with the method is not dependent on the team’s distribution. Furthermore, instructors for theglobally distributed teams observe that the teams performed on par with typical collocated capstone design teams.