Abstract
Product development in a multidisciplinary student organisation brings many challenges; varyingexperience, adaptation and involvement of members. This article will discuss how a multidisciplinarystudent project maintains a learning culture for product development and project management.The identified factors for a learning culture; 1) define product specifications, 2) involvealumnis, 3) facilitate an open minded culture for failure and learning and 4) collect experience andadapt an agile framework suitable for the project. These are factors that should be an implementedpart to increase the chances of maintaining a learning culture.Align Racing UiA, the case of this study, is a student organisation with over 60 engaged studentsin multi-disciplinary challenges. The common team goal is to produce one race car a year and competein Formula Student. The rules for the technical side of the project are substantial, resulting inconcrete boundaries to realize the project. However, every piece of the car is designed, producedand assembled by the members. Looking at the first year of Align Racing UiA, the initial projectmanagement was not optimal for a student project of this scale. Consequently, it was realized thata strong emphasis on project management, agile development method and communication wouldbe key to a more efficient product development and project management.
Highlights
To succeed with complex product development, the organisation and its members need to understand and apply suitable methods and tools
Members’ engagement was expressed and spread at a higher level compared to Project Ludvig, which was a result of the developed learning culture
By using suitable product development and management methods, a multidisciplinary project is more likely to succeed with creating a learning culture
Summary
To succeed with complex product development, the organisation and its members need to understand and apply suitable methods and tools. FS race cars are complex products with more than 5000 parts, which are developed, designed and manufactured by members, ranging from first year bachelor to last year master. The need for project management and practices of product development has been imperative for all project phases, and continuously revised and altered to be as efficient for all members regardless of their experience. Developing and maintaining a culture for failing and learning can be crucial. This represents challenges for the leadership of multidisciplinary student projects, and the question is: How does a multidisciplinary student project maintain a learning culture for product development and management?
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