Do-It-Right-First-Time (Draft) Approach To Design Structure Matrix (DSM) Restructuring

Abstract

This paper argues, using two real-world applications from the automotive industry, that the biggest benefit of a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) model may come not from resequencing and partitioning, but rather from “rewiring” the process/blocks. “Rewiring” means redefining relationships among elements and/or inserting new elements into the matrix. This requires intimate understanding of the process and cannot be done with application of context-free partitioning algorithms. The Do-it-Right-First-Time (DRFT) approach to DSM restructuring is another way to look at a DSM by inspecting the sources of iteration within a block and reversing it through inserting a DRFT activity at the beginning of the block. In this way, the traditional Design-Build-Test “Cycle” is reversed into a DRFT-Design-Build “Sequence." That is, the "wiring diagram" of a process or system overpowers the behavior of the individual nodes, so changing the system requires changing the wiring.