Investigation of Design Tools as Complexity Management Techniques

Design tools which appear to manage complexity through their inherent behavior do not appear to have been developed specifically for complexity management. This research explores how complexity is managed within the design process through: the generation of complexity within the design process (sources), the techniques which were used to manage complexity (approaches), and the examination of design tools with respect to complexity. Mappings are developed between the sources, the approaches, and the tools with respect to phases of design. The mappings are propagated through these distinct, yet adjacent domains in order to study how the tools might be able to be used to manage complexity sources found in different stages of the design process. As expected, the highest value for each design tool is found in the stage of design in which the tool is traditionally been used. However, there are secondary ratings which suggest that design tools can be used in other stages of the design process to manage specific aspects of complexity.