Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 July 2019
In this paper, we present the results of a survey of new product development practitioners regarding their design review experiences. We surveyed 128 product development professionals on their experience and preferences in design reviews. We found that the goals and type (location / synchronicity) of design reviews change over the course of a product development project. We found that the majority of design review meetings continue to be held as co-located, live, in-person meetings. For reviewing 3D models, we found that a native CAD package (rather than a viewer, or fixed views, or a physical prototype) is the most commonly used tool. We found a difference between Designers (more likely to be product engineers) and Non-Designers and their access to CAD software, as well as their preference for which tool to use at the design review for 3D model evaluation. We hope that our findings spark future work related to better understanding design reviews and design reviewers in context. Design reviews are an important part of industrial product development processes, so we believe future studies have a large potential to improve these design activities