28.5. TIGER TEAMS

Tiger teams are an example of collaborative work when a specific design challenge or task needs to have focused attention in a short period of time, sometimes across different IPTs. These teams are not part of the formal structure of the IPTs. Team members may be pulled from anywhere in the company to focus on the issue until it is resolved. A manager will use discretionary budget and resources for the team.

The delivery VIPT got the task of trying to figure out how to pull the airplane back together after a major change happened in the aircraft mate joints. They shifted from quick tension bolts to an integrated mate joint. This particular tiger team traveled to all the partner companies so one site did not have the burden of doing everything. People who had been talking to each other in teleconferences and Net meetings over nine months finally got to meet one another as they traveled site to site. Often a tiger team room is set up with dedicated space with many computers, which enables the editing capability of a particular design. The network goes much slower when the computer is trying to share one picture at all the locations. Typically the team might have fifteen structural designers together, five from each team, and three to four analysts, one from each team and one local. The designers work on creating five to six options, and the analysts have the luxury of working one option at a time as it becomes concrete.