Social Dynamics within Engineering with Yakira Mirabito (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts) Artwork

Quality during Design

Quality during Design is the podcast for engineers and product developers navigating the messy front end of product development. Each episode gives you practical quality and reliability tools you can use during the design phase — so your team catches problems early, avoids costly rework, and ships products people can depend on.

You'll hear solo episodes on early-stage clarity, risk-based decision-making, and quality thinking, along with conversations with cross-functional experts in the series A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts.

If you want to design products people love for less time, less cost, and a whole lot fewer headaches — this is your place.

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Quality during Design

Social Dynamics within Engineering with Yakira Mirabito (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

December 12, 2024 • Dianna Deeney • Season 3 • Episode 14

0:00 | 44:42

Dianna Deeney interviews Yakira Mirabito about social dynamics within engineering and how it affects decision making. The episode focuses on improving design reviews and making them more inclusive.

Yakira explains how things like personalities and power dynamics can really affect decisions made by design teams. She gives advice to engineers on how to prepare for these reviews, such as how to give presentations effectively and encourage helpful feedback from team members. She also highlights useful tools, like the “Identity Wheel,” to help people understand each other's backgrounds and avoid biases when making decisions. The episode is a great resource for anyone who wants to improve teamwork and create better products!

Yakira Mirabito is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT whose work falls within design theory and engineering management. Her research examines how sociotechnical factors influence design decisions using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her research interests include design behavior, cognitive biases, and social dynamics within engineering contexts. Yakira's work enhances current design methods and tools, empowering engineers to build more innovative and equitable systems.

Visit the Quality during Design podcast blog for more.
And visit www.yakiramirabito.com for Yakira's resources and ways to contact her about collaborating.

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ABOUT DIANNA
Dianna Deeney is a quality advocate for product development with over 25 years of experience in manufacturing. She is president of Deeney Enterprises, LLC, which helps organizations and people improve engineering design.