Once the concept is final there are still many questions that remain unanswered and white spots exist in the design. As a comparison, once an architect and his client settled on the concept for a new house. They decided on a climate-neutral wooden bungalow with a green/sedum roof (a roof with vegetation that isolate the house). Before the actual construction can start, many things are still unknown. What will be the kitchen lay out? What is the construction of the (very heavy) roof? What kind of doors will be used? All these details and white spots must be designed by the architect(s) and engineers, requiring much effort. The same goes for other types of design projects, regardless of whether these are websites, software applications, exhibitions, products, or services. 

In general, the combined design activities are so extensive that parts of the design need to be delegated to other designers or experts. This introduces two challenges. First, it introduces a need to manage and coordinate both activities (who does what?) and content (what is the final design?). It may seem that the concept offers the contours of the final design, with white spots that need to be filled in by experts. But as experts know: by filling in these white spots new ideas arise, new problems are discovered that require adaptations in the concept. Consequently the final design deviates more and more from the concept, not because of a lack of coordination, but as a result of new insights. One of the hardest parts in the Delivery stage is to know when to stick to the 'original concept' and when the concept needs adaptation.

Second, these design activities need to be done concurrently, that is: occurring at the same time. The white spots must be filled in and detailed at the same level at the same time because the decisions made for distinctive topics impact each other. For example, when the engineers of the wooden bungalow with the heavy, green roof decide that several supportive walls are needed, it impacts choices for the interior design, as e.g large sliding doors -weakening walls- suddenly are off limits in these walls. The way of working in this stage is to develop parts simultaneously and bring everything together in regular Show & Share sessions, where progress is shown and discussed. The biggest pitfall is just to talk about progress, rather than showing things!

Case Study: Food exhibition: from concept to final design

The developers of the food exhibition claimed a dedicated workspace where they could all work on their activities, even though not everyone was working on the project full-time. This enabled them to see and learn from each other and know what choices they made. Also, it enabled team members to have quick brainstorms, or to ask questions such as,  "'I'm breaking my head over this, what would you do?" Although the spacious office with large windows was a pleasant place to work, team members quickly discovered that it lacked 'walls' for putting their designs up, so that everyone could see and discuss it, if needed. After three weeks they claimed another room. It was a bit crampy, and apart from one table, they took all furniture. They held Show & Share meetings in this room. Here everyone puts representations of his/her activities on the wall, like technical drawings, sketches, or screen dumps of the website in progress. They also showed models of the exhibits and small prototypes. Even though it was a messy space, it enabled them to work concurrently.