The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle known as Deming's cycle has been used with great success in quality management and continuous improvement of products and processes since its introduction in 1950. Due to its vast application and growing success in managing processes and facilitating process-oriented thinking, the PDCA model is widely used by the ISO 9001 quality management standard. Building on the proven success of the PDCA in project management as a useful tool in industry, an implementation in a capstone design course showed better outcomes when compared to previous year results. The findings are believed to support the researchers’ hypothesis that taking advantage of industrial methods could create favorable conditions for the development of students’ project management skills and mindset.

Since one of the key learning objectives of the capstone experience is to prepare students for professional practice, the use of successfully practiced industrial methods does not only create favorable conditions for the development of students’ project management skills and mindset but it is also necessary for achieving the main capstone outcomes. In this paper, the Deming PDCA cycle is used to manage the phases of a previously developed educational capstone design process that mirrors the industrial practices of leading corporations. The PDCA cycle is followed to identify, plan, and guide the needed tasks and timing during the projects’ engineering design and development process. To illustrate the use of the PDCA cycle in different capstone projects, some illustrative examples from different capstone classes are presented.

Keywords: Deming's cycle, Capstone, Project, Management.