The problem: design reviews don’t scale beyond engineers
Design reviews often work well inside engineering teams - but they frequently fail once other stakeholders are involved.
Product managers, customer-facing teams, suppliers, and executives are asked to review designs without access to the actual models. Files are shared as attachments, links, or screenshots, and feedback arrives late, vague, or incorrect.
This leads to more meetings, more revisions, and slower decisions.
How design reviews break down in practice
A typical design review outside engineering looks like this:
- CAD files shared via email or attached to Jira
- Reviewers cannot open or interact with the files
- Feedback is based on assumptions or outdated exports
- Engineers must reinterpret comments later
As one team explained:
“Design reviews used to happen in meetings because no one could review the files beforehand. Once models were accessible in Confluence, feedback became asynchronous and far more precise.”
The issue is not collaboration - it is lack of visual access.
Why screenshots and PDFs undermine reviews
Static exports are often used as a workaround, but they introduce new problems:
- No ability to rotate or inspect geometry
- Important details hidden or lost
- Unclear which version is being reviewed
- Feedback disconnected from the actual model
Without interactive viewing, reviewers cannot give precise or actionable input.
What effective design reviews require
Successful design reviews outside engineering require three things:
- Visual access - reviewers must see the real model
- Context - designs must live alongside discussions and decisions
- Continuity - the same model should be accessible across tools
When CAD files can be viewed directly in Outlook, Jira, and Confluence, design reviews become inclusive and efficient rather than fragile.
A support team described the shift clearly:
“We stopped debating screenshots and started discussing the actual model. That alone reduced our review cycles.”
The impact of accessible, collaborative CAD reviews
Teams that modernize design reviews experience:
- Fewer review meetings
- Faster approval cycles
- Clearer, more actionable feedback
- Better alignment between engineering and the business
Importantly, feedback stays anchored to the design, not scattered across emails and chat threads.
Final takeaway
Design reviews fail when stakeholders cannot see what they are reviewing.
They succeed when CAD files are accessible, interactive, and embedded in everyday tools.
Making CAD models visible beyond engineering is not a technical upgrade—it is a collaboration upgrade.
Make design reviews visual, accessible, and decision-driven.
Check out our Manufacturing and Construction Collection: Model Viewer for Outlook, Model Viewer for Jira and Model Viewer for Confluence.
