Clash of Cultures? How to align and reconcile IT and physical product development processes and cultures in practice

© Prof. Dr. Ayelt Komus & Sonja Gerz
www.process-and-project.net
www.heupel-consultants.com
www.praxisforum.net
Clash of Cultures?
How to align and reconcile IT- and physical product-development processes and
cultures in practice
Prof. Dr. Ayelt Komus
komus@hs-koblenz.de
linkedin.com/in/komus
www.komus.de
Sonja Gerz
s.gerz@heupel-consultants.com
linkedin.com/in/sonja-gerz/
Festo.IO_2023

© Prof. Dr. Ayelt Komus & Sonja Gerz 3
www.komus.de
www.process-and-project.net www.heupel-consultants.com
www.praxisforum.net
We need to talk!
▪ Agile (hybrid) methods and mindset
have become the cornerstones of IT-
development-organizations
▪ More and more the value of physical
products is driven by smart IT-
solutions
▪ In practice we find the day-to-day
practice of embeding agile practices in
physical-product-development rather
slow
▪ As a result we experience major
challenges of aligning and optimizing
integrated product development
processes in the daily practice

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Meet Ayelt
Prof. Dr. Ayelt Komus
With all my heart: change organizations
for success and fun to work in
By profession:
Professor,
Advisor, Sparring Partner,
Keynote Speaker
Area of expertise: organizational design,
IT management, agility in
hardware/hybrid, change
Also important: the outdoors
(cycling, sailing, SCUBA diving, hiking,
golfing – still learning)
#curious #experiments
#GetToTheBottomOfThings
#ChangeForFuture

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Meet Sonja
Sonja Gerz
With all my heart:
making change happen,
reasonable and pragmatic
By profession:
Consultant & Coach
Area of expertise:
agile and scaled agile approaches in
software and hardware , IT management,
(hybrid) project management
Also important:
passionate Scandinavian fan
#creative #structured
#NoDowntimeAccepted

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Let‘s look at it from a bird‘s eye view

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They are different! (and why)
IT-product development and physical product
development is different!
▪ Physical products
Long term usage, once delivered difficult to
change, production is a major topic
→ Avoid Change, think first!
▪ Software, IT-products
Short term products, once delivered already
updated
Fast product development, creativity and
mastering complexity are key
→ Focus on learning, experiments,
“permanent beta”

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Product life cycle (1/2)
▪ The products of over 90% of the participants have been in use by customers for
between five and 30 years.
1%
1%
7%
43%
45%
4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Wenige Wochen (0-12 Wochen)
Wenige Monate (4-12 Monate)
Wenige Jahre (1-4 Jahre)
Einige Jahre (5-10 Jahre)
Viele Jahre (11-30 Jahre)
Sehr viele Jahre (über 30 Jahre)
n = 137 (Single Choice)
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Just a few weeks (0-12 Weeks)
How durable are your products in use by customers?
Few Months (4-12 Months)
Few Years (1-4 Years)
Several Years (5-10 Years)
Many Years (11-30 Years)
A lot of Years (over 30 Years)

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Importance of the methods in the phases in PMP
57%
81%
86% 84%
90%
74%
45%
35%
51%
46%
28%
19%
25% 26%
39%
30%
42%
66%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Proportion of high and very high importance of methods in the individual phases of the PDP*
Product idea
Business
Case /
Concept
Product-
development
Validation /
Prototype
Pre-series /
Serial
Preparation
Production
*(Proportion Sum "very high importance" / "high importance" related to the question: "How strongly do [...] approaches shape the design of the phase [...]?")
Further information for „n“ etc. Look study report SQ-PEP.
Classic Lean
Agil

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63%
82%
73%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Total in PEP
Satisfaction with method – lean, agile, classic
Share of high and very high satisfaction by method*
*(Proportion Sum "very high importance" / "high importance" related to the question: "How strongly do [...] approaches shape the design of the phase [...]?")
Further information for „n“ etc. Look study report SQ-PEP.
Classic
Agil
Lean

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e.g. Design
Thinking
Scrum Scrum (phased) Lean Lean
Product
idea
Business
Case /
Concept
Product
development
Validation /
Prototype
Pre-series /
Preparation
Production
Agile methods can also be used for products with
hardware components
Agile methods in the product development process:

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Artifacts in the agile PEP
Feature List Prioritized Feature List
Basic
architecture
Phase Results
(MVP) I
Sprint
Backlog(s)
Scrum-Board
or
Kanban-Board
Phase Result
Board
Feature
...
...
...
Feature P Complexity
... 1
... 1
... 2
... 3
Structural parts lists
I
Derivation
Prio. I
BOM-V I
Impediment
Backlog
Subdivision /
Detailing in
I II
1 2 3 1 2
Sprint
Results
Iteration in sprints
Phase Result II
Phase Result III
Phase Result I

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Approaches and philosophies in general practice
Software
Product idea & concept
Development & Validation
Production preparation

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5 Success factors…
… to better align and improve the combined software & hardware
development process
▪ Start with WHY
▪ Understand and respect the way it is
▪ Chances & potentials of different approaches
▪ Change organization and process towards (more) hybrid approach
→ Helpful Agile und esp. Scaled Agile techniques and approaches
▪ Change as continuous journey „Marathon NOT Sprint“:
→ Proceed in small steps with direct benefit for the teams

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Start with WHY & understand and respect the way it is
WHY
?
HOW?
WHAT?
© 2012 Simon Sinek, Inc
Away from towards
Our „Why“ – Statement in one Sentence

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Identify chances & potentials of different approaches
Configuration of useful methods depending on complexity
Project Management
complicated
complex
simple

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Reasonable use of agile methods in hardware / PEP
Agile approaches
Product idea
Business
case /
concept
Product
development
Validation /
prototyp
Pre-series
production
Production
Chances and potentials of agile elements Backlog Freeze – As late as possible, as early as needed
Latest possible date
for the backlog
freeze
Backlog freeze in
case of high costs of
the prototyp
Backlog freeze in
case of high costs ot
the production plant
Sprint planning

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Reinforce product and customer orientation
→ through crossfunctional teams
Prototyping
Development
/ design
engineer
Simulation
Production
preparation
Production
Prototyping
Development
/ design
engineer
Simulation
Production
preparation
Production
Functional
orientation
Value stream
(product)
orientation

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Reinforce product and customer orientation
→ through integration & synchronization on different layers
© Leffingwell – Scaled
Agile Framework
Part
Component
Assembly
Product
v
e
r
t
i
c
a
l
i
n
t
e
g
r
a
t
i
o
n

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Joint “heartbeat” to align and synchronize teams
Portfolio-
planung
Portfolio-
planung
Big Room
Planning
Big Room
Planning
Big Room
Planning
Big Room
Planning
Big Room
Planning
Big Room
Planning
Praxisbeispiel: Courtesy Heupel Consultants
Sprint planning
(2 weekly cycle with sprint
plannings per squad)
Program planning
(2 monthly cycle with big room
plannings)
Portfolio planning

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Big room planning to align dependencies
Courtesy of Heupel Consultants

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New understanding of roles
profitability
project lead
customer view
product
management
Technical feasibility
Engineering
Product Owner Team
Design of product owner role
in a hybrid approach

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Find the right combination of different approaches
Curent way of working
(examples or classic approaches)
Impulse of agile approaches
Agile approaches are NOT a replacement, rather a useful extension

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Change as continuous journey „Marathon NOT Sprint“
… proceed in small steps with direct benefit for the teams
1. Identify need for action
• Agile Assessment
• Point of view, Transition Team
• External evaluation
2. Developing & agreeing
on a target
4. Create sprint schedule
I II
1 2 3 1 2
Backlog To Do Doing Done Obsolete
Keep Doing
More of
Start Doing
Stop Doing
Less of
3. Create & coordinate phase planning

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Culture eats
formal organization
for breakfast

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Praxisforum Event am 9./10. Mai 2023
https://www.process-and-project.net/praxisforum/call-for-presentations/
Kontakt für
Aktions-Code
►direkt zum Event

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Let‘s connect!
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/komus
linkedin.com/in/sonja-gerz
www.komus.de
www.praxisforum.net

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