Managers' understanding of agile in hardware development

DS 122: Proceedings of the Design Society: 24th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED23)

Year: 2023
Editor: Kevin Otto, Boris Eisenbart, Claudia Eckert, Benoit Eynard, Dieter Krause, Josef Oehmen, Nadège Troussier
Author: Orejuela, Silvia (1); Motte, Damien (1); Johansson, Glenn (1,2)
Series: ICED
Institution: 1: Lund University; 2: Mälardalen University
Section: Design Methods
Page(s): 2515-2524
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2023.252
ISBN: -
ISSN: -

Abstract

The agile methodology is gaining attention among practitioners and researchers in hardware development. As a new methodology, it is a source of misunderstandings and misinterpretations. This is problematic at the managers' levels as they may hinder its adoption or lead to its impractical implementation and use. This study, therefore, aims to explore the manager's level of understanding of the agile methodology. The study identifies the similarities and differences between the fundamental elements of the agile methodology and the elements mentioned by managers in hardware development. The fundamental elements of the agile methodology are identified based on the elements presented in the Scrum method; the elements mentioned by managers are identified based on ten semi-structured interviews with managers in hardware development. The study shows that the understanding of the agile methodology varies largely among managers. The obtained detailed insights in the managers' level of understanding of the agile methodology could be used to develop appropriate support to facilitate its adoption and implementation.

Keywords: Agile hardware development, Scrum, New product development, Organisation of product development, Case study