Effects and interactions of agile principles in the process of mechatronic system development: Building a basic un-derstanding for adaptive process design

Abstract

Background: In order to be as reactive as possible to changing conditions caused by uncertainties in the markets and therfore in the product development environment, companies are increasingly implementing agile approaches in mechatronic systems development. These mostly originate from the software branch and are based on the culture of this branch, thus creating various challenges in the culture of mechatronic system development. The approach of ASD-Agile Systems Design is based on 9 core principles for agile mechatronic system development. The operationalization of these principles leads to a situation-and demand-oriented degree of agility in the development process. However, the effects of these principles are only implicitly known, so that the successful implementation of agility through ASD-Agile Systems Design is based on the experiences of the developers. Aim: For the purposeful imple-mentation of the agile core principles, the effects they cause in the development process are to be understood and their interdependency examined. This should create the basis for the sustain-Able implementation of cultural and technical agility in the processes of mechatronic system development. Method: In order to understand the effects of the core principles, 12 successful product development projects in which agile was developed were retrospectively examined the data basis is the project documentation. The resulting understanding was sharpened in two stages with 23 experts from research and practice and the effects of the principles were made explicit. Results: The result of the research work are nine effect clusters, which are caused by the core principles of ASD, as well as the presentation of the interdependencies of the princi-ples. Conclusions: By explicating the effects, a generic framework was created which on the one hand supports the implementation of cultural agility and on the other hand enables the development of processes, methods and tools which promote the sustainable implementation of technical agility based on the needs in mechatronic system development. In addition, desired effects can now be induced prospectively in a targeted manner, since they are known and ex-plicit.