Agile Development in Manufacturing Companies: Best Practices and Pitfalls
Robert G. Cooper, Peter Fürst · IEEE Engineering Management Review · 2023
Seeking to get thebest of both worlds, leading manufacturers have borrowed agile development from the software world and integrated it with their Stage-Gate method. Typically, physical-product firmsadopt some but not all elements of agileand embed them into the stages of their familiar gating process to replace the traditional product management methods. The resulting hybrid Agile–Stage-Gate (A-SG) model delivers very positive performance results: faster response to change, higher customer satisfaction, and increased team motivation. Based on the input from leading firms, the article describes a consensus A-SG model that physical-product firms have crafted, including a number of major differences from the “pure agile” model. Observations and suggestions from experienced A-SG users are summarized. Agile is a new way of working based on a unique mindset; thus, a physical-product version of the agile principles is also presented. But no system is perfect, and pitfalls to watch out for are identified and summarized for manufacturers.