Agile for hardware manufacturers? No way, we used to say. The interdependencies involved in physical product development are too rigid; development takes too much time to turn on a dime, we used to say. Until today: consultants Ali Hajou and Davar Azarmi explain why, how and when they will be offering our new course!

Dirk Meißner, managing partner and founder of CO-Improve Consulting has opted to share his four-step for ‘Corona emergency program for development projects’ with us. It leverages Agile ways of working so hardware organizations might recover from social-distancing measures smoothly and quickly.

At this year’s upcoming Agile for Hardware conference hosted by Gladwell Academy, Herbert Schönebeck from Co-Improve is planning an interactive workshop where he will offer a deep-dive into the typical problems encountered during an Agile transformation.

To build a consultancy firm that embodies values like appreciation and trust. That combines industry, product development and transformation competence. To irreversibly improve – rather, ‘co-improve’ – complex industries that they know inside-out. That was the goal of founder and managing partner Dirk Meissner, some eight years ago in 2012. Three years ago, they added SAFe to the range of improvement frameworks that they practice – and today Gladwell Academy CEO Miranda Goossens welcomes them as a partner.

We don’t apply Agile ways to make the simple stuff. We use Agile because what we create is hard. By that, I mean those hardware manufacturers that seek to apply Agile ways of working are usually in complex manufacturing industries: automotive, semiconductors, medical tech. Embracing Agility in such industries is very advisable, and indeed many are attempting this in some way. But it does come with its own manual. Here’s a page from my book.

The advantages of working Agile have been a revolution for software development – and then for services-oriented businesses too. Why is the world of hardware development now suddenly becoming so eager to follow suit? Because, finally, it can.

Lighting brand Signify is big in hardware and software development – understandably so, considering recent software-heavy innovations in lighting solutions. Inevitably, sensible practices from one development type creep into the other at the company. Hence the recent embrace of SAFe by an ambitious group of hardware engineers, and an upcoming presentation that’s bound to raise a few eyebrows.

The experienced ASML Agilists Tanya Kudchadker and Wendy Versteeg are presenting together at the Agile for Hardware event. Here, they prelude on their contribution: applying Agile ways of working to the development of hugely complex lithography machines that cost billions to make.

We’re excited that triple founder and original thinker Jan van der Tempel will contribute to Agile for Hardware. Here, he takes a moment to give some insight in his journey towards Agile development and his planned case study presentation.

“If established developers want to learn how start-ups design new products these days, come to us,“ says Daan Geldermans. He’s a founder at SKOON, a start-up that’s pioneering in large containerized batteries that can replace diesel generators. “We’re doing everything ourselves, and it gives us exactly the flexible approach that’s so much in demand.”

“I’m not about to ditch old-fashioned project management,“ assures Arjan Tuinhout, senior project manager at the Smart Antenna Solutions product line for NXP, global champion in semiconductors. “But after Scrumming pulled my team through some nasty timeframes, I’m convinced Agile can add to hardware development, too.”

Pioneering Agilist Robin Yeman has been exploring Agility at defense hardware manufacturer Lockheed Martin since 2002. She prefaces her upcoming contribution to the Agile for Hardware conference on 1 July with an offer: “I have several projects I could discuss. How about I give you three options, and readers can choose which one they like?”

Ralph Hofman is an experienced consultant in digital transformation. He’s worked with leading industrial manufacturers such as ASML, NXP, JDE and many others. And today, he’s excited. “The Agile way of working has been out of reach for much of the non-software industry for decades. Now, it’s slowly making up to change the history of industry. With this event, we’re bringing it to them.”