Agile Product Development in an Increasingly Dynamic Automotive Industry: Potentials and Limits

Authors

J. Schrof MSc, Prof. Dr.-Ing. K. Paetzold, Bundeswehr University, Munich

Year

2020

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Reihe 12, Nr. 813

Summary

The aim of this study is to analyze the applicability and added value of agile automotive product development. The suitability of agile approaches for dynamic environments is evaluated based on a fundamental comparison between sequential and agile development methods. Functionality of agile methods is derived context-specifically. Based on a literature Review it is shown that despite increasingly dynamic conditions in vehicle development, a direct transfer of agile methods is not trivial. Constraints of scale and physicality cause additional dependencies in product and development process, which result in problems regarding coordination, documentation, knowledge exchange as well as overall product verification. Consequently, adaptations of the methodology to the context are necessary. Relevant solutions, such as inter team coordination structures, knowledge exchange platforms and adapted verification systems are described and integrated into the existing structures. Additionally, it is analyzed how product architecture adaptations reduce entailing process dependencies.