The Agile Hardware Research Project

The Agile Hardware Research Project investigated how Agile methods can be applied to hardware development and to products combining hardware and software. The research examined effective techniques, emerging best practices, and organizational approaches used by companies developing complex physical products.

The project gathered information from nearly 20 companies, including organizations such as Amazon, Applied Materials, AT&T, Cisco, HP, Hitachi, KLA-Tencor, and Teradata. The research team developed an interview guide, conducted interviews, investigated emerging practices, and analyzed the results to identify common characteristics and effective approaches.

The findings showed that companies were using a variety of Agile techniques, but none had implemented a completely Agile hardware-development process. Several practices emerged repeatedly, including consistent Sprint durations, overlapping prototype development, visual planning, longer hardware Sprints than typical software Sprints, creative adaptations of Burn-Down charts, and prioritization of features by value.

The presentation also examines fundamental differences and similarities between hardware and software development and proposes a Scrum-based approach for hardware. It describes the use of Technical Stories, 2–3 week Sprints, Release Planning, and changing Sprint focus as a hardware product progresses from requirements and architecture through design, prototyping, production, and testing. The presentation concludes that hardware development can be done in an Agile way, Scrum is well-suited to hardware development, and hardware development may require more Release Planning and different types of Stories than software development.