Standardized Methodologies, just like technology, are just enablers. They exist to deliver value; they should not become the focal point. The output, value, or solution generated by these methodologies are essential.

But every time a new methodology/tool is on the horizon, the rush to embrace it is so intense that the methodology becomes more important than the goal. Agile is one such methodology. In my personal experience, I have seen companies become so passionate about adopting the Agile approach that the focus became -“How do we write stories for sprints that we can successfully deliver.”

The focus shifts to “how we can showcase that we successfully embraced the Agile approach.” The value of successfully solving the problem becomes secondary.

The drawbacks of agile methodology apply more to Industry 4.0, where, as per my perspective, the Agile methodology, as currently used, can not be used “As Is.” And force fitting may turn out to be disastrous.

This article explains why Agile approaches must be modified before leveraging them in Industry 4.0 projects. In a separate article, I will share a detailed modified agile framework for Industry 4.0.

Five challenges with leveraging Agile methodology “As Is” for Industry 4.0 implementations

1. Scaling Agile to large, distributed project organizations

Remember that many basic Agile or similar methods like Scrum were initially not designed to support large, highly distributed projects which span multiple organizational silos. Then, over time, different “versions” of Agile emerged to address this problem, including Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS), Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS), and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). It is difficult to say which frameworks will prevail precisely- none will fit “As Is” in an Agile project.

2. “Work culture” differences

Industry 4.0 projects are unique in that both software and hardware implementations are involved. Software development teams in most large organizations have adopted Agile for a couple of years. However, the fact is that many IT hardware or asset engineering organizations still need to get used to working with sequential, long-term planning-based project management approaches. Imposing Agile methodology, “As Is,” on them may lead to a “clash of two worlds.”

3. Hardware is not “virtual.”

Hardware plays a significant role in Industry 4.0 projects, and all resources required in hardware development are physical like:
• Amount and type of memory needed
• Number and type of interfaces
• Amount of logic to perform task

This differs from software development, where most resources are virtual and can be easily changed. Furthermore, the software is compiled or interpreted. This means you can apply changes and then test those changes almost immediately. On the other hand, physical hardware design takes longer and requires longer-term planning.

4. The release management challenge

Remember that in an Industry 4.0 setup, assets are highly distributed. It is also challenging to apply remote software updates, and tasks like release management for IoT solutions are complex.

It does not mean that this makes Agile development impossible. Still, it certainly changes some basic assumptions of the Agile software development process, especially compared to Internet-style applications where applications are continuously updated, which cannot be applied to most IoT solutions.

5. Longer planning and validation cycle requirements for physical assets

Many IoT projects require close coordination between different divisions of highly siloed organizations. If you think from the context of enterprise environments, this means you need a long-term planning horizon. Additionally, many, if not most, IoT solutions will have to undergo long validation phases, again requiring a long-term planning perspective.

Concluding note

These points should not prevent an organization with a high level of experience in Agile, multidisciplinary development from applying a full-scale Agile approach to IoT. Still, it is essential to be aware of these potentially challenging issues. A full-scale Agile system can be developed for an IoT project organization by leveraging some of the established approaches for scaled Agile development. I will share a customized Agile framework for Industry 4.0 projects in a separate article.