DON’T WORRY, BE AGILE – Introduction and further development of an agile way of working

Initial project situation: Changing framework conditions require an agile working method in vehicle development
Dynamic decisions, unclear legal and political framework conditions such as dynamic emissions standards and ever shorter development cycles have become decisive influencing factors for daily project work in powertrain development projects in recent years. Legislation that has not yet been defined is to be implemented by 2023. These changing framework conditions and the resulting potential deadline pressure increase the time and effort required for developments. In order to counteract these additional costs, the working methods within a project and the project team must be effective and efficient. At the start of this project, the powertrain development team is in the middle of a transition from a conventional to an agile way of working. The conventional way of working is characterized by extensive meetings with many participants and long technical discussions on individual topics.
The main criticisms of this working method are summarized below:
- Status reporting
- Long meetings
- Communication gaps at employee level
- Reactive project management instead of proactive project management
- In-depth, detailed technical discussions that do not always affect all participants in the meeting rounds
Objective of the project: Introduction and acceptance of an agile way of working
The project aims to ensure an agile way of working to manage and organize the topics. This way of working should contribute to corporate change and to solving the challenges described above.
The focus is on the following research question: What factors favor the introduction of an agile working method in a powertrain project that originally worked conventionally?
The aim of this project is to answer the research question posed and to identify success factors for the introduction of an agile way of working and to consider divergent opinions with regard to agile working methods.
The success of the measures described in this project is ensured by the adoption of the way of working, participation in the weekly agile working events and feedback surveys. This means that both quantitative and qualitative conclusions can be drawn from the measures. The success of the measures is ensured through the continuous collection of feedback and retrospectives (lat. retrospectare – to look back). The project decides as a whole which measures serve to improve and which do not.
Project development: further development and review of the new agile way of working
The content of this project deals with the further development of the agile way of working. This includes work steps of the strategic management model, the optimization of the IT systems already introduced, the practical implementation and the mindset. The procedure is described below:
Step 1: Derivation of the further development concept
- Definition of the target image
- Analysis of the project with the help of the project canvas
- Creation of the further development and implementation concept
Step 2: Further development of the agile way of working
- Analyze the initial situation
- Adaptation of the literature solution
- Define evolution
Step 3: Verification of the theses
- IT systems must be intuitive
- Culture eats strategy for breakfast
- Marketing and a platform to help shape the way we work together is the key!
Added value for Mercedes-Benz AG: acceptance of agile working methods and increased effectiveness
In view of the company’s transformation, the dynamic requirements for products/services, the need and necessity to be able to react quickly and efficiently to changes, agile working is considered a suitable and solution-oriented way of working for development projects. As the project progresses, it becomes clear how the approach described in the concept, the precise stakeholder analysis, the consideration and characterization of the influencing factors, such as cultural change and the step-by-step approach, has significantly improved the effectiveness and thus the acceptance of the working method.
The most clearly perceived added value of powertrain development is the so-called Ständerling. More specifically, the exchange of decisions and information at the beginning of the newly introduced steering and organizational meetings as well as the outsourcing of special topics. This increased acceptance, improved communication and promoted a transparent flow of information. This assumption can be made on the basis of the increased number of participants compared to the original number at the start of the project. The original committee time for individual employees has been reduced as the detailed discussions on technology are outsourced to special rounds. With the help of commitment and the provision of a platform for the joint optimization and further development of the meeting culture, this project has contributed to an increase in information flow, focus and efficiency.

Big Picture Marvin Bayer (Source: Own illustration)
With SCMT to your project success!
Knowledge is a head start. And therefore the decisive factor for long-term success. The SCMT offers partner companies access to new research findings, trends and innovations. It offers you scientifically sound solutions to problems and gives you an advantage in global competition. In order to transfer knowledge directly into practice, the Steinbeis Center of Management and Technology (SCMT), the largest project house in the Steinbeis network, cooperates closely with the School of Management and Technology (SMT), a business school of Steinbeis University.
The Project Competence Study Program® (PKS) plays an important role here as a unique study system. This is because it creates a real win-win situation for everyone involved – both for the project-providing companies and for the students working on the project: The focus is always on an innovative practical project.

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