Top Benefits of Agile Development for IoT

With Bruce Sinclair and Ben Wald

Agenda

• Top Reasons IoT Projects Fail
• Waterfall vs Agile
• 10 Key Steps of Agile IoT

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IoT offers a potential economic impact of

$4-11 trillion/year in 2025

75%

of IoT projects take twice as long as planned

Source: Gartner

Top Reasons IoT Projects Fail

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Common Reasons IoT Projects Fail

• Silos
• Staying in your sandbox
• Real world is messy
• Skimping on the upfront validation work
• Waterfall vs Agile

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All of these problems can be traced back to one thing: the wrong development approach.

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All of these problems can be traced back to one thing: the wrong development approach.

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Waterfall �vs Agile

There are two main methodologies for project management: waterfall and agile

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There are two main methodologies for project management: waterfall and agile

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Waterfall Methodology

Previous Experiences

Very Little Learning Occurs

Most Learning Occurs

Treading water, fighting to survive

Pros of Waterfall

• End goal defined early
• Process is easy to understand
• Good knowledge transfer between steps

Testing

Cons of Waterfall

• Major changes require going back to the beginning
• Working software produced late in development
• High risk/uncertainty
• Can’t adjust scope mid-stream

Agile Methodology

Pros of Agile

• Built to adapt for change
• Working software/hardware produced early
• High emphasis on user testing
• Breaks down silos
• Scope adjustments can be made easily

Cons of Agile

• Incredibly difficult to do well
• Requires excellent communication skills
• End deliverable is less certain at first

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Agile is the clear choice when developing IoT products.

10 Key Steps of Agile IoT

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Agile IoT Basics

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• Not just re-labeling Waterfall stages
• Constantly prototyping
• Blurred lines are actually good

Adaptive Planning

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10 Key Steps of Agile IoT

• Validations and Constraints
• Product Development Roadmap
• Pre-requisites
• Imitation
• Simulation
• Micro-facturing Run
• 1st Manufacturing Run
• Real Manufacturing Run
• Go-to-market Manufacturing Run
• Emulation with Digital Twin

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• Validations and Constraints

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• Goal: Steer into the riskiest assumptions�
• Ready to move on when: You know your ROI

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2. Product Development Roadmap

• Goal: Build the plan from the ground up�
• Ready to move on when: You have a well articulated roadmap

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Step 3. Pre-Requisites

• Goal: Hammer out the basics

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• Ready to move on when: You plug it in, it turns on and works

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Step 4. Imitation

• Goal: Get something working and harden the basics�
• Ready to move on when: It can reliably function

Step 5. Simulation Part 1

• Goal: Build a device that can receive admin commands with SOME real components �
• Ready to move on when: You have a good idea about the final components

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Step 5. Simulation Part 2

• Goal: Device is using real CPU architecture paired with final code on a dev board �
• Ready to move on when: Frankenstein is alive!

Step 6. Micro-facturing Run

• Goal: Put a hand-soldered, 3D printed device in developers’ hands�
• Ready to move on when: You’re comfortable giving it to beta customers

Step 7. 1st Manufacturing Run (~100)

• Goal: Get a pilot group engaged and finalize board layout�
• Ready to move on when: You’ve received feedback and can make as needed tweaks

Step 8. Real Manufacturing Run (1,000+)

• Goal: Perform initial user testing, training and onboarding�
• Ready to move on when: Received solid feedback, had a couple “ah-ha!” moments.

Step 9. Go-to-Market Manufacturing Run

• Goal: Optimize for economies of scale�
• Ready to move on when: You don’t have heart attack thinking about making 1M units

Step 10: Emulation with Digital Twin

• Goal: To imitate appearance and behavior of a physical object or system

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• Ready to move on when: You start eyeing Step 1

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“Nothing beats the � real-world. The real world � is messy. That’s why agile � IoT is relevant and � necessary.”

� — Daniel Spofford, senior engineer at Very

The key to making it all work is communication and cadence.

The key to making it all work is communication and cadence.

Agile IoT is a journey of 1,000 tiny steps.

Questions?