Systematic derivation of customized development sprints for an agile development of wind turbines

Abstract

To account for the increasing volatility and uncertainty of external requirements, mechanical and plant engineering companies are facing growing demands for increased flexibility and adaptability within product development. The wind turbine industry in particular, which is characterized by low unit numbers, long development time and high development costs, is especially affected by this trend. Companies are forced to implement processes that allow for short-term adaptation to changing requirements. Plan-driven approaches typically presume that requirements are defined in the early stages of product development and remain static throughout the process. Companies are increasingly resorting to agile approaches, which rely on an incremental and highly iterative development process divided into short sprints. However, the main challenge for them is moving from plan-driven to agile due to the lack of a comprehensive method of incorporating and transforming their current development activities into an agile approach. This allows for the configuration of agile sprints on a short-term, results-oriented basis from process modules identified in the current development. A five step method for this purpose is being presented. The five steps are as follows: (1) Process analysis to record the status as-is; (2) Identification of recurring process modules throughout the development process; (3) Identification of development objects that are used or generated by the process modules; (4) Bottom-up classification and consolidation of these development objects; (5) Configuration of development sprints as a sequence of process modules linked via development objects. The respective steps were validated in cooperation with a company from the wind turbine industry.