As Agile and DevOps continue to challenge the status quo and improve business outcomes, large companies need to identify how to scale these practices across large, complex systems composed of hardware, firmware, and software. The ability to iterate and deploy faster allows companies to adapt to changing needs, reduce cycle time for delivery, increase value for money, improve transparency, and leverage innovations. An industry-wide misconception is that this form of rapid iteration is only for software or small applications and systems. For large cyber-physical solutions, software is only one part of the value stream leading us to consider the implication and the application of DevOps principles across the entire end-to-end flow from idea to delivery. In a previously published DevOps Enterprise Forum paper from 2018, Industrial DevOps: Applying DevOps and Continuous Delivery to Significant Cyber-Physical Systems, we described a set of principles that development organizations can use to bring the power of DevOps to the build and maintenance of large-scale, cyber-physical systems such as vehicles, robots, complex medical devices, defense weaponry, and others. We introduced the term “Industrial DevOps” to expand the definition of DevOps in order to enable significant, cyber-physical system development programs to be more responsive to changing needs while also reducing lead times. This guidance has helped to establish the feasibility of using DevOps practices to more efficiently build, deploy, and maintain some of the world’s most important—and most complex—systems.

In this presentation, we take the original guidance concept of Industrial DevOps, eight supporting principles, and the subsequent definitions one step further, by applying the principles in the context of a hypothetical example using autonomous cars and then relating it back to those governing principles. Our intent is to help readers better understand the applicability and need for Industrial DevOps in different solutions, beyond those that are strictly software. The bodies of knowledge that inform Industrial DevOps principles and practices include DevOps, Lean manufacturing, Lean product development, Lean startup, systems thinking, and scaled Agile development. We’ll describe guiding practices that can be used to leverage the learnings from DevOps and scaled Agile developments to address the challenge of building these complex cyber-physical systems in a more efficient and more effective manner.

Agile transformation can be a daunting yet very rewarding endeavor. Organizations are adopting Agile principles beyond their traditional software teams and looking for benefits in other areas across the value stream. This includes changes not only in engineering and how we build and deliver products but in other organizational areas such as management, procurement, leadership, human resources, or any area of the organization that is part of the delivery pipeline. Organizations are making great strides in their agile journey yet there are challenges and barriers to overcome as an organization’s beliefs, practices, and culture slowly change. Yet change does not happen overnight. Changing how we’ve done business for many decades can create feelings of fear and a sense of uncertainty for people. What can be done to help overcome these barriers of fear, uncertainty, unfamiliarity, and in some cases, inertia? What are some techniques that can be used to develop an agile mindset and make the shift to further adoption? In this talk we will discuss the importance of Agile across the enterprise and provide some examples from those who have gone “full agile” adopting it within their various functional groups and within any environment. Additional resources and references will be provided for those seeking to make a difference within their team, program, or organization.

Many organizations are adopting Agile practices in their Software Development groups, but are slow to adopt these practices and principles in other parts of their organizations.  Growing Agile beyond the traditional software teams and extending its practice into other areas across the value stream can greatly increase the value derived from Agile adoption.  This can mean, for example, implementing Agile within business development, sales, management, and even the accounting groups.  But organizational change does not happen overnight.  What are some practices organizations can perpetuate across their organizational ecosystem to improve productivity and create results driven teams? What are some small steps of change that can be embraced?  What can we learn from organizations that have extended Agile beyond the software team? In this talk we will discuss the importance of Agile across the enterprise and provide some examples from those who have gone “full agile” adopting it within every one of their functional groups and discuss how these practices can be implemented in a Federal Contracting environment.