Skip Projects & Pi in Software Development
Manufacturing companies face both old and new challenges as competition for customers and talent intensifies. At the same time, management and owners demand cost efficiencies. By developing software correctly and flawlessly through flexible processes, companies can gain more value at lower costs.
Magnus Persson, Business Area Manager, has been working in the IT industry since 2000 and has witnessed the evolution of Sweden’s industry as well as encountered setbacks and new challenges. “Today, we talk about ‘software first’ because it is the software that creates significant value in and around physical products like drills, locks, trains, airplanes, etc. This means that companies need to work towards delivering high-quality software quickly, which presents higher demands and several challenges.”
Shortage of Resources in Software Development
The amount of software is increasing for companies to produce more efficiently and to create better and new value for customers. Automation is also crucial for cost and quality control. As much as possible should happen automatically without manual intervention in areas such as testing, deployment, and pipelines.
“This digitalization creates a resource shortage as there are too few who are truly skilled in industrial software development,” says Magnus.
Fear of Legal Consequences
More software in and around products also introduces more regulatory requirements such as cybersecurity, ISO standards, and safety requirements. Many companies have inherited or built on old software that does not meet current and future regulatory demands.
More organizations than you might think need to rebuild large system structures because they were created for old “regulations”. One might wonder how many errors per week need to be corrected in an “old” system compared to building a new, modern one “without” errors.
The EU directive NIS2 applies to organizations in sectors like manufacturing and transport and stipulates, among other things, that connected or embedded software must be monitored throughout its entire lifecycle, updates must be distributed quickly, and management personnel are personally accountable.
“I believe many company leaders are worried about ending up in the news or, even worse, having someone get hurt due to security incidents, such as one of their products being hacked or lost in another country,” says Magnus.
We Don’t Multiply by “Pi”
Industrial software development that builds products requires expertise that can be hard to find. IT consultants who know the industry are often a good alternative but can be seen as a significant investment with high hourly rates.
“Traditionally, the ‘industry’ jokes about calculating project costs from the bottom up and then multiplying by pi when estimating the total cost. But if you do it right from the start, you don’t need to multiply by pi,” says Magnus.
Traditionally, IT projects are anchored in management, with a start, stop, and a predetermined budget, which limits adaptability. Magnus argues that those who work with long-term product development instead of short-term projects get the most software per consulting hour.
“Those who continuously think about how to deliver the most value to the customer end up getting the most value themselves per consulting hour.”
Agile Coaches vs. Effective Product Teams
In software development, it is effective to always work towards functioning software, customer collaboration, frequent interactions, and adapting to changes. This is the foundation of agile software development.
“I don’t think the terminology of the working method is what’s important; what matters is leading a product team that is actually building something real. It’s not a transformation journey; you’re building the product, and the team becomes its own agile coach,” concludes Magnus.
Contact
Region
