Keynote on Product Development
It’s About Product Development — Not Just Software or Hardware
A technical product reflects how well all individuals involved in its development collaborated. This involves not only engineers but also product managers, marketing teams, production, quality assurance, procurement, and sales. The product reveals whether passion for the project led the way—or if politics, power struggles, and miscommunication dominated. It shows whether open communication was possible, feedback was freely given, and if it was processed without fear. The connection to the customer is equally critical. The customer experience ultimately proves whether the development effort created genuine value.
Does Agile Product Development Originate from Software Development?
No. While software developers formalized the Agile Manifesto in 2001, the principles of agile work—iterative, feedback-driven processes—have always outperformed rigid, behind-closed-doors planning. However, Taylorism and extreme labor division clouded the concept of holistic product development.
Communication principles and human perception make it impossible for a development team to know exactly what the customer needs without directly involving them, regardless of how detailed the requirements or specifications are. If the product isn’t a state secret, continuously aligning development with customer feedback not only fosters mutual inspiration but also results in higher-quality products.
Physical Products, or Hardware
Physical products come with “constraints of physicality,” such as technical limitations on achieving minimum functionality, durability, or safety. Long procurement cycles and limited opportunities for post-launch updates add further challenges. Changes to the product become increasingly risky, costly, and effort-intensive as the project progresses, particularly towards the end.
This reality often leads developers of high-tech physical products to shy away from “agility,” mistakenly perceiving it as constant, chaotic change. However, the Agile Manifesto is essentially four simple principles, none of which dismiss planning and structure.
Practical Agile Product Development
In my keynote, I demonstrate how organizations developing physical products can embrace the truly revolutionary aspect of the Agile Manifesto: the ability to do both—follow a plan and regularly adapt it to deliver quality and create value. This involves revisiting the foundations of organizational structure and leadership.
The Offer
My keynote explores the connections in developing physical technology products and how to transfer these insights into practical application. Examples include lectures for students at Kempten University of Applied Sciences, contributions to scaled agile development contexts like SAFe, such as with BridgingIT GmbH in Stuttgart, or at the 2023 Product People event in Cologne during an Open Space for my collaboration partner AGILean GmbH.
Would you like to dive deeper into agile product development for your organization or team? Let’s connect to explore the possibilities.
Are you looking for a keynote to kick off your development project? Or do you want to make your product creation process more efficient? Schedule a non-binding consultation, and together we’ll explore how a future collaboration could take shape.
