Engineering Agility Newsletter #1: Thank you for attending our presentations

On Wednesday 18th September and Thursday 19th September book authors Marina Voropaeva and Ali Hajou presented the difficulties and opportunities of Agile in contexts of hardware development. We believe that not enough is being shared about the tips, tricks, and mistakes of using this alternative way of working. 

Hence; the existence of this newsletter. An attempt to share our experiences as involved consultants and coaches to benefit the community who is searching for ways of working for the betterment of efficiency, product quality, and engineer motivation.

Battling skill and competence retention with Stable Teams

We struggle with the concept of Stable Teams. We understand the added value of engineers 'staying' together, but operate in financial constructs which reallocate competences whenever it is not needed anymore, resulting in reallocation of people from one project to another. 

The concept of Stable Teams requires us to find a method to allow the Stable Team to 'outlive' a project. However, projects should have a possiblity to efficiently utilize its budget, as certain competences are not required throughout the total duration of a project. The difference between the traditional method of allocating engineers temporarily to a project versus the way of working with Stable Teams has been described in an interview with Ali Hajou, published on 27 August 2024 (article readible in English and German).

Coaching Agile Hardware Teams

Marina: "In my session at Agile en Seine, I discussed strategies for coaching Agile within hardware teams, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the core principles of agility rather than immediately adopting specific practices. We explored the unique challenges hardware teams face when implementing Agile and highlighted the need to select practices that align with the nature of the product, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

Download my presentation slides underneath!"

Downloadable presentations

• On September 18th Marina Voropaeva presented her insights on coaching Agile Hardware Teams at Agile en Seine 2024 in Paris.
• On September 19th Ali Hajou presented his insights in the difficulties but also the necessity on investigating how Stable Teams can be beneficial to you. Presentation hosted at the SAFe Leadership Summit 2024 in Zurich.