How Agile Methods Contribute to Our Work on the Test Track
Nicole Kubinski is an agile coach and has been part of Porsche IT since 2017. For her past project, she traded from the office for the test track and started a collaboration with an agile team working on highly automated driver assistance systems. Find out more about how agile working methods help us to improve our vehicles — and to carry the unique Porsche feeling into the future.
I do love huge walls plastered with post-its — yet agile methods also work on test tracks and in environments, you may not expect them at first. Somehow, there still is a widespread belief that agile work only succeeds in IT departments. After one year of working as an Agile Coach in Porsche IT, I decided to take a step beyond my horizon and join a team outside the IT department to prove that this thesis is wrong.
After all, it is not only in IT but also in the field of car development that we as an organization are evolving towards the digital workplace. This is why I joined a team in the car development department as an agile coach, supporting them in their agile journey. Here’s the story:
Driver assistance systems require a new way of testing
Driver assistance systems reduce fuel consumption, have a positive effect on CO2 emissions, actively contribute to the prevention of traffic accidents, and are one of the most important drivers of comfort and safety in vehicles. The development of those systems requires new types of testing, the focus is shifting from endurance testing based on a component load spectrum to functional testing based on a wide variety of situations.
Iterative sprint cycles helped the team to adapt our products fast
One challenge in the department was to define the necessary criteria and requirements for the release of the function from the customer’s point of view — and based on legal requirements. From those goals, we derive the necessary test contents across all series. The higher the variety of situations, the more use cases for potential driving tests can be developed and evaluated with factors like driving style recognition, traffic jam scenarios, or functional testing of a new feature we are working on.
It was very inspiring to support the development teams in their work environment as an agile coach. Here is how the iterative procedure model worked for us: After an iterative sprint cycle, the team came together and looked at the results, celebrated successes, drew conclusions — and started over again. In short time intervals, we tested whether our solution does what the customer needs it to do.
In complex development processes, it is crucial to promote communication flows within the team
Reviews are particularly exciting in this department because you get to watch videos from our cars on the test tracks, seeing how engineers implemented applications and how they test criteria for driving feel, steering, and the like — simply exciting to watch and very inspiring. Those colleagues are working hard out there to give our customers cutting-edge technology without losing that unique Porsche-feeling on the road.
After a few iterations, we compile the data and get to a point where we had a product that goes into production. For my work as an agile coach, it was important to continue to promote communication flows within the teams’ chains of operation, which are crucial in a complex vehicle development process. The Scrum of Scrum approach, which involves all the important key players in the areas of lateral steering and driver assistance systems within the development cycles in order to react promptly to possible changes, was also a great help here.
Why I am optimistic about our transformation
The high level of motivation and commitment by the team, as well as the positive spirit, has provided me personally with the answer to how we as Porsche have managed for decades to build wonderful products and inspire our customers. I am excited and proud to help contribute to that with agile methods!
If you want to learn more about our agile philosophy at Porsche, I recommend you to read the article of my colleague Anna Roizman.
Nicole Kubinski works as Agile Coach at Porsche AG
About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we’re tackling new challenges, developing digital products and thinking digital with a focus on the customer. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It’s about our #nextvisions, smart technologies and the people that drive our digital journey. Please follow us on Twitter (Porsche Digital, Next Visions), Instagram (Porsche Digital, Next Visions, Porsche Newsroom) and LinkedIn (Porsche AG, Porsche Digital) for more.
