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Agile on industrial automation

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Samer Aldemasi Technical Manger| SAM engineering and trade Co. Amman, Jordan
Hello all, can we implement the Agile ( scrum ) on industrial automation fields, such as developing SCADA and DCS system
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Samer -

Specific agile methodologies are usually aimed at a specific context but can always be adapted to fit a different one. Agility is not about following a set of practices blindly but picking those which will deliver the greatest value to our customers in a sustainable, efficient & quality-focused manner.

You could take the values & principles from the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and with very minor modifications make them applicable to any type of project.

The key is to profile the specific project's characteristics and the context surrounding it to confirm where it falls on the pure waterfall to pure agile continuum.

Kiron
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1 reply by Samer Aldemasi
Feb 14, 2018 4:18 AM
Samer Aldemasi
...
I agree with you, that agile can be customized to fit with any type of industry.
it is not required to use all of the methodologies.

the issue is, the people in this industry are against the change. I have a problem how to initiate it in my company.
what I am thinking is to start applying some principle without informing the client or even my team this is agile, I am sure they will have a panic attack if they realize I am trying to change!!. for example splitting the project to sprints holding sprint review with the client. I believe gaining customer collaboration is the key to success moving to agile. for sure I need to change the team's mindset to deliver the most value

thanks
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Riyadh Salih Saskatchewan, Canada
I agree with Kiron well stated but if you are using fibre optics and you should use it with SCADA system so I don't think there is any thing faster in the market right now even people have gone from hard wire on DCS to Ethernet cable or fibre optics, try to give us an example how would you tailor one of the 12 principles towards supervisory control and data acquisition.
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
I made it in 1998 but using DSDM as the method. I did not use Scrum.
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1 reply by Samer Aldemasi
Feb 14, 2018 4:48 AM
Samer Aldemasi
...
actually, I am newly started to research and learn agile.till now I focus my research on SCRUM. but I will have a look at DSDM.
normally on DCS or SCADA the scope is well defined, already we know the number of motors, valves ..etc or the system to be monitored and controlled. so can we consider this an obstacle to applying agile? because of this reason, i am not able to convince the top management to go agile.
but if we consider the value can be gained if we hold sprint review with the client, by inspecting the system on incremental manner not one time at the FAT test, then we can say it will be great to apply agile. many time the client told me during the FAT "I did not imagine, this will work like that, I know you already implement all the requirement as required, but this not what I want". here I realized that we need to change the way we are working.I don't know how to initiate it.
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Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Many try and fit the organization to suit Agile, but it's a two-way street. Agile can be customized to fit the particular setting.
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Fully agree with Kiron.
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Samer Aldemasi Technical Manger| SAM engineering and trade Co. Amman, Jordan
Feb 13, 2018 11:48 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Samer -

Specific agile methodologies are usually aimed at a specific context but can always be adapted to fit a different one. Agility is not about following a set of practices blindly but picking those which will deliver the greatest value to our customers in a sustainable, efficient & quality-focused manner.

You could take the values & principles from the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and with very minor modifications make them applicable to any type of project.

The key is to profile the specific project's characteristics and the context surrounding it to confirm where it falls on the pure waterfall to pure agile continuum.

Kiron
I agree with you, that agile can be customized to fit with any type of industry.
it is not required to use all of the methodologies.

the issue is, the people in this industry are against the change. I have a problem how to initiate it in my company.
what I am thinking is to start applying some principle without informing the client or even my team this is agile, I am sure they will have a panic attack if they realize I am trying to change!!. for example splitting the project to sprints holding sprint review with the client. I believe gaining customer collaboration is the key to success moving to agile. for sure I need to change the team's mindset to deliver the most value

thanks
avatar
Samer Aldemasi Technical Manger| SAM engineering and trade Co. Amman, Jordan
Feb 13, 2018 3:17 PM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
...
I made it in 1998 but using DSDM as the method. I did not use Scrum.
actually, I am newly started to research and learn agile.till now I focus my research on SCRUM. but I will have a look at DSDM.
normally on DCS or SCADA the scope is well defined, already we know the number of motors, valves ..etc or the system to be monitored and controlled. so can we consider this an obstacle to applying agile? because of this reason, i am not able to convince the top management to go agile.
but if we consider the value can be gained if we hold sprint review with the client, by inspecting the system on incremental manner not one time at the FAT test, then we can say it will be great to apply agile. many time the client told me during the FAT "I did not imagine, this will work like that, I know you already implement all the requirement as required, but this not what I want". here I realized that we need to change the way we are working.I don't know how to initiate it.
...
1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Feb 14, 2018 5:06 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
...
I was part of the group of authors of DSDM where I worked with Arie Van Bennekum. That was when DSDM was a free method to use, If you have the scope well defined then you can apply Agile faster. The problem is the misunderstanding outside there. When you apply Agile you gain into agility. Agility is the ability to react to unexpected changes into the enviornment without previous plan (Lean is planning for unexpected changes that is the differences with Agile) AND to create changes into the environment (that is the critical differences with Lean). You are talking about sprints. That is Scrum. Agile set of methods do not end into Scrum. You can apply Agile practices with any type of life cycle and with your own method. Key is to understand if your whole orgnization is ready. If not, you will fail. Agile by definition is "a way of thinking and behave with focus on client and quality to deliver value". So, the first thing to do, is fogetting the method and answering these critical questions: which is the definition of "client" for the organization/business? then you can search for the definition of "quality" and with that on hand you can search for the defintion of "value". Agile is a matter of strategy, no a matter of methods, process, software, IT.
avatar
Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Feb 14, 2018 4:48 AM
Replying to Samer Aldemasi
...
actually, I am newly started to research and learn agile.till now I focus my research on SCRUM. but I will have a look at DSDM.
normally on DCS or SCADA the scope is well defined, already we know the number of motors, valves ..etc or the system to be monitored and controlled. so can we consider this an obstacle to applying agile? because of this reason, i am not able to convince the top management to go agile.
but if we consider the value can be gained if we hold sprint review with the client, by inspecting the system on incremental manner not one time at the FAT test, then we can say it will be great to apply agile. many time the client told me during the FAT "I did not imagine, this will work like that, I know you already implement all the requirement as required, but this not what I want". here I realized that we need to change the way we are working.I don't know how to initiate it.
I was part of the group of authors of DSDM where I worked with Arie Van Bennekum. That was when DSDM was a free method to use, If you have the scope well defined then you can apply Agile faster. The problem is the misunderstanding outside there. When you apply Agile you gain into agility. Agility is the ability to react to unexpected changes into the enviornment without previous plan (Lean is planning for unexpected changes that is the differences with Agile) AND to create changes into the environment (that is the critical differences with Lean). You are talking about sprints. That is Scrum. Agile set of methods do not end into Scrum. You can apply Agile practices with any type of life cycle and with your own method. Key is to understand if your whole orgnization is ready. If not, you will fail. Agile by definition is "a way of thinking and behave with focus on client and quality to deliver value". So, the first thing to do, is fogetting the method and answering these critical questions: which is the definition of "client" for the organization/business? then you can search for the definition of "quality" and with that on hand you can search for the defintion of "value". Agile is a matter of strategy, no a matter of methods, process, software, IT.

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