5x innovation impact

How to integrate Modular AND Agile?

For most innovators and developers, the Modular AND Agile benefits are not hard to understand. But how to go about it, and how to make improvements from the current maturity level?

In many instances, modularity and product architecture are viewed as a static engineering discipline separate from the dynamic discipline of agile development and releases. In addition, it is often people with different mindsets who sit in either camp. It is almost obvious that aligning delivery architecture with solution architecture will create synergies and reduce handover and disengagement waste.

Breaking development projects (i.e. solutions) into smaller units facilitates rapid development while the architectural overview makes it possible for everyone to understand how each component and each module contribute value to the entire product or portfolio.

But there is more …

Excessively complex modular frameworks can impede development rather than aid it. So, be aware of not building a new engineering bureaucracy or a slow decision hierarchy. Instead, focus on essential product features, extreme reuse of modules, scalability (considering scenarios of rapid growth), minimising dependencies and delegated decision power.

It is often an advantage to revolve a modular approach around customer needs and functionality rather than technical component types or material types. This ensures that teams remain end-to-end focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences and that they do not get lost in the technical weeds or inside-out thinking.

Clearly defined interface rules are essential for efficient communication between modules. Interface management enables effective integration and mitigates the risk of delays or unpleasant surprises further down the value chain.

Development teams should comprise members with diverse skill sets, including product owners, developers, commercial specialists and supply chain experts. A cross-functional commitment towards end-to-end customer targets serves as a strong driver of, well, customer impact.

The team and project setup should mirror the solution architecture with distinct boundaries between modules and a continuous focus on integration testing throughout the development cycle. For smaller products, it may not be feasible with module teams, but for larger products, make sure to limit sub- (module) teams to 5-6 cross-functional people.

Integration testing should be an ongoing process from the beginning, starting with defining test pass criteria and test design. Testing should cover technical and commercial assumptions with the same level of rigour and should happen in a “real-world” situation. This early testing allows for fast validation of design and business impact.

Recurrent demo session and integration events – part of the agile sprint cadence – provide a valuable platform for identifying issues related to module and total system performance. Demo sessions should not just show (module) solutions but also how solutions perform in usage scenarios. This iterative approach helps teams refine and enhance the product during the development phase based on real evidence rather than the internal opinion of leaders.

We hope you agree. It is not about implementing either product modularity or agile development to gain larger benefits – it is about integrating the two.

The difficulty of successfully integrating Modular AND Agile

Despite the widespread recognition among leaders of benefits and needed integration efforts, its successful implementation remains challenging for many organisations.

One reason is the lack of buy-in from all stakeholders in the organisation, ranging from executive leadership to individual team members. Without a shared understanding of the benefits and a commitment to embrace these principles, consistent implementation becomes difficult.

The complexity of modern products and systems poses another challenge. As products become increasingly interconnected and the number of modules and interfaces grows, maintaining a clear understanding of the overall system architecture and ensuring proper integration and testing becomes more difficult.

Organisational and cultural barriers also impede success. Siloed or hierarchical organisational structures hinder product thinking, cross-functional teams and fluid collaboration. If functional leaders are overly focused on their own targets and budgets without a business owner’s mindset, change will be hard. Additionally, teams and individuals may find it challenging to change routines and habits.

The job here is to truly understand what makes it challenging and address the  underlying problems.

Possible next steps to initiate – or repeat

No matter where you are on your Modular AND Agile journey, there is always a next step that is right for you. Below, we outline some steps you could consider discussing with your leadership team.

A. Develop a shared and profound understanding of the potential benefits. To ensure the success of this approach, it is crucial to secure buy-in from key stakeholders, creating awareness around the specific benefits of modularity and agile execution. Consider maturity assessments, analyses, cases, training and workshops. In addition, teams should be encouraged to share their experiences and learnings, strengthening the culture and mindset of continuous improvement. Make reuse and simplicity “cool”.

B. Implement a modular architecture framework or simplify the existing one. Mirror it with your organisational architecture. To ensure proper integration and testing, companies can establish a modular architecture framework that defines the rules and principles of module design and development. This framework should encompass guidelines for interface creation and continuous renewal, module boundaries and non-negotiable interface rules. By creating a common language and understanding of module integration, this framework minimises  the risk of integration problems.

C. Focus on customer journeys. Promote a culture of collaboration and align cross-functional teams towards shared customer objectives. Encourage teams to collaborate throughout the customer journey, assigning clear responsibilities and end-to-end accountability for customer impact.

D. Think about your potential improvement journey in a Modular AND Agile way. Break down the change challenge – like any other modular solution. What is the first small solution that will deliver end-to-end value – in a limited area?

E. Finally, be curious. Look at what is already out there. The world is big. Someone similar to you has “nailed it” somewhere. Look at all kinds of companies. But software companies may be more advanced when it comes to combining modules, i.e. object-oriented design, with agile/sprintbased releases. Look at physical product companies that operate like software companies. Look at Tesla.