At the beginning of the collaboration between Fraunhofer IESE and Bosch CC, the focus was on examining the potential and the practical application of various agile practices and methods in a regulated environment. This included the identification of a suitable level of agility via a potential analysis developed by IESE, frameworks for scaling agile methods and practices with regard to large, distributed development projects with teams working in parallel, as well as models for determining the agile maturity level of a project. Projects were coached accordingly during the testing and introduction of promising approaches.
In 2019, work started on knowledge transfer concepts for imparting classic engineering topics and adapting them to the world of agile development. For this purpose, the role model of an agile test manager was developed as an example and discussed with users. At the same time, knowledge transfer formats were collected and compared in order to identify suitable formats with which classic engineering topics can be communicated attractively and efficiently in an agile environment. In 2020 and 2021, knowledge transfer concepts for teaching about “Continuous Integration” were discussed and elaborated together with Bosch. The approach consists of simulation-based hand-on training, where participants learn in an environment that is as realistic as possible what to look out for in Continuous Integration in the context of embedded software engineering.
Since 2020, the project team has been looking at how the digital transformation directly affects engineering processes. First, the engineering process itself increasingly generates Big Data that needs to be accessible and usable (for example, in the context of developing automated driving functions). Here, approaches for data management as well as the lifecycle of data and the value of data were examined. Another aspect that has been worked on since 2021 is how data and analysis methods (e.g., Machine Learning) can be used to identify potential for improvement in the process and make workflows more efficient.
In an annual rhythm, new trends and topics are presented by IESE as part of the collaboration, and are jointly aligned with the current needs of Bosch CC. Subsequently, the work plan for the coming year is defined.