Steinbeis experts share methods and processes for developing digital product and business model innovations with an SME
Development teams play a vital role in the digital age. They are expected to solve complex problems with vague and rapidly changing requirements in order to develop products with high innovation potential, since these are key to a company’s success. The adoption of agile methods in the way companies think and act supports an iterative, incremental, customer-centric approach by enabling greater transparency and flexibility in their operation system. To ensure that these methods add value for development teams, it is important to adapt them to their individual needs, circumstances and objectives. The Agile Systems Design (ASD) approach focuses on exactly these requirements in the planning and rollout of agile development processes. The deployment of agile process elements in the early development stages of innovation projects and the accompanying creation of agile development teams call for process-oriented support. This is provided by the ASD-Innovation Coaching framework developed as part of a cooperative doctorate at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. Patrick Brecht, a PhD student at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, explained the principles of the ASD-Innovation Coaching framework to a team from SME Bürkert Fluid Control Systems at a series of workshops run by the Steinbeis Transfer Center Innovation Engineering & Entrepreneurship // i2e.
Bürkert is a family-owned company headquartered in Ingelfingen. The business revolves around precision measuring, control and regulating systems for fluids and gases in industrial applications. This global enterprise specializes in the development, production and sale of fluid technology components and systems. The aim of the project with Steinbeis was to demonstrate different innovation methods in order to drive the development of digital product and business model innovations based on Bürkert’s core competencies. The workshops were held at the company’s Bürkert Innovation Center in Karlsruhe, which employs around 40 people. They covered the following four themes:
- development of digital business models and services,
- product development methods and processes,
- agile techniques and creativity methods, and
- interactive application of agile project management with lego4scrum.
The workshops’ aim was to enable the participants to independently apply the methods they learned to the development of innovations.
The ASD-Innovation Coaching framework
Agile Systems Design (ASD) is an approach to the planning and implementation of agile development processes. The ASD-Innovation Coaching framework is based on this approach. It puts people at the center of product development and enables them to achieve an appropriate degree of agility in their working methods. It helps development teams solve complex problems and incorporate agile practices that add genuine value into the team’s working methods, individually adapting them to their specific needs, circumstances and objectives.
ASD-Innovation Coaching activities and responsibilities (Source: Niever 2023)
According to Patrick Brecht, who ran the workshops with the team from Bürkert, “Scientific evidence from empirical studies shows that coaching activities can support development teams during the early product development stages.” The studies found that these activities strengthened problem-solving skills, fostered successful cooperation and ensured that agile methods were used appropriately for different situations and requirements. “The ASD-Innovation Coaching framework has three main components. The first is a comprehensive definition of ASD-Innovation Coaching and its concrete activities and responsibilities. The second is a training plan for teaching the appropriate skill set. And the third is a process model to facilitate the appropriate use of ASD-Innovation Coaching for different situations and requirements”, adds Dr.-Ing. Manuel Niever, who developed the framework as part of his PhD. With this approach, development teams’ effectiveness and creativity are both improved at the same time.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Carsten H. Hahn (author)
Steinbeis Entrepreneur, Splitting Professor of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and ERP at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Head of IDEV – Institute of Digital Economy and Venturing, Senior Director at SAP.
Steinbeis Transfer Center Innovation Engineering & Entrepreneurship // i2e (Karlsruhe)
Dr.-Ing. Manuel Niever (author)
Head of Digital Transformation
esentri AG (Ettlingen)
Patrick Brecht (author)
Group leader [x]Lab das Gründungsnetzwerk, Deputy Head of IDEV – Institute of Digital Economy and Venturing, studying for a PhD in Digital Business Models
Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences
Daniel Schmidt (author)
Project Manager Bürkert Fluid Control Systems
Christian Bürkert GmbH & Co. KG (Ingelfingen)
Josua Printz (author)
Corporate Development Bürkert Fluid Control Systems
Christian Bürkert GmbH & Co. KG (Ingelfingen)