Does the following sound all too familiar to you?

Delivery to the customer was delayed by 6 months—again.

Project costs exceeded the original budget by a factor of 2.5—again.

One out of every three customers is complaining about your product.

Wouldn’t it be nice if …

… Was your product ready for release before the delivery due date?

… will your development costs remain below the original plan?

… Do your customers only give positive feedback on your product?

Leverage the 3DSE System & Software Development Framework to

• Boost your development speed by up to 25%.
• reduce development costs by up to 20% and
• improve startup quality by up to 15%

for products that are increasingly software-centric.

With the “software-defined” revolution in full swing, there are several changes and challenges to be addressed. Established development organizations with a proven track record in hardware-focused products, in particular, now face the question of how to successfully transition to software-intensive solutions.

Create customer value with speed, high quality, and compliant software-intensive systems through 12 actionable key capabilities from the 3DSE System & Software Development Framework

Customer Focus

1. Put the customer first and at the center

A detailed understanding of the needs and requirements of one’s customer base is crucial for aligning all activities to create value that sets the product apart for the target customer. Using customer persona models can help identify the values perceived by customers. In particular, comparing usability with other software-centric products that customers use in their daily lives and understanding their application workflow helps to focus on the customer’s perspective.

Strategic Boundaries

2. Strategically manage the solution portfolio

Clarity regarding the product solutions offered enables alignment with the broader organization on what sets us apart in the market. The focus is on ensuring the right mix—ideally with modular scalability—and clear differentiation for each product segment and target market. The product portfolio is based on an understanding of market trends, takes into account relevant technology roadmaps—including trends in hardware versus software implementation—and is actively managed. A clear vision, mission, and derived goals form the foundation for the strategically managed solution portfolio.

3. Build digital cross-functional continuity and manage data

The IT tool landscape is designed to ensure transparency and continuity. Relevant data is easily accessible and straightforward to interpret, supporting data-driven development. This includes typical electronic data points as well as mechanical force field information.

4. Partner strategically

Each party’s strengths and weaknesses are identified to facilitate the selection of a suitable and complementary partner. The partnership is built on trust, mutual understanding, and shared goals, enabling the parties to work closely together toward mutual success in a long-term collaboration. When considering partnerships between companies that are primarily hardware-centric and those that are more software-focused, a common language is essential to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

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Development Core

5. Manage system and software requirements and track compliance

Ensuring traceability of customer needs through derived technical requirements all the way to implementation, in any combination of hardware and software. This is achieved through an end-to-end consistent and unambiguous requirements structure, which assigns requirements to their respective layers after decomposition and defines clear ownership. It is important here to also consider possible implementation options in hardware and software, as well as their interaction, in order to fulfill the requirements.

6. Design, manage, and communicate integrated system and software architecture

Create an architecture that aligns with the product strategy, maps end-to-end requirements, and enables decoupling for implementation options through hardware and software, as well as reuse through modularization. Together with the transparency regarding dependencies and interworking achieved through functional chain models, the architecture also serves as a tool for communication and alignment across the various development domains involved. Software expertise, combined with an understanding of technology trends and a customer-centric approach, results in a sound overall system architecture.

7. Synchronize hardware and software, enable continuous integration, and manage maturity

Align the overall test strategy with the original customer requirements, utilizing various levels of integration to achieve continuous integration and a clear path to compliance for verification. Synchronizing and mapping hardware and software availability is another milestone toward shorter release cycles, continuous releasability, and test automation. Classic “plan-driven” approaches—primarily for hardware-dominant and security-related aspects—and iterative “Agile” software development principles complement each other to provide a comprehensive view of the solution.

8. Control configurations, variants, versions, and changes

Make informed decisions about each variant and software branch, keeping in mind the resulting implications, such as lifecycle efforts for maintenance and the impact on user compatibility. Managing variants and versions using integrated configuration and change processes, as well as state-of-the-art tools, will also ensure compliance with relevant standards and regulations and support continuous integration and releasability. Clearly communicated software branching strategies and synchronized “multi-speed” development help minimize unmanaged variants and enable a rapid response to market developments and needs.

Enabler

9. Use building standards and end-to-end processes to ensure system and software quality

Implement easy-to-use end-to-end processes for cross-departmental, agreed-upon approaches. Ensure their compliance with required standards and regulations. Utilize industry best practices, standardized modules and components, as well as software libraries, combined with a well-defined software repository strategy that takes into account access speed, regulatory requirements, and data integrity and security. For example, ASPICE can serve as a tool to guide the development of end-to-end integrated system and software solutions and the implementation of sustainable, user-centric processes.

10. Apply model-driven development to systems and software

Create opportunities to test software-intensive systems in a modular and early manner using simulation environments, thereby identifying and resolving issues early on. Maintain and continuously improve the simulation models to best reflect real-world scenarios, thereby enhancing both model and module quality.

11. Organize according to architecture and agile, interdisciplinary workflows

Adapt and establish organizational structures that best support the development process for software-intensive systems in complex ecosystems, with empowered cross-functional teams. The solution portfolio also benefits from this approach through the valuable feedback and insights gathered, which take various perspectives into account.

12. Apply systems thinking and lead in an integrative manner

Caring and adaptive leadership creates opportunities for individual personal development and highly motivated teams. Understanding the overall goal and the big picture fosters awareness of and identification with the company and the solutions it offers among all employees. This is further strengthened by providing opportunities to gain a systemic view from different perspectives and by implementing an incentive system designed to achieve the global optimum.

Take the next step toward your software-defined success and get in touch with us!

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