Throughout history, philosophy has given us smart ways to deal with life’s challenges. Surprisingly, many ideas from different books can be distilled down to four simple principles. If we use them properly, they can help us meet any challenge – whether it’s in our personal lives or at work.

Principle 1. Teamwork

When we first hear about such ideas as:

• Doing the Right Thing,
• Effectiveness,
• Cover & Move,
• People Over Rules,
• Quality,
• Self-Trust & Trust,
• Belonging & Love,

they might seem like they come from totally different areas—like school, the military, business, or psychology. But if we look closer, they all share one big idea: people matter most. Instead of treating people like small parts of a big machine, these ideas remind us that human values should be at the heart of everything we do.

What Are These Human Values?

The most important values in life are Life, Liberty, and Property. If what I do makes me healthier, freer, and richer, then I know I’m doing the right thing.

• Self-Trust & Trust → If I always do what’s right, even when no one’s watching, I can trust myself – and others will trust me, too.
• Cover & Move → When I inspire my family, friends, or teammates to do the right thing (which means helping them become healthier, freer, and wealthier), we grow stronger together.
• People Over Rules → A team built on trust and a shared goal doesn’t need a bunch of rules or fancy tools to succeed. People naturally work well together when they are working toward the right thing.
• Belonging and Love → When we work toward the right thing and trust each other, we feel like we belong. That’s what creates real connection and love.

Principle 2. Urgency

All the ideas below:

• Doing things right
• Discipline 
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) 
• Simplicity
• Efficiency
• Working Product over Comprehensive Documentation
• Respect & self-esteem 

converge on the idea of urgency – this is the second principle. You need to follow a clear, organized plan every day. And when you make your work simple (not easy), you make fewer mistakes and finish tasks faster. This way, you free up more time — kind of like having more freedom, just as the second idea of “Life, Liberty, and Property”.

Principle 3. Excellence

All these ideas:

• Independence 
• Innovation & creativity
• Prioritize and execute
• Responding to change over following a plan
• Self-fulfillment

help a team become really, really good at what they do. They show us how to be brave, try new things, and keep getting better.

How a Leader Helps the Team

A leader is like a coach who sets a very high goal for the team and helps everyone work together to reach it. Here’s how a leader makes a difference:

• Set a High Bar → The leader shows the team what the best can look like, just as a coach shows a winning play. The team must work hard to reach this goal, because the other teams (or problems) may be really strong, too.
• Watch for Weaknesses → A leader pays close attention to any problems or weaknesses in the team. This is important because if these weaknesses aren’t fixed, they can be used against the team by competitors.
• Encourage Big, Bold Moves → Sometimes the team needs to try something new or risky to get better, like taking a giant leap into the unknown. This can be scary because there’s a chance it won’t work, but it’s the only way to grow a lot.
• Make the Team the Best → By constantly improving, trying new ideas, and being flexible when plans change, the team becomes the best. When a team is strong and independent, people want to work with them, and success follows.

Principle 4. Watchfulness

All these ideas:

• Look at the problem from a different angle
• Decentralized command 
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Lean startup 
• Risk mitigation

show us that being vigilant, questioning, and thinking ahead is the best way to deal with problems.

Here’s what they show us:

• Think Differently → By looking at problems from new angles, we can discover smart solutions.
• Share Decision-Making → Letting people who are close to the work decide helps everyone move quickly.
• Have a Decisive Leader → Even when many can decide, someone needs to make the final call to keep the team on course.
• Work with Customers → When we listen and work closely with those we serve, our solutions really hit the mark.
• Test and Learn Fast → Trying out ideas quickly and adjusting them helps us improve without wasting time.
• Plan for Problems → By thinking ahead and reducing risk, we keep our team safe and ready for any challenge.

These four principles form the basis of a Kanban tool that we will develop. It will help us lead teams, achieve mastery, create innovation, and make decisions to ensure success in various areas of life.

GERMANENGINEER.COM prioritizes the first rule of Kanban, “Never Pass on Defective Products,” to help automakers and equipment manufacturers build and assemble the manufacturing equipment used in electric vehicle (EV) production. By implementing rigorous quality control measures during design, assembly and commissioning stages, it ensure that automakers receive reliable and efficient manufacturing equipment.

1. Rigorous Quality Control Measures

GERMANENGINEER.COM incorporates comprehensive quality control at every stage of the equipment manufacturing process. This includes:

• Regular inspections: Conducting thorough inspections at key stages of equipment manufacturing to detect and correct defects early.
• Statistical Process Control: Implementing Six Sigma methodologies to monitor and control manufacturing processes to reduce variability and defects.

2. Preventive Measures

To prevent defects before they occur, GERMANENGINEER.COM employs proactive strategies such as:

• Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA): Identifying potential failure points and implementing corrective actions to mitigate risk.

3. Employee Training and Development

GERMANENGINEER.COM provides continuous training and development of equipment manufacturers’ employees to foster a culture of quality. Our training programs focus on:

• Skill enhancement: Providing employees with the latest knowledge and techniques in quality control and defect prevention.
• Problem Solving: Promoting a proactive approach to identifying and resolving potential quality problems.

4. Collaboration with Customers

GERMANENGINEER.COM works closely with automakers and equipment manufacturers to understand their specific quality requirements and tailor manufacturing processes accordingly. This collaboration ensures that the equipment produced meets the highest standards and contributes to the overall success of the EV manufacturing project.

In the context of agile projects, such as the design and implementation of EV assembly-line technologies, where the pace of innovation and change requires rapid adaptation and close collaboration, it is important to rethink the role and structure of teams.

The creation of agile project teams becomes a primary requirement. These teams must not only have technical skills. They must also be capable of agile collaboration and real-time problem solving. It is this team dynamic that allows them to maximize every opportunity for innovation while effectively responding to any changes in project or market requirements.

GERMANENGINEER.COM offers the following practical strategies for building and managing agile teams that can overcome typical challenges and deliver outstanding results.

1. Small Teams

To facilitate effective communication among team members, it’s important to keep the team size manageable. As the number of team members grows, the number of interactions increases exponentially. These complex interactions often require structured processes such as meetings and workshops. An overly large team can lead to a higher risk of communication breakdowns because individuals may not have enough time to engage with all of their colleagues as needed. For this reason, some agile frameworks explicitly state the optimal team size. For example, Scrum suggests building teams of 7 +/- 2 members.

If the scope of the work requires more people than the optimal small team size, GERMANENGINEER.COM provides methods for dividing the work among multiple teams, such as Feature or Component Teams, Scrum of Scrums, LeSS, or SAFe.

2. Cross-functional Teams

In agile projects, cross-functional teams play a critical role in driving collaboration and innovation by bringing together diverse expertise from multiple disciplines. For example, to ensure the success of EV manufacturing projects, it is critical to assemble a team that integrates design, engineering, manufacturing, and automation expertise from the outset. By working together from the beginning, designers and engineers can ensure a seamless transition from product design to manufacturing, increasing the overall efficiency and success of the project. Early involvement of all relevant specialists also helps to avoid costly design errors, rework and project delays. An interdisciplinary approach also reduces reliance on external partners who often work at different speeds and disrupt team dynamics. In addition, cross-functional teams promote continuous professional development by allowing team members to share experiences and learn from each other.

GERMANENGINEER.COM excels at identifying the necessary expertise and building effective cross-functional teams, leveraging its extensive experience in manufacturing projects.

3. Under One Roof

Effective team collaboration and communication should be simple, clear, and concise. In this respect, modern communication tools such as messaging apps and video conferencing still have limitations compared to face-to-face communication. As a result, team members have to travel for face-to-face meetings, which is time-consuming.

To maximize the efficiency of collaboration, GERMANENGINEER.COM facilitates project teams to always work in the same physical location. This allows for immediate, spontaneous communication and the natural flow of ideas that is often more limited in virtual environments. Face-to-face interactions also foster a stronger sense of community and teamwork, increasing trust and understanding among team members. A great example of this approach is Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas, where all employees, blue collar and white collar, work under one roof, fostering effective team communication and collaboration.

By prioritizing the working product, the second value of Agile inherently encourages increasing the functionality and usability of the product – its continuous improvement. For teams working on electric vehicle projects, improvement is not an option, but a necessity. An electric car must improve in many areas, such as range, charging time, reliability, and price. To achieve this, key components such as batteries and electric motors must be continuously improved in both design and production.

To foster creativity and successful implementation of innovative ideas in project teams, GERMANENGINEER.COM implements the following practical strategies:

1. Simplicity

This strategy encourages the project team to minimize the amount of work (including non-value-added work) and its complexity. Simple tasks can be automated to get the job done better and faster.

GERMANENGINEER.COM focuses on explaining why the team should strive for simplicity and what benefits or rewards the team can expect if they succeed. The idea is not to get more work done in less time, but to use the extra time for self-improvement. This unleashes the team’s creativity, and people begin to optimize the processes around them, creating innovative assembly line technologies, modern workplaces, and high-quality factory jobs.

2. High Bar

A high bar is necessary to ensure that you cannot simply copy your old solution. It also prohibits you from digging through documentation to find solutions that have already been done by others. Elon Musk’s directive for Tesla to produce 20 million cars per year – as many as Toyota and VW combined – is a great example of inspiring Tesla’s teams to innovate in the style of the second value of the Agile Manifesto. By setting the bar so high, Tesla engineers are encouraged to experiment and develop truly innovative approaches to design and manufacturing.

GERMANENGINEER.COM constantly raises the bar to keep project teams thinking about improvement rather than getting bogged down in routine work.

To implement the third Agile value “Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation”, project managers today use the Lean Startup approach, based on Eric Ries’ book of the same name.¹

“Rather than building something alone in a dark basement, the goal is to get a product into customers’ hands as quickly as possible to understand their needs through tangible experience and iterate your product to meet these needs.

For Tesla, following this approach meant shortening development cycles, forgoing trial production runs and diving straight into full-scale production. That is, full-scale production of a cutting edge product at the edge of feasibility, at volumes 100X higher than they had experienced, using a new and untested production approach. Unfortunately, they don’t call it hardware for nothing… the same rules do not apply.”²

The Lean Startup approach needs to be refined in the context of “hardware” projects.

Practical Agile Principle #3: Apply the Lean Startup approach to EV “hardware” manufacturing projects, shifting the focus from rapid and continuous product delivery to early and continuous risk mitigation.

Early and continuous risk identification and reduction creates the same customer value (customer satisfaction) as rapid and continuous software delivery. It prevents risks and uncertainties from escalating into more serious problems later in the project, thereby increasing the chances of overall project success.

Risks associated with innovation are often among the most important and dangerous risks in projects for several reasons:

• Unpredictability and uncertainty: Innovation, by definition, involves new ideas, technologies, or approaches that have not been tested or widely applied. This creates a high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability.
• High project impact: Failure in the innovation part of the project can have a significant impact on the entire project, including delays, budget increases, and even complete project cancellation.
• Technical complexity: Innovation projects often involve complex technical solutions and require a high level of expertise, which increases the risk of technical problems.
• Financial risks: Innovation work often requires significant investment and failure can result in significant financial loss.

To mitigate the risks associated with innovation, it is important to identify and prioritize individual risks by assessing their probability and impact. This principle is closely aligned with the well-known principle of “prioritize and execute” – identify the most important thing and execute it first. For EV manufacturing projects, this means find the biggest risk in the design, development, procurement, manufacturing, assembly, delivery, installation, acceptance, operation, and maintenance of the EV manufacturing equipment and fix it first. The earlier and more continuously the biggest risks are identified and mitigated, the faster the project progresses, resulting in earlier and more profitable completion.

It is also important to conduct early and frequent risk reviews. A risk review serves as a checkpoint where innovation progress and remaining risks are analyzed, and decisions are made to adjust the project based on the results of the analysis. If the innovation process is successfully validated at this point without significant risks, the project continues to develop and improve the product in the planned direction. If critical risks or failure to meet expectations are identified, the innovation can be pivoted, and the project changes direction.

The more often innovation risks are reviewed, the faster adjustments can be made to the project. For example, Elon Musk at Tesla sets very short intervals between reviewing prototypes of new cars. If the creative efforts of the designers and engineers don’t meet his expectations as a customer, the work doesn’t continue. These regular reviews minimize unnecessary work and demonstrate how to effectively manage innovation processes and get timely feedback. Involving customers in risk reviews ensures continuous collaboration with customers and regular adaptation of the product to changing market needs. It also improves the overall quality and acceptance of the final product and strengthens customer relationships.

Risk identification and review activities create a visual plan that serves as a project roadmap. Each event provides a starting or ending point for innovative and creative processes, facilitating effective management and development of new ideas.

GERMANENGINEER.COM plans and conducts risk identification and review events for EV manufacturing projects, such as:

1. Design Review: Expert analysis of new manufacturing technologies for feasibility, applicability, and effectiveness.
2. Prototype Review: Testing a prototype of production equipment to validate the concept, identify potential flaws, gather customer feedback, refine the design, and create manufacturing specifications.
3. Manufacturing Capability Assessment: Assessing the risks associated with in-house technological capabilities and manufacturing capacity. Includes a cost-benefit analysis.
4. Supplier Capability Assessment: Assess risks associated with component supply, including raw material availability, supplier evaluation and selection.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lean_Startup retrieved 06/11/2024. ︎
2. How Tesla Used Robotics to Survive “Production Hell” and Became the World’s Most Advanced Car Manufacturer retrieved 06/11/2024. ︎

In innovative projects, such as EV manufacturing projects, the fourth value of the Agile Manifesto, “Responding to Change over Following a Plan,” emphasizes the balance between innovative creativity and project constraints. It recognizes that while innovation is desirable for its potential rewards, it must not jeopardize project schedule, cost, or other constraints. When innovation becomes a liability rather than an asset, the project should pivot to a simpler and more viable approach. Determining when innovation is no longer feasible within project constraints is a critical aspect of project management, especially in an agile context.

Innovation is often pursued to enhance effectiveness. The goal is to do the right things – whether that means developing new products, services, or methods that better meet customer needs, outperform competitors, or address new markets. However, innovation inherently comes with risks and uncertainties. Sometimes, innovative methods may not yield the desired outcomes or may prove to be less effective than anticipated. When an organization realizes that an innovative process isn’t yielding the expected benefits – perhaps it’s too costly, complex, or simply not delivering the desired results – it must revert to or adopt SOPs.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) represent established, tried-and-tested ways of doing things. Developed and refined over time, these SOPs serve as a reliable fallback when innovation stalls. They are about efficiency – doing things right. SOPs streamline processes, reduce errors, and ensure consistency in quality. They may not be as cutting-edge as innovative methods, but they offer reliability and predictability, which are crucial for operational stability, cost control, and ensuring progress toward project milestones. Switching from non-viable innovative processes to SOPs is an exercise in balancing efficiency and effectiveness. It’s about recognizing what works best for the organization’s goals and adapting accordingly.

Practical Agile Principle #4: Pivot to a simpler approach.

If an innovation doesn’t work, a project should pivot to a simpler approach. This means choosing a standard design or established technology over an untested new one. It also means standard operating procedures (SOPs) that help engineers and technicians implement standard designs and established technologies quickly and efficiently. The goal is to ensure that a project is not delayed because an innovative solution failed. This principle corresponds to the well-known principle of “decentralized command”; someone should make the call, i.e. tell the project team when to return to the standard approach. It could be someone on the project team or the project manager, but the key is to have people on the project team who have the courage to say so.

This shift from a creative approach to simpler, proven methods reflects strategic flexibility and pragmatic decision-making. Organizations must be willing to experiment with new ideas but also disciplined enough to recognize when an innovation is not performing as expected. The ability to pivot back demonstrates a commitment to operational excellence and a focus on long-term sustainability over short-term gains. Ideally, this shift is not seen as a failure of innovation but as part of a continuous improvement process. Organizations can learn from the unsuccessful innovative attempts, applying these lessons to future projects or even to enhance their SOPs.

GERMANENGINEER.COM provides a framework for identifying the tipping point at which continuing an innovative approach may outweigh its benefits at the expense of increased time or cost. The expertise provided is based on many completed innovative manufacturing projects and helps project stakeholders (both contractors and customers) make informed decisions that balance the need for innovation with the practical constraints of schedule, budget, and resource availability.

Here are some examples of changes during a manufacturing project that illustrate the need to move from a creative approach to simpler, proven methods:

• Risks associated with the innovation (e.g. technological uncertainty, market unpredictability) do not decrease.
• The project consumes significantly more resources (time, budget, people) than planned without making adequate progress.
• The innovative aspects are not aligned with user needs or expectations, or diverge from the core objectives of the project, based on feedback from customers, team members, and sponsors.
• Innovation is significantly behind or fails to meet an industry benchmark.
• Costs (including opportunity costs) are significantly higher than the expected benefits.
• The project team is consistently faced with challenges beyond their skill level, or morale is low due to the complexity or uncertainty of the innovative aspects.

Projects that create new electric vehicle (EV) assembly-line technologies are inherently agile, necessitated by the evolving nature of the subject. The specifications of EVs, including their batteries and electric motors, change frequently. This is primarily driven by advances in technology, which in turn change manufacturing processes. In addition, EV manufacturing is affected by fluctuating demand and availability of key components such as rare earth metals, copper and semiconductors. All these factors can disrupt production schedules and increase costs, forcing manufacturers to quickly adapt their projects to these dynamic conditions. Traditional approaches do not work here – agile projects inherently require an agile approach.

Agile, a subset of Lean Project Management, has proven most effective in dealing with the complexities and delays and is well suited to solving the challenges associated with today’s EV manufacturing projects. Its flexible and iterative approach effectively addresses the dynamic and complex nature of EV manufacturing, resulting in improved project outcomes and faster time to market.

Agile is also a catalyst for innovation, unleashing the creativity of project teams to develop new innovative assembly-line technologies, create high-quality factory jobs, and make other improvements to maximize the economics of EV manufacturing. The sheer volume of innovation in IT is a testament to the power of Agile. The IT industry is using Agile to create huge innovations such as social media, mobile apps, and various service-oriented platforms such as Amazon, Uber, Spotify, and Airbnb. Agile is also playing an important role in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. Examples from companies such as Tesla and SpaceX show that Agile can be successfully adapted to manufacturing. These companies, led by Elon Musk, have brought Agile values from the world of software development to the design and manufacture of electric vehicles and spacecraft.¹

The following four sections detail how each of the four Agile values – individuals and interactions over process and tools, working product over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan – can be adapted and implemented in EV manufacturing projects. Each Agile value is the basis for a practical principle that can be applied to improve the efficiency and innovation of manufacturing projects. In this way, GERMANENGINEER.COM provides practical guidance to help automakers and manufacturing equipment suppliers manage agile projects.

1. Individuals and Interactions over Process and Tools

The first Agile value is “Individuals and Interactions over Process and Tools” or, in other words, “Teamwork”. The authors of the Agile Manifesto believe that the collaboration of motivated and competent professionals is more likely to achieve project goals and team interests than isolated individuals following strict rules. The first Agile value does not deny rules but emphasizes the importance of their flexibility and adaptability. This approach contrasts with bureaucratic systems, which often adhere rigidly to form at the expense of project needs and team dynamics.

In the context of agile projects, such as the design and implementation of EV assembly-line technologies, where the pace of innovation and change requires rapid adaptation and close collaboration, it is important to rethink the role and structure of teams.

The creation of agile project teams becomes a primary requirement. These teams must not only have technical skills. They must also be capable of agile collaboration and real-time problem solving. It is this team dynamic that allows them to maximize every opportunity for innovation while effectively responding to any changes in project or market requirements.

The first practical agile principle emphasizes strategies for building and managing agile teams that can overcome typical challenges and deliver outstanding results:

Practical Agile Principle #1: Small, Cross-functional Teams Working Under One Roof

• Small teams improve communication efficiency because the number of interactions increases exponentially in large teams, making it difficult to find time to interact with all project partners.
• Cross-functional teams foster collaboration and innovation by bringing together diverse expertise from the outset. This reduces costly design errors and ensures project success.
• Working under one roof benefits the project team by maximizing the impact of face-to-face interaction, which remains superior to modern communication tools. This direct interaction promotes instant communication and enhances teamwork.

GERMANENGINEER.COM uses these practical strategies to build and manage agile project teams for EV manufacturing projects. Teams built on this practical principle are very strong. Their strength is that they can continuously improve themselves, speed up their work processes and free up time for creativity. Ultimately, this creativity can be channeled to improve manufacturing processes, develop new innovative EV assembly line technologies, create high-quality factory jobs, and make other advances to maximize the economics of EV manufacturing.

Creating such agile project teams will also address the talent shortage for EV manufacturing projects. By building teams of young professionals and continuously improving their discipline and skills, GERMANENGINEER.COM is helping to ensure that current and future EV projects are supported by well-prepared project teams.

For a detailed discussion of building and managing agile teams, see the post Practical Agile Principle #1.

2. Working Product over Comprehensive Documentation

The second Agile value is “Working Product² over Comprehensive Documentation”. The authors of the Agile Manifesto value a working product as more useful and valuable to the customer than extensive documentation detailing what the product should do. This doesn’t mean that Agile neglects documentation. It advocates documentation that is balanced and not at the expense of the product’s functionality. In traditional project management, much of the project team’s effort would be focused on producing thorough documentation. This would include requirements documentation, technical specifications, design documents, test plans, and more. While documentation is important, it often led to situations where the project got bogged down in paperwork and the actual work was delayed or lost in the translation between what was documented and what was needed.

By prioritizing the working product, the second value of Agile inherently encourages increasing the functionality and usability of the product – its continuous improvement. For teams working on EV projects, improvement is not an option, but a necessity. An electric car must improve in many areas, such as range, charging time, reliability, and price. To achieve this, key components such as batteries and electric motors must be continuously improved in both design and production.

The second practical agile principle emphasizes strategies for creating an environment that fosters creativity and the successful implementation of innovative ideas:

Practical Agile Principle #2: Simplicity and High Bar

• Simplifying tasks makes them easier to automate, improving both speed and quality. This, along with the elimination of unnecessary work, gives the team more time to focus on self-improvement and creativity.
• Setting high goals inspires teams to innovate and continuously improve, discouraging reliance on legacy solutions and encouraging breakthrough innovation.

GERMANENGINEER.COM implements these practical strategies in EV manufacturing projects. To learn more about these strategies, read Practical Agile Principle #2.

To summarize the above, the proposed practical agile principles will create EV manufacturing project teams and provide them with the right conditions for continuous improvement. By unleashing their creative resources, the teams will begin to optimize the processes around them, creating innovative assembly-line technologies, modern workplaces, and high-quality factory jobs.

3. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

The third Agile value is “Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation”. Despite our best efforts, we cannot predict the future or read our customers’ minds. The customer, like anyone else, can change their mind about a product or its quality, regardless of the original plan or the terms of the contract. Especially in today’s rapidly changing world of technology, which includes electric vehicles, market needs and user expectations can change rapidly. What seemed important at the beginning of a project may become obsolete by the time the project is completed. In addition, customers may not fully understand their needs at the beginning of a project or may discover new needs as the project evolves. This underscores why collaboration with customers is more important than strict contract terms.

To implement this core value of Agile, project managers today use the Lean Startup approach, based on Eric Ries’ book of the same name.³ Instead of building something alone in a dark basement, the goal is to get a product into the hands of customers as quickly as possible, understand their needs through tangible experience, and iterate the product to meet those needs.

However, the Lean Startup approach needs to be refined in the context of “hardware” projects by shifting the focus from rapid and continuous product delivery to early and continuous risk mitigation. Early and continuous risk identification and mitigation creates the same customer value (customer satisfaction) as rapid and continuous product delivery. It prevents risks and uncertainties from escalating into more serious problems later in the project, thereby increasing the chances of overall project success.

Practical Agile Principle #3: Early and Continuous Risk Mitigation.

• To achieve continuous risk reduction, it is critical to identify and prioritize all risks associated with the design, development, procurement, manufacturing, assembly, delivery, installation, acceptance, operation, and maintenance of the EV manufacturing equipment.
• Conducting early and frequent risk reviews is essential. These reviews analyze innovation progress and risks, and guide project adjustments. If the project is validated with minimal risks, it will proceed as planned. However, the project must be pivoted if significant risks or issues are identified.
• The risk identification and review activities generate a visual plan that acts as a project roadmap. Each event marks a starting or ending point for innovative and creative processes, facilitating effective development of new ideas.

GERMANENGINEER.COM plans and conducts risk identification and review events for EV manufacturing projects. Read more in the post Practical Agile Principle #3.

To summarize the points discussed so far, the proposed practical agile principles will create self-improving project teams, which in turn will create new assembly-line technologies, modern workplaces, and high-quality factory jobs. Risk identification and review activities provide a disciplined roadmap for this creative process and successfully manage customer expectations.

4. Responding to Change over Following a Plan

The fourth value of the Agile Manifesto, “Responding to Change over Following a Plan,” emphasizes the importance of flexibility and adaptability in project management, advocating the ability to respond to changing circumstances and requirements rather than rigidly adhering to a predetermined plan. In innovative projects, such as EV manufacturing projects, the fourth value of the Agile Manifesto emphasizes the balance between innovative creativity and project constraints. It recognizes that while innovation is desirable for its potential rewards, it must not jeopardize project schedule, cost, or other constraints. When innovation becomes a liability rather than an asset, the project should pivot to a simpler and more viable approach. Determining when innovation is no longer feasible within project constraints is a critical aspect of project management, especially in an agile context.

Innovation is often pursued to enhance effectiveness. The goal is to do the right things – whether that means developing new products, services, or methods that better meet customer needs, outperform competitors, or address new markets. However, innovation inherently comes with risks and uncertainties. Sometimes, innovative methods may not yield the desired outcomes or may prove to be less effective than anticipated. When an organization realizes that an innovative process isn’t yielding the expected benefits – perhaps it’s too costly, complex, or simply not delivering the desired results – it must revert to or adopt SOPs.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) represent established, tried-and-tested ways of doing things. Developed and refined over time, these SOPs serve as a reliable fallback when innovation stalls. They are about efficiency – doing things right. SOPs streamline processes, reduce errors, and ensure consistency in quality. They may not be as cutting-edge as innovative methods, but they offer reliability and predictability, which are crucial for operational stability, cost control, and ensuring progress toward project milestones. Switching from non-viable innovative processes to SOPs is an exercise in balancing efficiency and effectiveness. It’s about recognizing what works best for the organization’s goals and adapting accordingly.

Practical Agile Principle #4: Pivot to a Simpler Approach.

• If an innovation doesn’t work, a project should pivot to a simpler approach. This means choosing a standard design or established technology over an untested new one. It also means using standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help engineers and technicians implement standard designs and established technologies quickly and efficiently. The goal is to ensure that a project is not delayed because an innovative solution failed.
• Someone should make the call, i.e. tell the project team when to pivot to the simpler approach. It could be someone on the project team or the project manager, but the key is to have people on the project team who have the courage to say so.
• Ideally, this shift is not seen as a failure of innovation but as part of a continuous improvement process. Organizations can learn from the unsuccessful innovative attempts, applying these lessons to future projects or even to enhance their SOPs.

GERMANENGINEER.COM provides a framework for identifying the tipping point at which continuing an innovative approach may outweigh its benefits at the expense of increased time or cost. See Practical Agile Principle #4 for more information.

In summary, GERMANENGINEER.COM established practical agile principles for building project teams and creating innovative EV assembly-line technologies. We also provided practical principles for dealing with the complexities and delays of EV projects – early and continuous risk mitigation and pivot to a simpler approach.

1. How Tesla Used Robotics to Survive “Production Hell” and Became the World’s Most Advanced Car Manufacturer retrieved 06/11/2024. ︎
2. As this post focuses on applying agile principles to manufacturing, the original Agile Manifesto value of “working software over comprehensive documentation” is being adapted to “working product”. ︎
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lean_Startup retrieved 06/11/2024. ︎

Many legacy systems can be improved by adopting innovative manufacturing processes that increase efficiency and reduce costs. This applies both to the transformation of legacy facilities to produce battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrids, and to their modernization to continue to produce traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with innovative assembly-line technologies.

Tesla has been extraordinarily successful in creating innovative manufacturing processes. It completely changed the manual assembly process defined by Henry Ford that has shaped the automotive industry for the past 100 years. Today, Tesla’s highly automated manufacturing processes are a decade ahead of the competition, making Tesla one of the most valuable public companies in the world.²

Building on Tesla’s best practices, GERMANENGINEER.COM is applying practical agile principles, originally developed to manage EV manufacturing projects, to analyze and rethink old and develop new manufacturing processes. Now, these universal practical agile principles can be applied to both project management and process optimization, making it easier for automakers to create multidisciplinary teams that can design efficient and cost-effective manufacturing processes and implement the innovative assembly line technologies that enable them.

1. Small, Cross-functional Teams Working under One Roof

As we know, “an airplane only flies as fast as it was designed to fly,” and similarly, the efficiency of automotive manufacturing processes is directly dependent on the initial design of the vehicle.

The product creation process of legacy systems is often characterized by the separation of vehicle design from its manufacturing processes and equipment. Some automakers may use one contractor for vehicle design, another to design manufacturing processes, and yet another to design production equipment. This approach creates manufacturing constraints and often results in suboptimal manufacturing processes and equipment. Later in the product lifecycle, this limits opportunities for process improvement, often resulting in longer production cycle times and higher costs.

To address these challenges, GERMANENGINEER.COM recommends applying the Practical Agile Principle #1:

• Cross-functional teams. This principle involves the simultaneous design of the vehicle and the factory where it will be assembled. Integrating the efforts of mechanical engineers, industrial engineers, and automation system designers into a single team facilitates the development of production-optimized simple designs and innovative manufacturing processes.
• Under one roof. Design, engineering, and manufacturing in one location improves teamwork and encourages spontaneous communication and a dynamic exchange of ideas. It allows engineers to directly observe the manufacturing process, facilitating quick adjustments and product optimization.

2. Simplicity and High Bar

Practical Agile Principle #2 is a powerful tool for identifying, reducing, or eliminating inefficiencies or outdated manufacturing practices:

• Simplicity. Simplicity of standardized work processes leads to significant improvements in efficiency and productivity, such as reducing waste, increasing flexibility, and improving quality. Most importantly, simplicity makes it easier for employees to understand and engage in their work processes. It supports continuous improvement by encouraging employees to identify inefficiencies and suggest improvements. The simpler the process, the clearer the impact of any change, making it easier to learn from each iteration.
• High Bar. А common strategy is to raise the bar for standardized work processes on a daily basis. Employees can quickly improve themselves by following standardized procedures even more consistently. A disruptive strategy sets the bar extremely high, creating the need to find radically new ways of doing things. For example, Elon Musk’s directive to produce 20 million cars a year pushes Tesla employees to develop entirely new manufacturing processes. This strategy ensures that the company will break away from existing standardized procedures and that every employee will be motivated to experiment and develop new, disruptive practices.

3. Early and Continuous Risk Mitigation

The Practical Agile Principle #3 also plays a key role in manufacturing process management, helping to identify and mitigate production bottlenecks, safety, stability, and quality of operations.

Given the significant risk in traditional vehicle manufacturing that any failure in the sequential production flow can cause an entire assembly line to stop, it’s important to address technical failures, logistical errors, material defects, and obvious and hidden bottlenecks that can limit production capabilities.  

Active participation in risk reduction processes encourages employees to search for and implement advanced technologies and new production approaches. The aim is to ensure greater safety, stability and quality in production processes. Innovations may include the development and use of redundant systems and the creation of parallel processes for critical production steps.

Hidden defects in the manufacturing process can result in defective vehicles reaching the consumer. Not only does this jeopardize consumer safety, but it can also have a significant financial impact and damage the manufacturer’s reputation. It is therefore essential to have early detection and monitoring systems in place within the manufacturing processes to identify and correct any problems in a timely manner.

Systematic monitoring of production parameters and strict adherence to quality and safety standards not only reduce the risk of production failures, but also improve the quality of the final product. Continuous risk management ensures that any potential problems are identified and addressed at the earliest possible stage, preventing potential negative consequences for customers and the company’s reputation.

4. Pivot to a Simpler Approach

It should be noted that while early and continuous risk mitigation addresses all risks, it is appropriate to implement redundant systems, parallel processes, and other risk avoidance strategies only for critical production steps. It is not cost effective to eliminate all risks.

For all other risks, it is simply a matter of making sure that people notice a problem in the production process immediately (see Practical Agile Principle #4). That’s why it’s so important to design manufacturing processes that are simple and transparent, so that all employees can easily identify when the line is interrupted or stopped. This design philosophy aims to facilitate quick response and problem solving, minimize downtime and maintain efficiency. For example, the use of visual indicators, such as color-coded lights and clear audible alarms, lets workers know the operating status immediately. Streamlined control panels that display only essential information and open floor plans also contribute to this transparency.

In addition, building a culture of awareness and accountability among employees is a key element of risk management. Employees are actively involved in identifying and solving problems, contributing to the company’s sustainability and innovation. Managers encourage the involvement of each employee in the process of improving operations.

1. Brownfields, as opposed to greenfields, which are undeveloped land, refer to previously developed sites. These sites often have existing buildings, roads, and utilities, which can be an advantage over greenfield development, which requires extensive groundwork. ︎
2. List of public corporations by market capitalization retrieved 4/11/24. ︎

Kanban has proven to be the best way to create positive change and rapid progress in EV manufacturing projects. The Kanban approach is especially useful for managers who need to adapt existing project teams to new realities. Author of the bestselling book “Kanban“, David J. Anderson writes: “Over the past decade, I’ve been challenged to answer the following question: As a manager, what actions should you take when you inherit an existing team, especially one that is not working in an agile fashion, has a broad spread of ability, and is, perhaps, completely dysfunctional? (…) As a manager in larger organizations, I’ve never been able to hire my own team. I’ve always been asked to adopt an existing team and, with minimal personnel changes, create a revolution in the organization’s performance. I think this situation is much more common than one in which you get to hire a whole new team.”

Kanban, like Agile, is an important subset of Lean Project Management. Kanban was introduced by Taiichi Ohno to manage the flow of materials and information within the Toyota Production System. The inspiration for Kanban came from observing how customers interacted with products in U.S. supermarkets. In the supermarkets, all products sold were recorded at the cash register, and then lists of products purchased were sent to the supply department for ordering from manufacturers. In this way, store shelves were always stocked with the right number of products, with no shortages or surpluses. Taiichi Ohno took the supermarket principle and applied it to Toyota’s factories. Parts for assembly began to be delivered to the plants in small batches when needed, freeing up warehouses. This involved not only working with suppliers, but also internal operations between Toyota’s own facilities.

The goal of Kanban is to minimize the amount of work – we produce “only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed”, thus freeing up time for (self-) improvement. In the free time, a team or a person is given the opportunity to reflect on their work and how it can be improved. Here is an example: Typically, 80% of a person’s work is largely repetitive. On a regular basis, the expected completion time is shortened, requiring some critical thinking to meet the new, tighter deadline. The person must ask himself: “What am I doing? Is there a better way to break the work into standardized procedures? How can I make the standardized procedures more efficient? Are all these procedures necessary to get the work done?” This approach echoes Albert Einstein’s wisdom about spending more time thinking about a problem than rushing to find a solution: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”¹ By thinking slowly and acting quickly, a person learns to find efficient and resourceful ways of working.

A Kanban system is a visual workflow management tool that helps individuals and teams visualize their work, limit work in progress, and maximize efficiency. Originating from lean manufacturing practices at Toyota, Kanban uses cards (often on a digital board) to represent work items. Each column on a kanban board represents a different stage of the workflow, and the movement of cards from one column to the next indicates the progress of the work. A digital board provides accurate information on how long a card has been in each column and how quickly all cards related to a task have moved from the leftmost to the rightmost column. By analyzing this data with statistical tools, it is possible to observe how the completion time is decreasing, i.e. how the process of (self-) improvement of an individual or a team is progressing.

Kanban creates a revolution in personal and organizational performance, freeing up both human and machine time for improvement and the creation of new technologies. Self-improving people, equipped with better skills and a deeper understanding of their work, contribute significantly to the continuous improvement of manufacturing processes. They are also the foundation of strong agile project teams. Such teams can be set extremely high goals to find radically new ways of doing things. They can create new assembly line technologies, modern workplaces, and high-quality jobs.

Toyota developed six rules for the effective application of Kanban.² Based on these rules, David J. Anderson has developed a methodology for implementing Kanban, which he calls “Recipe for Success” – six rules for a leader to adapt an existing team to new realities. By following these rules, rapid improvement can be achieved with little or no resistance from the team. They help the team improve both standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the ability to identify immediate or potential risks.

The following is a description of the six Kanban rules and how GERMANENGINEER.COM applies them to help automakers and equipment manufacturers build and assemble the manufacturing equipment used in the production of electric vehicles. 

1. Never Pass on Defective Products

David J. Anderson defines this rule as “Focus on Quality” and writes: “The Agile Manifesto doesn’t say anything about quality. (…) So if quality doesn’t appear in the Manifesto, why is it the first [rule] in my recipe for success? 

Simply put, excessive defects are the greatest waste…” Defects are a kind of waste, because they put effort into production that brings no benefit. The later you find a defect, the more expensive it is. Therefore, the goal is to catch defects early. Defects in manufacturing equipment can significantly impact project schedules, causing delays due to necessary rework or repairs. 

Implementing rigorous quality control measures at every stage of the manufacturing process ensures that defects are identified and addressed promptly. This can include regular inspections, automated testing, and statistical process control methods such as Six Sigma. Preventive measures, such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), help identify potential failure points and implement solutions before they become significant problems, thereby reducing the incidence of defects. Investing in employee training and development ensures that employees have the skills and knowledge to identify and address potential quality issues, resulting in fewer defects.

At GERMANENGINEER.COM, we prioritize the first rule of Kanban to help automakers and equipment manufacturers build and assemble the manufacturing equipment used in EV production. By implementing rigorous quality control measures during design, assembly and commissioning, we ensure that automakers receive reliable and efficient manufacturing equipment.

For a detailed discussion on how GERMANENGINEER.COM applies the first rule of Kanban to enhance quality in manufacturing equipment for electric vehicles, see the post Focus on Quality.

2. Take Only What Is Needed

Toyota articulates this principle as: “At each stage, use only the amount of labor or materials needed for the next stage of production.” The saying “Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew” effectively conveys the idea of not overestimating one’s capabilities.

This principle is designed to boost efficiency by reducing the amount of unfinished work, which in turn reduces the completion time. Little’s Law describes a linear relationship between the amount of work in progress and the average completion time. This logic supports the use of a Kanban system to limit the amount of work in progress. 

In the context of limiting work in progress, the kanban system is particularly beneficial. By limiting the number of work items that can be in progress at any given time, Kanban helps prevent overloading and ensures that resources are focused on completing tasks rather than starting new ones. This aligns perfectly with the principle of using only as much labor or material as is needed. 

The visual nature of the kanban system makes it easy to see which team members are overloaded. Teams can quickly identify and make necessary adjustments, promoting continuous improvement. This not only increases efficiency, but also ensures a more predictable and reliable delivery process, ultimately contributing to better project performance.

3. Produce the Exact Quantity Required

Toyota formulates this principle as: “Each stage of the production process should produce only the amount needed for the next stage.”

The idea is to reproduce and replenish only what has been consumed. If the next process requires four parts, the upstream process produces four more of those parts – no more and no less. This maintains an upper (not lower, as many people think) inventory limit, which is a key feature for achieving the benefits of a kanban system. 

The upstream process (e.g. the supplier) also needs to know in time how many parts are left in the supermarket to reproduce more goods more efficiently. In a kanban system, the “supermarket” is an inventory location where items are stored for the downstream process (e.g. customer). For this purpose, the supermarket is the responsibility of the supplier. He is responsible for monitoring the inventory levels in the supermarket and replenishing them continuously. If the customer were responsible for the supermarket, there would be a risk that the restocking order would arrive too late. This could result in delays and shortages.

4. Level the Production

This step is an important and often underestimated part of Kanban. 

Large fluctuations in supply and demand mean either a periodic shortage of material in the supermarket, or a much higher level of inventory to cover these large fluctuations. Both options are inappropriate. The first leads to material shortages and stoppages in the downstream process. The second increases the negative impact of inventory.

Reducing fluctuations and establishing a stable workflow, can make production cheaper and more efficient. Production leveling, or “Heijunka,” stabilizes the flow of materials and reduces fluctuations in the production process. Production leveling can take several forms, including:

• Demand Leveling: Deliberate influencing of demand itself or the demand processes to deliver a more predictable pattern of customer demand.³ For example, promoting products during periods of low demand or using promotions to increase demand during slumps.
• Leveling by Volume: Level production by the average volume of orders received. For example, if the average demand is 25 orders per week, but the number varies by day (e.g., Mon 3; Tue 10; Wed 5; Thu 5; Fri 2), it would be wise to implement Heijunka to level production by volume. In this way, a stable workflow can be established, and 5 orders per day can be processed to meet the average demand at the end of the week.⁴
• Leveling by Type: Heijunka can also be used to manage a portfolio of products. It allows you to level production based on the average demand for each product in the portfolio. The principle remains the same: produce enough of each good to satisfy the average customer demand for the product portfolio. Leveling by type also involves line sequencing: Arranging the order of items on the production line to balance workloads and reduce complexity. For example, if the factory’s ordering system sends batches of high-spec car models down the line at the same time, workers would be required to perform many complex assembly tasks that are not required on less well-equipped cars. By sequencing the line to alternate between high- and low-spec models, the workload is balanced, making the production process smoother and more efficient.

David J. Anderson writes, “…once you balance demand against throughput and limit the work-in-progress within your value stream, magic will happen. Only the bottleneck resources will remain fully loaded. Very quickly, other workers in the value stream will find they have slack capacity. Meanwhile, those working in the bottleneck will be busy, but not swamped. For the first time, perhaps in years, the team will no longer be overloaded, and many people will experience something very rare in their careers, the feeling of having time on their hands.

Much of the stress will be lifted off the organization and people will be able to focus on doing their jobs with precision and quality. They’ll be able to take pride in their work and will enjoy the experience all the more. Those with time on their hands will start to put that time toward improving their own circumstances; they may tidy up their workspace or take some training. They will likely start to apply themselves to bettering their skills, their tools, and how they interact with others up- and downstream. As time passes and one small improvement leads to another, the team will be seen as continuously improving. The culture will have changed. The slack capacity created by the act of limiting work-in-progress and pulling new work only as capacity is available will enable improvement no one thought was possible.”

5. Fine-tune Production

David J. Anderson calls this rule “prioritize” and explains, “If the first three steps in the recipe have been implemented, things will be running smoothly. At this point, management’s attention can turn to optimizing the value delivered,” rather than just the quantity of parts delivered.

“Prioritization should not be controlled by the engineering organization and hence is not under the control of engineering management. Improving prioritization requires the product owner, business sponsor, or marketing department to change their behavior. At best, engineering management can seek only to influence how prioritization is done.”

6. Stabilize and Rationalize the Process

Variability leads to unpredictability, which causes delays and inefficiencies, and can have a significant impact on process throughput and cost. 

One of the primary sources of variability is the inherent differences in the tasks or requirements themselves. Some tasks may be large and complex, while others may be small and straightforward. This variability makes it difficult to maintain a consistent workflow. Reducing this variability requires knowledge workers to change the way they work-learning new techniques and changing their personal behavior. For example, breaking large tasks into smaller, simpler procedures can help standardize the amount of work required for each task, leading to more predictable results. 

In addition, variability is often unintentionally introduced by poor policy decisions within the organization. Policies that do not consider the nature of the work or workflow can create unnecessary variability. For example, policies that allow arbitrary changes in priorities or scope can lead to constant disruption and rework. By revising these policies to be more consistent and aligned with the actual workflow, organizations can significantly reduce variability. For example, a new prioritization policy might only allow changes to production priorities at specific intervals, such as weekly planning meetings. 

Reducing variability has several notable benefits:

• Reducing variability enables resource balancing: Inconsistent task sizes can lead to periods of high stress followed by idle time for workers. By standardizing tasks, the manufacturer can more evenly distribute the workload among workers. This could mean moving a worker from a less busy station to assist in a busier area (and potentially reducing headcount).
• Reducing variability reduces the need for resources: A more predictable assembly line allows the EV manufacturer to streamline inventory management. For example, by stabilizing battery pack assembly times, the manufacturer can reduce the amount of battery packs in the supermarket, thereby reducing storage costs and capital tied up in inventory.
• Reducing variability allows for fewer kanban tokens, less WIP, and results in reduced average lead time: With lower variability, the manufacturer reduces the number of vehicles on the assembly line simultaneously. If they previously allowed ten vehicles in process but reduce it to eight due to more predictable task completion times, they see a reduction in average lead time.

1. The Third Critical Step In Problem Solving That Einstein Missed retrieved 6/18/2024. ︎
2. Kanban – Toyota Production System guide retrieved 6/18/2024. ︎
3. Production leveling retrieved 6/18/2024. ︎
4. What Is Heijunka? retrieved 6/18/2024. ︎