创新设计|敏捷开发将应用于未来的产品设计

Posted 2021-04-25 洞云书屋

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（注：本文是译文，Original author: Joris Peels)

Agile Engineering is a popular process in software development, but few hardware teams apply these practices to develop physical products. For many hardware teams, implementing Agile Engineering practices saves time and money and improves the end product.

敏捷工程在软件开发中是一个流行的过程，但很少有硬件团队将这些实践应用于开发物理产品。对于许多硬件团队来说，实施敏捷工程节省了时间和金钱，并改进了最终产品。

In Agile Engineering, teams quickly iterate, test, and gather feedback on product design. It divides big challenges into measurable chunks of work and promises more accurate and rapid product development cycles. Teams are self-managed and work in short two-week sprints driven by user feedback. This feedback guides teams to build a product that meets user needs.

在敏捷工程中，团队快速迭代、测试和收集关于产品设计的反馈。它将大的挑战划分为可测量的工作块，并承诺更精确和快速的产品开发周期。团队可进行自我管理，在短短的两个星期内集中用户反馈驱动的工作。这种反馈指导团队构建满足用户需求的产品。

Rather than start with a lengthy requirements phase that covers the entire span of the project, requirements are created as the team works. Requirements are specific and tied to user value. By testing features and new builds, teams verify if they are solving user problems and developing the right product.

与从包含整个项目跨度的冗长需求阶段开始相反，需求是在团队工作时创建的。需求是特定的，并与用户价值相关联。通过测试功能和新构建，团队验证他们是否正在解决用户问题并开发出合适的产品。

The Benefits of Agile Engineering

敏捷工程的益处

With digital manufacturing tools such as mills, laser cutters, and 3D printers, hardware engineers can now develop ideas while concurrently testing them with users. Key benefits of this method include:

随着数字制造工具的出现，如米尔斯，激光切割机和3D打印机，硬件工程师现在可以开发想法，同时与用户进行测试。这种方法的主要优点包括：

• Continuous collection of feedback from customers means that designs are tracking with customer needs.

• The interplay between design, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing allows teams to understand each other's needs and challenges better.

• Each iteration gives you a physical prototype to hold and discuss.

• Testing the physical prototype helps you identify and solve problems.

• More, quicker, and cheaper iterations mean that a higher number of possible solution paths can be explored.

• Continuous testing means that engineering risks are exposed throughout the process.

• 不断收集客户反馈意见，说明设计是根据客户需求进行跟踪的。

• 设计、工程、制造和营销之间的相互作用使团队能够更好地理解彼此的需求和挑战。

• 每次迭代都会给你一个物理原型来进行讨论。

• 测试物理原型有助于识别和解决问题。

• 更多、更快、更便宜的迭代意味着可以探索更高数量的可能的解决方案路径。

• 持续测试意味着工程风险贯穿于整个过程。

Agile Engineering unites teams across the organization and creates a better end product. By responding to user feedback with prototypes, teams develop products that users want.

敏捷工程将组织中的团队团结起来，创造出更好的最终产品。通过响应用户对原型的反馈，使团队开发出用户想要的产品。

The Old Way vs. Agile Engineering

传统方法VS敏捷工程

In the “Old Way,” teams predicted demand months in advance. They turned a single prototype into mass manufactured goods. This method was risky: teams had a hard time predicting future demand. As a result, companies often had either product shortage or unsold inventory. Instead, Agile Engineering tests prototypes. It improves them with consumer feedback. This method develops products quicker and reduces risk.

在“传统方法”中，团队提前几个月预测需求。他们把一个原型变成了大规模生产的商品。这种方法很危险：团队很难预测未来的需求。因此，公司经常出现产品短缺或未售出库存。相反，敏捷工程测试原型。它改善了消费者反馈。这种方法可以更快地开发产品，降低风险。

After week 7, an Agile team receives feedback on sales numbers. If the product is successful, and if it can be produced more cheaply using mass manufacturing, then they may decide to design the case for injection molding.

在第7周之后，敏捷团队会收到关于销售数字的反馈。产品是否是成功的，它是否可以更便宜地大规模生产，那么他们可能决定设计注射成型的情况。

In the Old Way, the company has to predict market demand and consumer tastes months in advance. If Company A makes a decision once a season, and Company B makes informed decisions every day, then Company B will get ahead. Agile Engineering saves companies not only time, but also money in the long run. The Agile method has a higher startup time and initial cost, but the cost per final product is low. Plus, the end product is shaped by market demands, ultimately yielding greater profit.

按照传统方法，公司必须提前几个月预测市场需求和消费者口味。如果A公司每季度做一次决定，而B公司每天都做出明智的决定，那么B公司就会取得进展。敏捷工程不仅节省了时间，而且节省了长期的资金。敏捷方法具有较高的启动时间和初始成本，但最终产品成本低。另外，最终产品是由市场需求塑造的，最终会产生更大的利润。

Another benefit of Agile Engineering is that it encourages teams to fail quickly. By failing faster, teams learn and improve at a faster pace than those that do not. Learning from failure through prototypes helps companies quickly build better products. By validating assumptions and collecting data, these products are made in a more accurate, evidential way. 

敏捷工程的另一个好处是它鼓励团队快速失败。通过更快的失败，团队比不学习的团队更快地提高学习速度。通过原型学习失败有助于公司快速建立更好的产品。通过验证假设和收集数据，使这些产品以更准确、更具有证据的方式进行制造。

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