More...More...More...More...More...More...More...More...More...More...More...More...Business ViewpointUsage ViewpointData and Functional ViewpointImplementation ViewpointProduct ViewpointProduct / Solution Design


Product / Solution Design

The idea of a more detailed design document might seem old fashioned to somebody who is used to working in small, agile development teams. After all, the Agile manifesto itself values working software over comprehensive documentation and emphasizes The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. However, in large-scale, multi-team, multi-site projects, a certain amount of documentation is required in order to ensure that all teams and stakeholders are aligned and working in synch. Working across organizational boundaries will add to the need for more detailed documentation of requirements and design decisions. Finally, some types of procurement contracts will require detailed specifications and SLAs (see Sourcing_and_Procurement).

Given that an AIoT-enabled product or solution will contain different building blocks such as AI, hardware, software, embedded components, etc., it is likely that it will face many of these constraints. Consequently, the AIoT playbook is proposing to create and maintain a product/solution architecture which captures key requirements and design decision in a consistent manner. In order to achieve this, the following viewpoints are proposed:

It is important to notice that the AIoT playbook is not proposing an excessive, RUP/waterfall-style level of documentation. The general idea is to provide a comprehensive yet lightweight set of design documents which enable efficient communication between the main stakeholders. The key to success here is to keep the design documentation on a level of detail where it is meaningful but not overly complex. The agile teams must be able to apply their own mechanism to derive requirements for their backlog and provide feedback to the overarching architecture in return. As will be discussed in the following, a central story map can be a powerful tool for keeping the design decision and the individual sprint backlogs in synch.

AIoT Solution Architecture Process
AIoT product / solution design and the agile process

Authors and Contributors

Dirk Slama.jpeg
DIRK SLAMA
(Editor-in-Chief)

AUTHOR
Dirk Slama is VP and Chief Alliance Officer at Bosch Software Innovations (SI). Bosch SI is spearheading the Internet of Things (IoT) activities of Bosch, the global manufacturing and services group. Dirk has over 20 years experience in very large-scale distributed application projects and system integration, including SOA, BPM, M2M and most recently IoT. He is representing Bosch at the Industrial Internet Consortium and is active in the Industry 4.0 community. He holds an MBA from IMD Lausanne as well as a Diploma Degree in Computer Science from TU Berlin.