The value fundament, within the agile methodology, is in my opinion the most important value within the agile approach applied to physical products.
This fundament extends the second of the values of the agile manifesto:
Although there is value in complete documentation we place more value on working software (www.agilemanifesto.org).
The first step of this extension is in going from working software to a working product that includes all product types.
In other words, it is argued that it is better not to waste time producing documentation with stylistic excess in favor of more essential documentation that contains all the necessary information.
When a team has completed, during one or more meetings, the elaboration of a board with drawings, diagrams, post-it notes, or other things, simply take a quality photo and save it in an image or PDF format.
Reproducing content within a text editor, presentation, or spreadsheet is an activity that does not add value.
It is important to consider that a functioning product means not only the complete product, but also a subsystem, function, or part of it.
If the working product has value to the customer, so do all the choice options that are offered to the customer.
In the early stages of development, all simplified representations of the product are of great value to the customer, helping him or her to give direction to product development.
It is also a waste of the customer’s time to analyze the product, including the necessary details, to make it work when, for decision making, this is not necessary.
Even in the initial stages of designing the user interface of a software product, elements of working software are not developed but one or more alternative representations of the interface itself are presented.
The representations are both in paper form and in digital form made with programs that simulate the interface itself.
In this way, the development effort is greatly reduced and, in a short time, the customer or user can evaluate the functionality presented giving enough feedback to the team to continue development.
In that case, we cannot speak of a working product but of information that provides value to the customer by enabling them to direct development.
This is especially true when we think about the foundation of many-sidedness, which incorporates the different perspectives, among them alternatives, both as seen by the customer, and the multiplicity of perspectives within the company or of environmental impact.
Design for x and the development of mutually concurrent solutions are the basis of the new product development process.
In the case of physical products, being able to validate a solution without having to build the entire product maximizes the work not done.
This is in line with principle number 10 of the agile manifesto, which speaks of simplicity as the art of maximizing the amount of work not done, focusing only on what is strictly necessary.
The use of simplified prototypes, digital twins, or significant other product testing can provide the adequate answers while maximizing unnecessary work.
For all these reasons, the second step that I think is necessary is to extend the concept of a working product with value to the customer.
Bringing value to the customer can be done in many ways, and a working product is only one of them. Bringing value to the customer is what drives an Agile team and also a Lean team.
