Rémondeau, Estelle

The technical foundation: a prerequisite for agile development of complex systems? - 2026.


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In response to the accelerating pace of innovation, industrial companies are turning to agile project management. While agile development has emerged as an alternative to traditional development, it must be adapted to its implementation context. The result is often a hybridization of these methods with a systematic design process. However, the way agile development is adapted to a project depends on the existence of a technical foundation, a minimal technical core. The question we are interested in is what precisely is a technical foundation that enables agile development? Our study investigates the nature of such a foundation through a case study at Safran Electronics & Defense, using a research-intervention approach. Our findings describe the interplay between the technical foundation, the architecture, and user interfaces. Our contribution provides practical insights for steering agile transformations in industrial companies.