Developing technical products requires multiple work streams. Some work streams co-exist without problems. However, crossing certain work streams, to quote Dr Egon Spengler, “would be bad.”

For example, a consumer device like a mobile phone combines physical hardware – PCBs, plastics, batteries, screens etc. – with embedded software. You need both the hardware and the software to make a product.

In an ideal world, hardware and software would be developed in the same way. Unfortunately, this isn’t so. Hardware and software are two different beasts and need to be managed in parallel but in completely different ways.

Hardware follows a serial or linear development process. You start at A, then move to B, C and so on. This methodology is called a ‘waterfall’ so called because the process cascades downwards from one phase to the next in a planned and logical sequence.

Software is not developed in a linear way. It can be written in an intuitive fashion and features can be added or removed at any time. This methodology is called Agile, a cyclical process repeated as many times as needed until the code is stable or fit for purpose.

Herein lies the challenge: how do you successfully manage two disparate work streams to produce a single product? The short answer is to keep these work streams separate except for planned convergence points during the product’s development.

One example of a convergence point is a factory build. This is where both hardware and software deliverables need to come together and released to the factory to build a device. This could include releasing hardware design files and software code images to program onto the device.

‘Crossing’ the hardware and software development streams mid-flow or without a definitive purpose can result in total chaos. The challenge for any product management team is to keep the two working productively in parallel until they need to converge on a key milestone or deliverable.

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