Agile SPICE™: Bridging Agility and Automotive Excellence
Agile methods are used by many companies to develop automotive electronics. However, questions arise as to whether their use is permissible when development processes are subject to the requirements of the Automotive SPICE® (ASPICE) Process Assessment Model (PAM). The release of Agile SPICE™ marks a significant milestone in reducing these uncertainties and providing guidance for integrating agile practices with ASPICE. By addressing challenges in process rigor, interpretation and governance, Agile SPICE™ provides a bridge between two worlds: agile development and ASPICE compliance.
This framework responds to the growing need for agile methodologies within the automotive industry related to compliance with ASPICE standards, offering clarity, structure, and adaptability for both organizations and assessors.
The intacs® working group that authored Agile SPICE™ kept three perspectives in mind:
- Organizational
- Transformational
- Assessor
An agile organizational perspective
The automotive industry has long grappled with reconciling ASPICE standards with the flexibility of agile methodologies.
Agile SPICE™ is designed to:
- Facilitate acceptance of ASPICE in agile environments
- Emphasize the what — the outcomes and expectations that a process must deliver — rather than the how — the way to do the tasks using specific agile methods or frameworks
- Address misunderstandings about implementing ASPICE in agile workflows
- Help organizations simultaneously achieve both agile excellence and ASPICE compliance
A transformational perspective
For organizations shifting towards agility, Agile SPICE™ offers:
- Strategies to maintain existing capabilities while adopting agile practices
- Guidance on avoiding pitfalls like insufficient governance
- A focus on creating tangible value, ensuring agility does not compromise organizational objectives
An assessor perspective
ASPICE assessments in agile contexts often face:
- Broad interpretations of ASPICE processes
- Lack of shared terminology between traditional and agile methodologies
Agile SPICE™ resolves these issues by harmonizing ratings and mapping practices between the two approaches.
Key aims of Agile SPICE™ PAM
Agile SPICE™ is designed to:
- Serve as an add-on to ASPICE, fostering acceptance of agile practices in the ASPICE community
- Provide a framework for a PAM aligned with agile principles while meeting ASPICE requirements
- Offer a unified interpretation of ASPICE processes for agile environments
Focus areas
Agile Work Management (AGL.1) ensures collaborative team management, iterative development and alignment with product goals. Partner Collaboration Management (AGL.2) focuses on shared goals, transparency and risk management in multi-partner collaborations. Agile Quality Assurance (AGL.3) establishes independent tracking and resolution of quality impediments while promoting governance.
Additionally, Agile SPICE™ includes interpretations of ASPICE engineering and support processes, offering guidance for agile implementations.
Mapping Agile SPICE™ and ASPICE
Through formal mapping of practices, Agile SPICE™ demonstrates compatibility with ASPICE 4.0. This alignment ensures that ratings derived from Agile SPICE™ assessments correspond to those of ASPICE.
Pilot results and insights
Pilot assessments revealed the practical efficacy of Agile SPICE™:
- Teams of all sizes could easily relate to the agile practices outlined in the model
- Assessment results for both Agile SPICE™ and ASPICE were nearly identical
- Agile SPICE™ interviews helped teams better understand ASPICE requirements and identify areas for agile improvement
Conclusion
Agile SPICE™ PAM is more than just a process model. It’s a bridge that unites agility with mature development processes and the rigor of ASPICE. For OEMs, suppliers, and professionals, this release offers a pathway to enhance collaboration, quality and compliance in an ever-evolving automotive landscape.
At UL Solutions Software Intensive Systems, we help you develop safer, more secure and more reliable products. To do this, we provide training and consulting services to help your organization design mature and predictable R&D processes that are compliant with ASPICE.
Our experts participate in various ISO standardization committees and are reviewers of the ASPICE models and co-authors of various model plug-ins and extensions. We are also engaged in the design of course material for certification training and educate the next generation of instructors.
Read our related content
Automotive SPICE® Process Expert (intacs® certified)
Agile SPICE (intacs® certified)
Automotive SPICE and Extensions
About the author
Josmi Jose
Senior Consultant at UL Solutions Software Intensive Systems and Co-Lead of the intacs® AgileSPICE Working Group