The focus of the Core MAHD Framework is to effectively manage development projects from concept to launch while adhering to Agile principles and meeting the needs of hardware development. The MAHD Framework Core provides specific tactics to develop the solution through rapid learning and execution cycles, while guiding execution to completion. The framework can be scaled to manage projects ranging from simple cost reductions to complex systems.
Teams need more than a few basic tactics to get the full benefits of agile. They need the ability to initiate projects with confidence, satisfy the needs of executives and guide the difficult decisions that hardware projects require from concept to launch. The MAHD Framework delivers the methods, specific activities, clearly defined roles and guiding concepts to tackle any kind of project from the most innovative solution to incremental cost reductions. Explore some of the key elements of MAHD or browse the complete model below.
The MAHD Framework offers structured guidance for organizing teams to drive project success, addressing the cross-disciplinary demands of hardware-based solutions. It also redefines the roles of product management, project management, and functional leadership to align with an agile way of working.
The MAHD On-ramp is a series of collaborative activities to initiate an agile project with the right velocity — both speed and direction. It includes aligning on the strategic intent of the project, prioritizing customers and outcomes, defining a solution skeleton and aligning on a preliminary IPAC Iteration Plan. The result is a plan for success in a matter of days or weeks that immediately leads to project execution with purposeful goals.
After completing the On-ramp, teams iteratively execute project details by establishing clear IPAC (Integration, Prototype, Alignment & Customer) Iteration milestones through Iteration Planning. They then update the backlog and execute tasks in short sprints to achieve each Iteration goal. With each IPAC Iteration progress is demonstrated, decisions are made, and all disciplines and sub-systems stay aligned and focus project outcomes.
Core MAHD scales to large, complex systems through a MAHD Team of Teams, program-level roles, integrated IPAC plans, and system-level planning activities. These elements coordinate priorities, dependencies, decisions, and learning across multiple teams—maintaining overall system alignment while allowing each team to work with speed, focus, and autonomy.
While the MAHD Framework and tactics provide the structure for Agile project success, its the Principles, Guiding Concepts and Enabling Capabilities that deliver the benefits of speed, customer value and predictability. Through our training and literature, you'll hear terms like "Big Rocks", "Vertical Slices" and "Look Forward, Plan Back." These are all elements of the MAHD Operating Model that provides the Agile mindset and day-to-day guidance to effectively collaborate, engage with executives, plan optimal milestones and guide great decisions throughout the project.
MAHD Teams provide the foundation for agile success. Team sizes can range several members to 100's based on the scope and complexity of the project. Large teams are often broken into smaller sub-teams of 5-20 members focused on either a sub-system of the solution or a specific discipline. They are lead by key roles:
The MAHD On-ramp starts with short Agile Vision Brief document. Teams then work through five collaborative activities designed to get a project started with clear focus and ready for execution success:
Once a team completes the MAHD On-ramp steps, typically within a matter of days or weeks, the team has an initial IPAC Iteration plan with a clear set of milestones and goals for the upcoming Iteration. They are ready to execute sprints toward hitting Iteration milestones.
With each Iteration, the teams demonstrate progress, gain valuable feedback, make decisions and adapt to new information as they plan for the next Iteration.
As the project nears completion, Iterations begin to focus more on launch and production activities. Designs are frozen and key strategic decisions have been made throughout the MAHD process.
Any signficant decisions left open would be based on a key concept of strategic flexibility to optimize market value.
At the center of the core MAHD Framework are IPAC Iterations. An IPAC Iteration is a development and learning cycle comprised of one or more 2- week sprints (typically 3-4 sprints are executed in one Iteration, but the duration is flexible based on the needs of the project). During IPAC Iteration Planning, the team determines the length and goals of the Iteration and considers objectives by looking through four key lenses the make up the IPAC acronym:
Teams don’t need to have specific milestones established for every lens, but each should be considered to keep progress moving steadily toward success.
Ultimately, rather than tracking tasks, the best indication of overall project success is the team’s ability to consistently set and hit key milestones, remove risk and focus on project priorities.
A key concept in the MAHD Framework is the principle “solution evolution”. Beginning with the initial solution skeleton developed during the On-ramp, solution details are defined and locked down through iterative learning and execution cycles. This doesn’t mean the design stays flexible indefinitely or features are developed sequentially as with Scrum methods.
What solution evolution does mean is that teams make difficult tradeoff decisions throughout the project that balance constraints, customer value and strategic goals.
During each IPAC Iteration Planning session, the team works through key questions and identifies the best next milestones to move the project forward, remove risk and optimize the solution. They typically will follow these steps:
“What is our next major learning event? What would optimal ‘IPAC’ outcomes look like? Is this sufficient to achieve our targets?”
“What would our path be to achieve this? What key questions must we answer? What’s the ‘vertical slice’ we should develop? What do we need to accomplish in the next Iteraction?”
“What does this mean for each subsystem? Discipline? What collaboration in sprint planning is needed? What is the best duration for this Iteration? What are the lead times and dependencies?”
At the end of each IPAC Iteration, the team holds an IPAC Iteration review where they demonstrate progress, assess overall project health and make difficult decisions before planning the next Iteration.
Core MAHD includes a lightweight scaling layer for large, interdependent systems. It preserves the speed and ownership of individual MAHD teams while adding the coordination needed to learn and deliver as one program.
Links multiple MAHD teams through a lightweight coordination rhythm while preserving team autonomy.
Adds clear ownership for outcomes and decisions that span multiple teams and system boundaries.
Connects team IPAC plans into a shared program view of learning, integration, and delivery.
Adds focused planning and review activities for work that must be managed across the whole system.
Traditional processes were not meeting their time-to-market goals, but slowing down to transorm was not an option.
Aligning on requirements consumed an excessive amount of time and energy while delivering little meaningful value.
Solutions included premium features customers did not value, forcing the company to discount prices and accept lower margins.
The Core MAHD Framework provides the basis for agile project excellence through the methods, tactics and guiding concepts. As teams build agile skills, the organization can build on success to apply agile methods to manage sustaining engineering efforts, product portfolios and innovation initiatives.
The Complete MAHD Framework provides the governance and methods to manage the entire product development process from product selection to sustaining engineering.
An essential addition to the MAHD Framework in release 4.0 was the addition of the MAHD Operating Model.
Based on insights from 100’s of projects and teams, it was clear that the most successful teams learned quickly how to embrace and leverage not just the tactics of MAHD, but the Guiding Concepts to guide how to best collaborate, set milestones and make decisions.
While the Operating Model can feel overwhelming at first glance, each Guiding Concept and Principle begins to form a common understanding, language and culture that becomes second nature to the team. Long term, it’s the Enabling Capabilities that provide the tools that deliver increasing benefits as the team and process matures.
Whether you are evaluating agile for hardware, ready to pilot a project, or looking for answers to specific challenges, we have resources to help you move forward in your agile journey.
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