How We Run the IoT Development Process

• Discovery and planning take about 20% of an IoT project's time. Discovery runs as three kinds of workshops: briefing (business context), product (UX), and development (tech stack and architecture).
• Aviation IoT needs certification: the ATOS airport system in Gdańsk ran as a secondary system for over two years, with crashes monitored, before it could become the primary one.
• Industrial IoT systems often have very few users. The software for a concentrated solar power plant was built for about four operators.
• Design works at least one sprint ahead of development, and every demo shows work that is delivered, working and deployed, presented with its business context.
• After release, a service-level agreement (SLA) covers firmware and software updates, backups, documentation updates and emergency fixes. Fixes usually land within about 48 hours, depending on the SLA level, and an IoT SLA runs for at least one year.

In Order Group's first webinar, co-founder and then head of design Karol Oponowicz walks through how the company runs IoT and industrial IoT (IIoT) projects, from the first workshop to aftercare.

Three projects serve as examples. Smiga is an electric bike rental with a parts customizer and a mobile app connected to the bike's hardware: battery status, the lock, location tracking and speed. The ATOS airport system in Gdańsk uses induction loops to detect objects in different sectors of the airfield. Kyoto is software that controls a concentrated solar power plant with thermal energy storage: valves, pumps and leak sensors, plus image recognition that alerts security when someone approaches the site.

The services part covers embedded software, IoT dashboards and data visualization, mobile apps (native and React Native), and, with a partner, PCB layouts and hardware documentation.

Most of the talk follows the six stages of the process: discovery and research, planning, implementation in sprints, stabilization, release, and support and aftercare. Quarterly big room planning sets the direction, and each sprint runs through planning, design, development, testing, a demo and a retrospective. Two burndown charts from one project show the difference between sprint one, which ended with a 20-hour crunch before the demo, and sprint four, delivered ahead of it. Stabilization covers performance, load and beta testing plus final change requests, and release includes staff training and a documentation handoff.

What is the biggest challenge in an IoT project?

Understanding the full complexity of the IoT infrastructure and architecture, and testing whether a chosen set of technologies will work in the given conditions. Each sprint involves some uncertainty that has to be resolved by trying different approaches.

What size are Order Group's IoT projects?

From around 100,000 euros at the low end to above 1 million euros.

Which industries has Order Group built IoT for?

Shared mobility, well-being, smart houses, aviation, sustainable energy and healthcare. The current focus includes sustainable energy.

• 0:00 Intro: who Karol is and how Order Group can help
• 2:45 Our experience in IoT projects: Smiga, ATOS, Kyoto
• 9:20 IoT development process: discovery and research, planning, implementation, stabilization, release, support and aftercare
• 29:50 Q&A