Large Agile Projects – Scaled Agile

These days, agile methods are widely prevalent, and are also being used more and more for large projects. Originally, agile software development focused on small and mid-sized projects, so scaling agile processes up to accommodate large projects can represent a challenge. A number of agile frameworks which address this issue have arisen over the last few years, such as LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum), DAD (Disciplined Agile Delivery), Nexus and SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework®). They all provide processes which (more or less) solve the essential challenges which arise in scaled agility:

• Significantly longer planning horizons
• Responsibility and decision-making authority doesn’t lie with just one product owner
• Tasks must be divided meaningfully over multiple teams, and results must be synchronized and integrated.
• Increased effort involved in communication and coordination

You’ll need to ask yourself the following questions to determine the right scaled agile method to use:

• What actually needs to be scaled (e.g. more teams, specialization of tasks, handling different customer projects in parallel on one common basis)?
• Is your actual priority to become faster through scaling, to carve out a larger project scope or to be able to make more resources available for key activities?
• Can your individual teams work separately from one another or do you need to coordinate and align them with respect to time and content?
• What other analysis, planning, software design and quality management methods would you like to use, and how can they be woven into the implementation of your agile project?

Scaled agile frameworks are an absolute necessity when you want to employ agile methods in large projects, and it is recommended that the fittest method be selected (in terms of the method which is most suitable), based on products, processes, resources and development culture. The two courses below will give you the necessary tools for doing just that.