Scaling Agile refers to the process of extending Agile practices and principles beyond individual teams to larger, more complex projects or organizations. As organizations grow and undertake larger initiatives involving multiple teams, departments, or business units, they often face challenges in coordinating efforts, maintaining alignment, and delivering value at scale. Scaling Agile aims to address these challenges by providing frameworks, methodologies, and practices that enable organizations to scale Agile principles across the enterprise. Here are some common approaches to scaling Agile:
- Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): SAFe is one of the most widely adopted frameworks for scaling Agile. It provides a comprehensive approach to scaling Agile across the organization, with guidance on roles, ceremonies, artifacts, and practices at the team, program, and portfolio levels. SAFe includes principles, practices, and tools to help organizations align strategy, execution, and delivery, enabling them to achieve business agility at scale.
- Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS): LeSS is another framework for scaling Agile, based on the principles of Scrum. It emphasizes simplicity, transparency, and empirical process control, with a focus on scaling Scrum principles and practices across multiple teams. LeSS provides guidance on organizing teams, coordinating work, and fostering collaboration to deliver value at scale while minimizing complexity and overhead.
- Disciplined Agile (DA): Disciplined Agile is an Agile toolkit that offers a pragmatic approach to scaling Agile. It provides a flexible framework that allows organizations to tailor their Agile practices to fit their unique context, culture, and goals. DA includes guidance on roles, processes, and practices for scaling Agile across teams, departments, and the enterprise, with a focus on delivering value efficiently and effectively.
- Nexus: Nexus is a framework for scaling Scrum, developed by Scrum.org. It provides guidance on scaling Scrum practices and principles to support the delivery of large, complex products or projects involving multiple Scrum teams. Nexus emphasizes the importance of alignment, integration, and collaboration between teams to deliver a single, integrated product increment at the end of each Sprint.
- Agile Release Trains (ARTs): ARTs are a concept introduced by SAFe for organizing Agile teams into larger, cross-functional units called Agile Release Trains. ARTs align multiple teams around a common mission or value stream, providing a structured approach to scaling Agile and delivering value at scale. ARTs enable teams to collaborate, synchronize efforts, and deliver larger increments of value more frequently.
- Organizational Transformation: Scaling Agile requires more than just implementing frameworks or methodologies—it involves a fundamental shift in mindset, culture, and ways of working across the organization. Successful scaling Agile initiatives require strong leadership, active sponsorship, and a commitment to continuous improvement and learning at all levels of the organization.
Overall, scaling Agile is a complex and challenging endeavor that requires careful planning, execution, and adaptation. By leveraging frameworks, methodologies, and practices tailored to their specific needs and context, organizations can scale Agile principles and practices effectively to achieve greater agility, resilience, and competitiveness in today’s fast-paced and dynamic business environment.
Scrum of scrums
The Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is a technique used to scale Scrum principles and practices to coordinate the work of multiple Scrum teams working on a large, complex project. It provides a framework for facilitating communication, collaboration, and alignment between teams to ensure that they are working towards a common goal and delivering value effectively. Here’s how the Scrum of Scrums works:
- Team Structure: In a Scrum of Scrums setup, each individual Scrum team continues to operate independently, following the standard Scrum framework with its own Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective meetings.
- Scrum of Scrums Meeting: The Scrum of Scrums meeting is a regular coordination meeting held between representatives from each of the individual Scrum teams. Typically, one or more members from each team attend the meeting as representatives or ambassadors.
- Frequency: The frequency of Scrum of Scrums meetings may vary depending on the needs of the project, but they are usually held at least once per Sprint or more frequently if necessary.
- Agenda: The Scrum of Scrums meeting provides an opportunity for representatives from different teams to synchronize their activities, share updates, discuss dependencies, and address any impediments or challenges that may be impacting their progress.
- Information Sharing: During the Scrum of Scrums meeting, representatives from each team share information about their team’s progress, upcoming work, and any issues or risks they have encountered. They also discuss inter-team dependencies, coordination needs, and opportunities for collaboration.
- Problem-Solving: The Scrum of Scrums meeting serves as a forum for problem-solving and decision-making at the inter-team level. If there are any dependencies or impediments that cannot be resolved within individual teams, they can be escalated to the Scrum of Scrums for resolution.
- Action Items: Based on the discussions and decisions made during the Scrum of Scrums meeting, action items may be identified and assigned to specific teams or individuals for follow-up. These action items are tracked and monitored to ensure that they are addressed in a timely manner.
- Continuous Improvement: The Scrum of Scrums process is iterative and adaptive, allowing teams to reflect on their coordination efforts, identify opportunities for improvement, and make adjustments as needed to enhance collaboration and alignment across teams.
Overall, the Scrum of Scrums is a valuable technique for scaling Scrum and enabling effective collaboration and coordination between multiple teams working on a large, complex project. It helps ensure that teams are aligned, dependencies are managed, and impediments are addressed promptly, ultimately enabling the organization to deliver value more efficiently and effectively.