Implementing agile frameworks — like Scrum and Kanban — enables software development teams to deliver solutions to customers faster and with greater predictability. Agile frameworks give teams the ability to react quickly and make important decisions based on newly provided information. With clear benefits and a plethora of resources, administering agile at the individual team level is relatively easy. However, extending it across multiple teams in a large organization, i.e. implementing agile at scale, can be quite challenging.
So, what is agile at scale?
Agile at scale is defined as the ability to drive agile at the team level while applying the same sustainable principles, practices, and outcomes at other layers of the organization.
There’s no single correct way to scale agile. In fact, many organizations have had great success evolving their processes, teams, and cultures using differing frameworks for scaling agile. Two of the major frameworks used in large enterprises are the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), and Large Scale Scrum (LeSS). These frameworks help expanding organizations decentralize decision-making, create alignment between R&D teams, reduce time-to-market, and implement the values of agile throughout the organization.
Continue reading to learn what’s trending about LeSS and SAFE — what they require, how they work, and why they're highly adopted in driving agile strategies throughout all layers of the organization.
LeSS Framework and Scaling Agile
As of 2020, approximately 50% of organizations are using agile practices to manage the development of projects. Additionally, 42% of respondents plan to increase their use of agile by 2022. Consequently, LeSS is an agile framework rising in popularity across enterprises with large software development teams.
The LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) framework is all about figuring out how to apply the principles, purpose, elements, and simplicity of scrum on a larger scale. Scrum is typically used to help manage and execute projects for a single team. LeSS enables scrum to scale throughout the enterprise and across multiple teams. Often, people think agile and scrum are one in the same. When in reality, scrum is a framework for accomplishing tasks and projects whereas agile is a mindset. LeSS empowers organizations to use this scaling agile framework to apply the simplistic nature of scrum to all cross-functional teams throughout the organization, thus accomplishing agility at scale.
Take the global machinery company John Deere, for example. John Deere implemented a LeSS framework into their organization in 2018 after experiencing problems with the feeble team structure, inability to predict product delivery, and issues maintaining quality. Initially, the organization adopted LeSS to rebuild all teams to become self-managing and self-organizing. Consequently, after 6 months of working with a LeSS framework and properly restructuring the teams, the quality and reliability of the production improved greatly.
Now, there are two different LeSS configurations: LeSS and LeSS Huge. LeSS is best designed for up to eight teams (10-50 people) whereas LeSS Huge accommodates more than eight teams to include up to a few thousand people on one project. Imagine working on a project with thousands of people lacking structure, alignment, or technology to help complete the project. LeSS shuts down those fears and enables teams big and small to become more agile, efficient, and productive.
SAFe Framework and Scaling Agile
According to the State of Agile Report for 2020, SAFe is currently the most popular method for scaling agile. Why is it so popular? Well, for starters, SAFe drives faster time-to-market, boosts productivity, improves product quality, and bolsters employee engagement.
SAFe is a knowledge base of proven, integrated principles and practices to support enterprise agility. It’s no surprise that larger enterprises move slower and tend to be more resistant to change than smaller organizations. This is one of the main drivers for scaling agile with SAFe amongst enterprises today.
With SAFe, teams at the project, program, and portfolio levels are aligned in their mission to solve complex problems quickly and efficiently. However, a core tenet of SAFe is that agility should never come at the cost of quality. There are five key dimensions of built-in quality, according to SAFe: flow, architecture and design quality, code quality, system quality, and release quality. This foundation of placing an equal level of importance on both agility and quality is one of the many reasons the SAFe framework has been adopted worldwide.
For SAFe to work for your organization, you need:
- executive-level buy-in
- a strong drive for operational efficiency
- and, your existing processes should already be rooted in scrum principles
Let’s look at an example of scaling agile with SAFe at American Express. For a while, the teams at American Express were using 40+-year-old platforms that required a lot of component work and weren't always consumable or reusable in global markets. Essentially, they needed to find a solution to improve flow to keep up with their competition. They adopted SAFe to guide their transformation to a more iterative process across all teams. With the SAFe framework in place, American Express experienced an approximate 50% increase in flow capacity unlocking their ability to make quick changes with much greater control and thus greatly mitigating failure points. As a result, American Express strengthened its portfolio capabilities, planning strategies, and CI/CD pipeline.
Final Thoughts
The preferred framework for scaling agile practices will be different for each organization. The decision to adopt agile methodologies is typically based on team size, project requirements, and company mindset. In addition, it’s also key to obtain buy-in from C-level management along with a mandate to implement change throughout the organization. Keep in mind, that agile frameworks often require readjusting the company’s hierarchical structure, which can be very challenging for enterprises. However, it’s also important to remember that scaling agile is a cultural transformation, taking into account team members from all levels and backgrounds to drive efficiency while working towards a common goal.
Thinking about how a scaled agile strategy could become your competitive advantage but not sure where to start? Contact our team to take the first step.
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