Frameworks for Scaling Agile

What is Agile?

Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches.

What is Agile at Scale?

The Agile at Scale definition describes the holistic anchoring of agile principles, mindsets, values, and practices in a company. Therefore, the Agile at Scale definition involves transforming not only all employees, but also programs, portfolios, IT and culture to Agile. Agile at Scale is introduced both horizontally and vertically in an organization. The goal is to improve collaboration and processes to produce faster and more agile results.

The frameworks available for Agile Scaling:

SAFe:

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) provides you with various organizational and workflow templates to implement agile practices in your organization. It promotes alignment, collaboration, and delivery across large numbers of agile teams. It was formed around three primary bodies of knowledge: agile software development, lean product development, and systems thinking.

LeSS:

LeSS is a framework for scaling scrum to multiple teams who work together on a single product. It starts with a foundation of one scrum team, as defined by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland in the Scrum Guide, and applies to multiple teams who work together on one product.

The LeSS framework seeks to apply the principles and ideals of scrum in a large-scale enterprise context as simply as possible through defined rules and guides. Its simplicity has earned LeSS the label of being a “barely sufficient” framework, but that’s not meant to cast it in a negative light.

DA (Disciplined Agile)

Disciplined Agile, or DA, is an Agile framework that supplies lightweight guidance to help teams practice Agile at scale. DA emphasizes a “people-first” approach to Agile and is typically thought of as a hybrid of XP, Scrum, Kanban, and other Agile frameworks.

Disciplined Agile is best for organizations who are already familiar with Agile principles, because it does not offer much in the way of teaching basic Agile principles or practices. But for mature Agile organizations looking for a lightweight, hybrid approach to scaling, DA can be a winning approach.

Spotify Model

Spotify, the audio streaming platform, has introduced many to the world of Agile – so much so that a specific configuration of Agile they once applied and popularized is referred to as the Spotify Model.

The Spotify Model is a people-driven, autonomous approach to scaling Agile. Technically, it is not a framework so much as it is a shining example of practicing Agile at scale. Spotify engineers documented their approach to scaling Agile (in a now-famous document called Scaling Agile @ Spotify, and shared it with the world – and many organizations have aimed to emulate it ever since.

S @ S

Scrum@Scale (S@S) is based - as the name suggests - on Scrum. It is an extension of Scrum that is usually used by companies that already work with Scrum on a team level. The framework aims to align the growing organization with common goals. In doing so, the so-called Scrum of Scrums, which consists of the Scrum Masters of the individual teams and the MetaScrum of all product owners, coordinates the implementation of the framework.