Adopting Agile Methods in Large-scale Organizations using Scaling Frameworks

Abstract

Agile methods were originally developed for small and co-located teams. The popularity and success of agile methods in small teams led to growing interest on agile adoption across large organizations as well. However, there are several challenges while adopting agile to large, e.g., coordination between large number of teams and integration of other nondevelopment units e.g., HR, and marketing. Scaling frameworks, e.g. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and Large ScaleScrum (LeSS) to support scaling agile to large have become popular in the recent past. Despite of popularity, there is very little scientific research on usage of the scaling frameworks. The primary goal of the thesis is to investigate the adoption and usage of scaling frameworks in practice. The goal is divided into two parts: a) scaling frameworks usage and adoption and b) SAFe usage and adoption. In the first part, we conducted two surveys. The first survey aimed to explore why the frameworks were developed, and how they were evolved, their benefits and challenges directly from the practitioners who developed them. Later, in second survey, we collected data from 204 software practitioners using scaling frameworks to understand the reasons, expected benefits and satisfaction of using them. In the second part, we conducted a multivocal literature review (MLR) due to the lack of scientific evidence on SAFe, to understand the benefits and challenges of SAFe adoption. Next, we conducted an indepth case study to explore the reasons, transformation process, benefits and challenges of SAFe. To get a wider overview of the benefits and challenges of SAFe we conducted a survey, to explore the benefits and challenges of SAFe. Our results for the first part show that majority of the frameworks were designed to improve agility, collaboration, coordination,and synchronization between agile teams. The most common reasons for their adoption were to scale more people and deal with existing challenges and pain points. The benefits of adopting these frameworks were categorized intoto business, product, organizational, and culture and the challenges were categorized to implementation, organizational,and scope. Our results for the second part show that reasons for SAFe adoption are related to organizational, business,and framework-specific. SAFe transformation activities typically map with the SAFe roadmap activities. The most common benefits of SAFe adoption are improved transparency, collaboration and faster time to market. The most significant challenges of SAFe adoption are identifying value streams and forming ARTs, change resistance, and inculcating an agile mindset. More in-depth research on scaling frameworks is needed to establish the effectiveness oftheir usage in practice. We encourage researchers to conduct in-depth case studies on their usage and adoption.