Tailoring Agile in the Large: Experience and Reflections from a Large-Scale Agile Software Development Project

Abstract

Abstract. It is not surprising that agile methods are tailored or customized in various contexts and projects. However, there is little advice for practitioners for how to go about tailoring agile methods in large-scale projects. Henceforth, the aim of this experience report is to highlight some of the challenges with largescale agile software development and especially how to deal with these challenges involves continuous tailoring of the agile method in use. In so doing, we report from a large-scale agile software development effort involving more than 120 participants in a Governmental organization and running for 3,5 years. The project consisted of three deliverables, partly developed in parallel after a delivery model based on Scrum. After a much troubled start related to scaling challenges and architecture complexity during the first deliverable, the project was turnaround and the second and third deliverables were portrayed fairly successful by both supplier and customer. From a practitioner's perspective, we found that novel practices emerged through out the project that improved the way of workingespecially across teams and stakeholders. Based on this, we describe some guidelines for tailoring agile in the large.

To schedule or not to schedule? An investigation of meetings as an inter-team coordination mechanism in largescale agile software development

“…Scrum of Scrum is a scheduled meeting were one team-member acts as "ambassador" to participate in a daily meeting with ambassadors from other teams. However, Scrum of Scrum has been found to be inefficient in larger projects [30,31]. As a consequence, agile consultants have created several frameworks for scaling agile, such as the Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) [32] and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) [33].…”

A Theory of Scrum Team Effectiveness

“…Although Scrum teams are mentioned several times by scholars, team dynamics have rarely been the focus of an investigation. Rather than within the team, the research looked into the relationship between the team and the stakeholders, such as the Product Owner [20], and across teams [21].…”

Implementing Agility in Large Software Development Projects

“…However, applying the repeated multiple phases of feedback iteration on a much larger scale can encounter the number of challenges. As mentioned by [26] implementation of agility practices on a large scale setting often leads to a rising in misalignment in the management procedures. The main challenges experienced by the majority of the large-scale developers included a lack of documentation and coordination between the several teams in the projects.…”