The world’s top organizations are getting their product releases to market 50% faster, with 30% fewer defects. They’re seeing greater alignment between business and IT teams and delivering better customer experiences along the way.

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Securing Executive Buy-In

Scaling Agile successfully means everyone’s mindset must change – from developers through to executive leadership. However, the most important piece of the puzzle when scaling Agile is securing executive buy-in. High-level stakeholders need to sponsor the transition to Agile and support its execution. Unfortunately, the inability to get executive buy-in from senior leaders is one of the biggest obstacles to scaling Agile development processes in any organization.

Oftentimes executives either don’t understand Agile or don’t want to understand Agile, and this leads to roadblocks that will delay your organization’s Agile transformation. When this occurs, rather than “pitching” Agile to resistant executives, focus on the larger objectives of the business as a whole and how Agile can help management achieve these goals better, faster, or with less risk than the current process.

Executive buy-in can be secured by addressing their concerns about scaling Agile and educating them about the process.

Evaluating Enterprise Agile Frameworks

Understanding the challenges that most large organizations face as they try to scale Agile has led thought leaders to design Lean-Agile frameworks to help address these associated problems. Currently, there are 13 frameworks available, each with their unique approach to solving the problems of Agile at scale. The three leading frameworks are:

Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS)

Built on the principles of Scrum, LeSS incorporates a single Product Backlog (because it’s for a product, not a team), one Definition of Done for all teams, one Potentially Shippable Product Increment at the end of each sprint, one Product Owner, and many complete, cross-functional teams.

Disciplined Agile 2.0

The Disciplined Agile approach is goal-driven rather than prescriptive. Disciplined Agile 2.0 suggests choosing a work-prioritization strategy based on whatever factors are most important to project stakeholders: business value, risk, due date, dependencies, or any combination of thereof.

Disciplined Agile is based on real data, providing business stakeholders and development teams immediate insight into what’s going on in other organizations. It promotes enterprise awareness that’s based on industry success.

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

SAFe is the most widely adopted methodology for implementing Agile practices within high-risk complex IT initiatives at enterprise scale. The overarching goal of SAFe is to enable the continuous delivery of maximum value and quality to the customer in the shortest sustainable lead time. SAFe is designed to align stakeholders, manage cross-project dependencies, and orchestrate product delivery so that large organizations can benefit from Agile and Lean approaches.

Discover the 9 Principles of SAFe

Which Framework is Right for My Organization?

The truth is, while all frameworks have their merits, none should be seen as the one and only “right way” for an organization to structure its development process. We recommend that you evaluate and select a Lean-Agile framework that best suits the unique needs of your organization. You’re not limited to just one, create your own mixed model.

Download our eBook: The Complete Guide to Scaling Agile Software Development

Cross-Functional Teams

Cross-functional teams are essential to ensuring the successful implementation of Agile at scale. Cross-functional teams optimize flexibility, creativity, and productivity, and have proven to be the best way to provide on-time delivery of high-quality solutions. The team is organized around a product and must include all skills needed to plan and deliver the fastest realization of value.

Cross-functional teams can only be successful when Agile practices are applied to both upstream and downstream processes. Upstream practices support the alignment of business and IT teams, while downstream processes facilitate effective communication between development, testing, and operations.

Explore the 7 Key Benefits of Agile Cross-Functional Teams