Sprint 8: Scaling Agile/Lean
Table of Contents
1 About this Sprint
This sprint explores what happens when the organisation grows.
2 Sprint Goals
The student will have an understanding of what happens when the organisation and/or the product grows, and the challenges in scaling an agile/lean methodology.
3 Readings
3.1 Book Chapters
- M. Cohn “Succeeding with Agile”, chapters 21-22
- J. Rasmusson “The Agile Samurai”, chapter 15
3.2 Articles
Large Scale Lean [Pernstål et al. 2013] J. Pernstål, R. Feldt, T. Gorschek, The lean gap: A review of lean approaches to large-scale software systems development, in Journal of Systems and Software, 86(2013):2797–2821.
Large Scale Agile [Cao et al. 2004] L. Cao, K. Mohan, P. Xu, B. Ramesh, How Extreme does Extreme Programming have to be? Adapting XP Practices to Large-scale Projects, in Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, IEEE, 2004.
Applying Lean/Agile [Wang et al. 2012] X. Wang, K. Conboy, O. Cawley, ``Leagile’’ software development: An experience report analysis of the applicationof lean approaches in agile software development, in Journal of Systems and Software, 85(2012):1287–1299.
3.3 Further Reading Optional
Scaling Agile M. Cohn “Succeeding with Agile”, chapters 17-22
4 Experiential Learning
4.1 Introduction
In this assignment you are expected to stress-test your studied original process and your revised process candidates, from a set of different perspectives. This is done as a means to evaluate the changes that you have imposed. Hopefully, your revised process will not have the same bottlenecks as your original one, or they will at least support a larger volume (for a given definition of volume).
The intention of this assignment is to make you think about where the limitations are in your process when you scale up in different ways. This will give you an idea of what should be your next challenge to address in your process.
4.2 TODO Scaling Agile and Lean
4.2.1 Tasks
4.2.1.1 Consider Increased Input
If you add larger inputs to the process, what will be the effect on the different process steps? Which steps will take longer or shorter to perform? When will you reach a point where you are no longer able to deal with the amount of input in the same pace as it arrives? What can you do about it?
4.2.1.2 Consider Increased Frequency of Input
Likewise, if you add more inputs to the process, what will be the effect on the different processing steps? Which steps will take longer or shorter to perform? When will you reach a point where you are no longer able to deal with the amount of input in the same pace as it arrives? What can you do about it?
4.2.1.3 Consider Increased Capacity
If you increase the amount of resources (e.g. the staff) to deal with the also increasing input, what will be the effect? How will you deal with the new challenges that arises as a consequence?
4.2.2 Delivery
Deliver your assignment via e-mail as a written report or a well-annotated set of presentation slides to the course managers.
4.3 TODO Update Backlog
Based on what you have learnt in this sprint, update your Agile/Lean backlog accordingly. Specifically;
- Revisit the order of the course sprints. Are there any sprints you would like to do sooner or later?
- What can you take with you from this sprint into your own organisation?
- What do you need to learn more about?
Add and move items in your Agile/Lean backlog according to your needs and priorities.
5 Sprint Acceptance Tests
5.1 Assignment: Scaling Agile and Lean Checkpoint
The assignment is marked as Pass or Fail. The criteria for passing the assignment is that it is at least possible to use it for answering questions such as:
- What are the limitations to the current process when it comes to throughput or amount of incoming work?
- What are the limitations to the future processes when it comes to throughput or amount of incoming work?
- What differences are there between the current and the future processes in terms of their ability to e.g. handle an increased amount of incoming work?
- Is there a clear and viable plan for how to deal with an increased amount of incoming work?
- Is there a clear and viable plan for how to deal with an increased amount of resources?