Scaling Agile challenges and how to overcome them
As organizations, firms and companies strive to remain relevant and meet up with the rapid changes in trends and customer demands, they have come to the understanding or awareness that software project investment brings about competitive advantage, development and fast delivery of services. They made a large investment in software development projects to remain in the competition and adapt to any change. However, most of these software development projects were unsuccessful because they could not meet up the criteria used to measure the success of the project as some of the software takes time before it makes available customers’ requirements or adapts to changes in customers’ requirements. The failed software development projects led to the adoption of the Agile method. The success of the adoption of the Agile method has made organizations, teams and companies transition from the previous most-used software 'waterfall' methods to Agile methods.
What is the Agile method?
Agile software development methods help organizations in the delivery of values and services gradually with high quality and value within a short period. It aims at the quick response to changes and changes in customer requirements. Agile works effectively with a small number of teams ranging from 4 to 10, but as organizations resort to the adoption of Agile software development methods and also the execution of large and complex projects, the number of teams involved in Agile increased and also the scaling of Agile.
Scaling Agile is a flexible way or step of increasing the Agile team and resources for a more complex project. Scaled Agile focuses on large projects in large software organizations. They help to increase transparency, collaboration, and Agility in the whole organization. Scaling Agile methods are easy, flexible, and can easily cater to all the needs of the organization and it also helps in innovation in a world of ever-changing requirements. In scaling Agile, there are different frameworks for scaling Agile such as Spotify, Nexus, Scrum@Scale, Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), Large Scale Scrum(LeSS), Disciplined Agile Delivery(DAD). These Agile frameworks are used to address Project Management related challenges. SAFe is considered a widely used framework to scale Agile but it is complex and not so easy to implement.
Scaling Agile challenges
Adjusting to the different scaling methods or frameworks can not be completely done overnight and is also not so easy to implement, it takes time, consistency and patience to work with each framework or method. In any Agile scaling framework, many challenges do surface. Also, the process of transforming thoughts and execution of work is quite a difficult task. Even the most experienced software engineer faces some challenges or trouble while scaling Agile. However, scaling Agile comes with its benefits and challenges. Being able to understand the challenges could help to assist organizations in focusing on how to overcome some of the challenges to benefit fully from the chosen scaled Agile methods and scaling frameworks.
Below are some of the barriers and hassles organizations face when it comes to scaling Agile.
1. A shift in culture:
Many organizations or teams are accustomed to their traditional way of working, following rules, order or commands and keeping to the hierarchical system or process of working and being firmly devoted to following the plans made by the higher management. With a scaled Agile, a new culture of working has to be adopted as the workers or teams are expected to shed off their previous working culture and embrace the new culture. This helps to eliminate rules, order and command from the top management and enhances efficiency, transparency and innovation.
Changing to a new culture takes time as it is difficult for one to unlearn his normal system or process of working and learn a new one. Agile scaling methods and framework require the entire organization to act, process and think differently in every dimension to reach the expected goal. In Agile, teams have to give up their style of working and be ready to be part of something that will rule the way management is done in the future.
2. Lack of proper understanding of the methods and framework:
Some organizations and software engineers who are not experienced or knowledgeable enough on how Agile works will find it very difficult or challenging to scale Agile. This is one of the primary challenges faced while scaling Agile
3. Adapting to a new mindset:
Scaling Agile methods and frameworks requires organizations to adopt the right mindset for it, as when the professionals embrace the concepts of Agile, it will automatically contribute towards the Scaling of Agile in that organization.
4. Lack of team autonomy:
Leaders ought to be taught the concept of servant or workers leadership where the priorities of the teams are kept first. The team should be allowed to make and implement positive decisions rather than always waiting for the top management to make decisions for them.
5. Lack of modern tools:
Organizations tend to use tools that are obsolete and difficult to adapt to changes. It is difficult and it takes time for people to know how to make or adjust to new tools as people have developed a level of comfort with the tools they are using. To adjust to the use of new tools, first, there is a need to know the technology that is being used and secondly, technology know-how to help teach the people how to use it. Without the right technology solution, you will find it difficult to scale Agile properly.
6. Coordination in a large Agile team:
This is one of the major challenges faced by organizations in scaling Agile. Coordination and collaboration of project teams in scaling Agile sometimes have proven difficult as some team members lack the knowledge of how Agile works and some may have a poor attitude towards their work.
How to overcome scaling Agile challenges
Scaled Agile encourages flexibility, innovation, and collaboration among the teams. Due to the adoption of scaled Agile, the teams are enthusiastic about their work and also improve on areas they have little or no knowledge of. Although scaling Agile has a lot of challenges, there are easy ways to overcome and surpass these challenges.
1. Autonomy of the teams: Team members should be free from the control of the top management. They should be allowed to think and implement good decisions without the interference of the top management. Team autonomy will help contribute towards lower turnover and a high level of creativity, better performance, and innovation. Leaders need to build up their trust by continually allowing the teams to bring in their contributions. The teams would utilize the trust by delivering valuable outcomes in a scaled Agile.
2. Provide Agile coaching: To avoid the challenge of lack of knowledge of Agile it is best to hire a good Agile coach with deep understanding and experience in Agile to teach and train the people on how Agile works. This will help the team to have a proper understanding of scaling Agile.
3. Team Motivation: The teams and the top management as well need to be fully convinced of the benefits they would experience with scaling Agile. They should be reminded through awareness, seminar conferences or one on one talk of the benefits that come with scaling Agile. Also, all team members are to be involved through the process of future planning and their contribution is welcome in the planning. This will help overcome the problem of a nonchalant attitude to work development.
4. Transparency, collaboration, and communication: In an organization, the upper management needs to collaborate and communicate with the teams intensively about the changes and also make the change transparent so that the new way of working can be accepted.
5. Top management support: To ensure the successful adoption of scaled Agile, it is important to have the full support of the top management. Top managers play a key role in motivating the teams by providing them with any resources and ideas needed for changes. To support and help the teams work well the top managers ought to trust, cooperate effectively and also be transparent with the teams.
Conclusion
Different organizations are striving to accelerate and meet up with changes using software development. Since software development projects, organizations now embark on large and complex projects which is why organizations scale Agile. Implementing a scaled Agile will go a long way to help organizations execute large and complex projects. Although people expect that scaling Agile is as easy as it sounds, it has its ups and downs. The use of scaled Agile methods and frameworks comes with its challenges and benefits. However, organizations can overcome these challenges as it only takes time, consistency, and patience to attain the level of perfection and development the organization aims for.
References
- https://kendis.io/scaling-Agile/challenges/
- https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/ajis/vol13/iss2/2
- https://datafloq.com/read/top-7-challenges-scaling-agile/18879
- https://www.adaptovate.com/5-key-challenges-with-Agile-scale-and-how-to-overcome-them/
