Scaled Agile case studies
What are the most typical scaling problems, how to overcome them, and some case studies
The world is not black and white but quiet colourful!
Let’s start by stating that none of the solutions is universally “good” or “bad”. The more you learn, the bigger toolset you will have to tailor your own environment.
We are all in a journey, nothing is ever perfect. Even the companies mentioned below have many areas to improve**.** But hey, it’s good news, because it means that there is always room for improvements!
Difficulties coming from scaling
The bigger the company gets, the more difficult it will be to deliver complex software.
Some of the most typical scaling problems
Growing legacy systems
Complexity, dependencies on other systems
Bureaucracy, change resistance
Losing sight of the big picture
How can we overcome them?
Lean, Agile, and engineering practices are all important; Having a good mindset helps you avoid endless bureaucracy and micromanagement. On the other hand, you need the right engineering practices to be able to focus on the important work instead of wasting your time on repeating manual work. See the 7 wastes of Lean for software development.
I find these especially important:
Clear vision constantly communicated by product, and connected to everyday development
High transparency in team structures (Who is working on what?)
-> so, teams can self-organize their work with other teamsContinuous Integration for frequent code integration
Continuous Delivery for frequent customer feedback
Create a culture which attracts and keeps talent
(Why Two-Thirds of the Fastest-Growing Companies Fail)
Case studies
Spotify
You can learn about scaled Agile, and engineering practices implemented in Spotify. Many of these values we also passionately share at Infinik!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2o-Xm3UVjs
PayPal
To make scaled changes you usually need an iterative approach, because big bang solutions carry a huge risk and can easily fail. Well... they can, but not always. You can see a counter example with PayPal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtzJjbEATKk
Microsoft
You can learn about the technological, and process changes that helped Microsoft to reduce release time from 3 years to 3 months:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nno6DwevspI
Do you have any good story or advice? Share with us!
