Scaled Agility in Large IT Organizations

Last modified Jul 5, 2021

Motivation

Over the past two decades, agile software development methods have been adopted by an increasing number of organizations to improve their software development processes. In contrast to traditional methods, agile methods place more emphasis on flexible processes than on detailed upfront plans and heavy documentations. Since agile methods have proved to be successful at the team level, large organizations are now aiming to scale agile methods to the enterprise level by adopting so-called scaling agile frameworks. Scaling agile methods at the enterprise level with some amount of architectural planning prevents excessive redesign efforts and functional redundancy in application architectures. An effective evolution of application architectures requires the right trade-off between emergent and intentional architectural design and a close collaboration between agile and architecture teams.

Scaling Agile Working Group

In the course of multiple workshops with the members of the project partners and scientific support (case studies), the role of scaling agile practices at different types of companies are investigated. In addition, recurring challenges and promising solution approaches are identified and discussed.

The workshops offer the opportunity for exchanging ideas between the experts considering their experiences, problems and challenges when it comes to establishing agile structures at scale.

Overview of the conducted workshops in Garching:

1. Workshop - 21.09.2017

2. Workshop - 21.02.2018

3. Workshop - 20.09.2018

4. Workshop - 19.02.2019

For more information about the project, please contact: Ömer Uludağ (oemer.uludag@tum.de)

Scaling Agile Hub and Pattern Catalog

The insights of the research project lead to the creation of an extensive pattern catalog with a novel pattern language for large scale agile development. Each pattern can be used to adress role specific concerns. Using the pattern catalog as a foundation, the initiative Scaling Agile Hub was started. It serves as a platform for exploring and sharing experiences regarding with the patterns within a social pattern community.

Visit the Scaling Agile Hub website: https://scaling-agile-hub.sebis.in.tum.de/#/

Publications

[Ul20a]	Uludağ, Ö.; Matthes, F.: Identifying Recurring Concerns and Best Practices of Enterprise and Solution Architects, EuroPLoP: European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, Kloster Irsee, 2020
[Ul19g]	Uludağ, Ö.; Proper, H. A.; Matthes, F.: Investigating the Establishment of Architecture Principles for Supporting Large-Scale Agile Transformations, EDOC: International Conference on Enterprise Distributed Object Computing, Paris, France, 2019.
[Ul19f]	Uludağ, Ö.; Matthes, F.: Recurring Concerns and Best Practices of Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters, PLoP: International Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, Ottawa, Canada, 2019.
[Ul19e]	Uludağ, Ö.; Harders, N.; Matthes, F.: Documenting Recurring Concerns and Patterns in Large-Scale Agile Development, EuroPLoP: European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, Kloster Irsee, 2019.
[Ul19d]	Uludağ, Ö.; Kleehaus, M.; Reiter, N.; Matthes, F.: What to Expect from Enterprise Architects in Large-Scale Agile Development? A Multiple-Case Study, AMCIS: Americas Conference on Information Systems, Cancún, 2019.
[Ul19c]	Uludağ, Ö.; Nägele, S.; Hauder, M.: Establishing Architecture Guidelines in Large-Scale Agile Development Through Institutional Pressures, AMCIS: Americas Conference on Information Systems, Cancún, 2019.
[Ul19b]	Uludağ, Ö.; Kleehaus, M.; Dreymann N.; Kabelin C.; Matthes, F.: Investigating the Adoption and Application of Large-Scale Scrum at a German Automobile Manufacturer, ICGSE: International Conference on Global Software Engineering, Montréal, Canada, 2019.
[Ul19a]	Uludağ, Ö.; Kleehaus, M.; Ercelik S.; Matthes, F.: Using Social Network Analysis to Investigate the Collaboration Between Architects and Agile Teams: A Case Study of a Large-Scale Agile Development Program in a German Consumer Electronics Company, XP: International Conference on Agile Software and Systems Development, Montréal, Canada, 2019.
[Ul18b]	Uludağ, Ö.; Kleehaus, M.; Caprano, C.; Matthes, F.: Identifying and Structuring Challenges in Large-Scale Agile Development Programs based on a Structured Literature Review, 21th Conference on Enterprise Distributed Object Computing (EDOC), Stockholm, Sweden 2018.
[Ul18a]	Uludağ, Ö.; Hauder, M.; Kleehaus, M.; Schimpfle, C.; Matthes, F.: Supporting Large-Scale Agile Development with Domain-driven Design, 19th International Conference on Agile Software Development (XP), Porto, Portugal 2018.
[Ul17]	Uludağ, Ö.; Kleehaus, M.; Xu, X.; Matthes, F.: Investigating the Role of Architects in Scaling Agile Frameworks, 21th Conference on Enterprise Distributed Object Computing (EDOC), Québec City, Canada, 2017.