What Everyone Needs to Know About Agile Scaling Frameworks

Many organizations use an Agile scaling framework that scales Scrum, such as SAFe, Nexus, LeSS, Spotify, or Scrum@Scale. However, do you really need to scale Agile? And how do you know?u003cbru003eu003cbru003eIn this blog, you will learn more about how you can know whether you should scale Agile or not.

Large organizations often have many cross-functional and cross-disciplinary teams working on different products and services. To help them do so effectively in a complex environment, many organizations use an Agile scaling framework that scales u003ca href=u0022https://academy.xebia.com/discipline/scrum/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eScrumu003c/au003e, such as u003ca href=u0022https://www.scrum.org/resources/online-nexus-guideu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eNexusu003c/au003e, u003ca href=u0022https://www.scaledagileframework.com/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eSAFeu003c/au003e, u003ca href=u0022https://less.works/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eLeSSu003c/au003e, u003ca href=u0022https://blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SpotifyScaling.pdfu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eSpotifyu003c/au003e, or u003ca href=u0022https://www.scrumatscale.com/scrum-at-scale-guide/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eScrum@Scaleu003c/au003e. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eTo be sure, there is nothing wrong with that. If you need a scaling framework, that is.

Most organizations that use Agile scaling frameworks seem unaware of u003ca href=u0022https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directiveu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eThe Prime Directiveu003c/au003e of Agile Scaling: u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eDon’tu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e. Do not scale if you don’t have to.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eHow do you know if you have to scale? Some companies start scaling when they realize that they cannot develop their product within the confines of a single team.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eOther companies start scaling when they realize that they can’t complete the work they need to do within the preferred time frame. When do they realize this? When they have tried to create the product or service with one to five Scrum Teams. That is, when they have tried — and failed — to deliver a sufficient number of done increments with plain vanilla Scrum.

If you have not yet tried to scale Scrum and it is working well for you, don’t. The benefits of u003ca href=u0022https://scrumguides.org/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eScrumu003c/au003e come from its simplicity. When you start adding processes on top of Scrum, you lose those benefits. So unless you need to scale Scrum, u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003edon’t.u003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eIf you have tried Scrum and it is not working well for you, don’t scale either. Scaling a framework that is not working will not make it work. You need to diagnose and fix the problems with Scrum before scaling it.

When you have to scale Scrum, there are many scaling frameworks to choose from. Many of them are based on the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). SAFe is a good framework, but it is not the only one. Other frameworks, such as LeSS and Spotify, might be a better fit for your organization.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eAll of these frameworks assume you’re great at a smaller scale with, for example, Scrum and u003ca href=u0022https://academy.xebia.com/discipline/kanban/u0022u003eKanbanu003c/au003e, or well on your way to becoming great.

The key thing is to pick the right framework for your organization. Don’t just use SAFe because somebody sold you on it. The truth is, it doesn’t matter which one you pick, as long as you avoid the urge to, u003ca href=u0022https://www.craiglarman.com/wiki/index.php?title=Larman%27s_Laws_of_Organizational_Behavioru0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eas Craig Larman puts itu003c/au003e, pragmatically customize it for local concerns.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eSo, if it doesn’t matter which framework you pick, and you know you need to pick one because you have tried Scrum at a smaller scale only to discover you need more than five teams to get it done, how do you choose?u003cbru003eu003cbru003eTry them all. Seriously. Invite your teams to run some experiments with all frameworks. Consider using u003ca href=u0022https://openspaceagility.com/u0022u003eOpenSpace Agilityu003c/au003e as an implementation framework. Then, let them decide which one is most likely to work well for them. Be prepared to be surprised!