Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses discover a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling questions. The ScALed approach helps businesses successfully respond to change. Inspired by a combination of lean and agile values, ScALed is practitioner-based and can be completed through various agile frameworks and practices.
Element | Description | Implications | Examples | Applications |
---|---|---|---|---|
Framework | SAFe is a comprehensive framework for scaling Agile and Lean practices across large organizations. | – Provides a structured approach to agile scaling. | SAFe Big Picture, SAFe Principles, Lean-Agile Mindset, House of Lean. | Scaling Agile practices in large enterprises. |
Core Values | SAFe is built on four core values: Alignment, Built-in Quality, Transparency, and Program Execution. | – Guides behavior and decision-making in SAFe. | Teams prioritize alignment, quality, transparency, and execution in their work. | Ensuring consistency and shared values in SAFe adoption. |
Principles | SAFe encompasses a set of ten principles that underpin the framework’s practices and guidance. | – Serve as foundational guidelines for SAFe. | Lean-Agile Leadership, Lean Systems Thinking, and more. | Guiding organizations in their Lean-Agile transformation. |
SAFe Roles | Describes roles within SAFe, such as Product Owner, Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer, and more. | – Clarifies responsibilities and accountability. | Scrum Master facilitates Scrum events; Product Owner prioritizes backlog, etc. | Defining roles to ensure effective Agile development. |
SAFe Practices | Comprises various practices for portfolio, large solution, program, and team levels. | – Provides actionable guidance for implementation. | PI Planning, Scrum, Kanban, Lean-Agile Principles, and more. | Implementing Lean-Agile practices across organization levels. |
Scaled Agile Release Trains | Teams of Agile teams working together to deliver value, aligned to a common mission or goal. | – Promotes cross-functional collaboration. | A Release Train delivers software, hardware, or both, in a value stream. | Enhancing coordination and delivery of large solutions. |
Lean Portfolio Management | Focuses on aligning strategy and execution by applying Lean and systems thinking to portfolio management. | – Ensures investments align with strategy. | Lean-Agile Budgeting, Strategy and Investment Funding, Agile Release Trains (ARTs). | Aligning portfolio decisions with Lean-Agile principles. |
Inspect & Adapt (I&A) | A significant event in SAFe that provides a routine, face-to-face opportunity for the current state of the Solution to be demonstrated and evaluated. | – Allows for regular course correction and improvement. | System Demo, Problem-Solving Workshop, Retrospectives, Innovation & Planning Iterations (IP Iterations). | Continuously improving the solution based on feedback. |
Lean-Agile Mindset | Encourages a mindset shift toward Lean and Agile principles to foster a culture of continuous improvement. | – Shapes behavior, values, and organizational culture. | Emphasizes learning, decentralizing decision-making, and embracing change. | Cultivating an Agile and Lean-oriented organizational culture. |
Customer-Centric Approach | SAFe emphasizes customer-centricity, with a focus on delivering value that meets customer needs. | – Prioritizes delivering what customers value most. | Developing features based on customer feedback, user stories, and feedback loops. | Meeting customer expectations and enhancing satisfaction. |
Lean-Thinking Principles | Lean thinking principles such as eliminating waste, optimizing flow, and delivering value guide SAFe practices. | – Aims to improve efficiency and reduce inefficiencies. | Applying Kanban to visualize and optimize workflow, reducing batch sizes, and more. | Enhancing productivity and resource utilization. |
Understanding Scaled Agile Lean Development
Many organizations fail to realize that becoming more agile is challenging and risky.
This was exemplified by businesses that tried to emulate Toyota Production System (TPS) practices without first understanding the principles and values that powered it.
Without a fundamental understanding of how to embody or scale agile principles, these attempts inevitably fail as environmental conditions change.
Indeed, none of the principles of this approach are new – but many have been reworked and refined to specifically address the challenges associated with scaling.
The five pillars of Scaled Agile Lean Development
ScALeD incorporates 13 principles from lean and agile thinking. The 13 principles are structured such that they occupy five pillars:
Excited customers
Excited customers mean that the business can sustain growth through smart product development.
This means:
Defining the product value proposition and determine how value is created
Product-related goals guide objectives and strategy and value helps every team stay focused.
Producing small, deliverable increments
Each increment must build on the previous increment by adding value, reducing complexity, and minimizing risks.
Happy and productive employees
Happy employees are productive employees. Businesses can create conditions where productivity thrives by:
Cross-functional teams
Establishing independent, cross-functional teams that can communicate with each other freely.
Empowering employees
Scaling agile necessitates that individuals possess the relevant skills.
They must also be encouraged to take ownership of their work by making decisions as they see fit.
Global optimization
It’s important to consider the entire value chain before scaling by routinely integrating modules and components.
This helps avoid sub-optimization that results from a preoccupation with individual components.
Three principles belong to this pillar:
Creating transparency
Robust decisions can only be made if individuals have the right information in front of them.
Relevant information must be exchanged regularly and not be hidden away or hoarded by select individuals.
Direct communication
To assist in the exchange of knowledge, skills, goals, or concerns, it must be communicated in a personal and direct manner.
Creating flow and rhythm
Which facilitate high-performance teams and timely handovers.
Supportive leadership
Managers must be support employees in their quest to deliver value. This can be achieved through:
Setting goals that are free of constraints, rigid structuring, or other hurdles
The employee must also be supported to achieve goals sustainably.
Decentralized control
Most important decisions should be made by those carrying out the work.
If multiple teams are involved then their coordination should also be managed without an overbearing hierarchical presence.
Cultivating change and then changing the culture
Scaling agile successfully means that each relevant party understands the reasons for the change in the first place.
Management should embody the philosophy of change to increase buy-in from subordinates.
Continuous improvement
Continuous improvement is a fundamental agile practice that is facilitated by frequent inspection and adaptation.
In other words:
Inspect and then adapt the product
Frequent re-evaluation of the product in terms of whether it is meeting consumer needs is vital in scaling agile.
Inspect and then adapt to the development process
Like the ninth principle, this means that teams manage and take ownership of their internal processes.
If a strategy needs to be clarified, then the team comes together to determine the best way forward.
This means that they also identify inherent strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly.
Inspect and adapt to the organization
Scaling at the organization level means that the organization itself must also be continually inspected and adapted.
Opportunities and challenges should be identified and improvements devised in line with ScALeD principles.
Key takeaways
- Scaled Agile Lean Development helps businesses scale agile practices at the organizational level.
- Scaled Agile Lean Development is based on various agile and lean principles. Indeed, ScALeD principles are nothing new but they provide guidance to project teams on how these principles can be embodied and implemented.
- Scaled Agile Lean Development organizes thirteen principles into five key pillars: excited customers, happy and productive employees, global optimization, supportive leadership, and continuous improvement.
Key Highlights
- ScALeD Approach: Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) offers a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling by combining lean and agile values. It helps businesses respond effectively to change and can be implemented through various agile frameworks and practices.
- Understanding Agile Challenges: Many organizations struggle with becoming more agile due to the complexity and risks involved. Emulating practices like the Toyota Production System without understanding the underlying principles often leads to failure.
- Five Pillars of ScALeD:
- Excited Customers: Creating value by defining product value propositions, producing small, deliverable increments, and focusing on customer satisfaction.
- Happy and Productive Employees: Enhancing productivity by establishing cross-functional teams, empowering employees, and promoting global optimization.
- Supportive Leadership: Enabling supportive management that sets unconstrained goals and allows decentralized decision-making.
- Creating Flow and Rhythm: Facilitating high-performance teams, efficient handovers, and direct communication.
- Continuous Improvement: Emphasizing frequent inspection, adaptation of products, development processes, and the organization itself.
- Continuous Improvement: The core agile principle of continuous improvement is essential in ScALeD, encouraging regular inspection, adaptation of products, development processes, and organizational strategies.
- Organization-Level Scaling: ScALeD helps organizations scale agile practices by organizing principles into key pillars that guide teams on implementing agile and lean principles effectively.
- Unique Principles: While the principles of ScALeD are not new, they provide a structured way to implement and embody agile and lean values, offering guidance to project teams.
Related Frameworks | Description | When to Apply |
---|---|---|
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) | – A framework for scaling Agile practices across large enterprises, enabling alignment, collaboration, and delivery at scale. SAFe provides guidance on organizing teams, coordinating work, and delivering value in complex environments. | – When scaling Agile practices across large organizations or multiple teams, focusing on alignment, collaboration, and value delivery effectively. – Implementing SAFe to enable coordination, synchronization, and delivery at scale while maintaining Agile principles and practices. |
Lean Startup | – A methodology for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles, validate assumptions, and learn from customer feedback quickly. The Lean Startup emphasizes experimentation, iteration, and validated learning. | – When launching new products or ventures in a fast-changing market, focusing on rapid experimentation, customer validation, and iterative development effectively. – Applying Lean Startup principles to minimize waste, validate assumptions, and accelerate learning in product development. |
Kanban Method | – A visual management approach for organizing work and workflows, visualizing progress, and limiting work in progress (WIP). The Kanban Method helps teams improve flow, reduce lead time, and increase efficiency. | – When seeking to optimize workflow, visualize progress, and limit work in progress effectively to improve efficiency and productivity. – Implementing the Kanban Method to manage work and workflows visually, reduce lead time, and enhance team collaboration. |
DevOps Culture | – A culture and set of practices that emphasize collaboration, communication, and integration between development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams to deliver high-quality software rapidly and reliably. | – When aiming to improve collaboration, communication, and integration between development and operations teams to accelerate software delivery and enhance product quality effectively. – Fostering a DevOps Culture to promote collaboration, automation, and continuous delivery in software development and operations. |
Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) | – A set of practices and principles for automating software delivery processes, including continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), and continuous deployment. CI/CD enables teams to deliver code changes more frequently, reliably, and efficiently. | – When seeking to automate software delivery processes, increase deployment frequency, and improve code quality and reliability effectively. – Implementing CI/CD practices to automate testing, integration, and deployment processes and enable faster and more reliable software delivery. |
Lean Manufacturing | – A production philosophy focused on delivering value to customers while minimizing waste and optimizing processes. Lean Manufacturing principles include identifying value, mapping value streams, creating flow, establishing pull, and pursuing perfection. | – When aiming to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and optimize processes by focusing on delivering value to customers effectively. – Implementing Lean Manufacturing principles to streamline operations, eliminate waste, and enhance customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. |
Agile Methodologies | – A set of values, principles, and practices for iterative and incremental software development. Agile methodologies emphasize customer collaboration, adaptability, and delivering value in short cycles. | – When developing software or products in a fast-paced and uncertain environment that requires flexibility, adaptability, and customer focus effectively. – Applying Agile methodologies to foster collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement in software development. |
Six Sigma | – A data-driven approach to process improvement that aims to reduce defects, variations, and waste in business processes. Six Sigma uses statistical methods and quality management techniques to achieve operational excellence. | – When seeking to improve process quality, reduce defects, and increase operational efficiency effectively. – Implementing Six Sigma methodologies to identify and eliminate defects, variations, and waste in business processes and achieve measurable improvements in quality and efficiency. |
Agile Testing | – A collaborative approach to software testing that integrates testing activities into Agile development processes. Agile Testing focuses on early and continuous testing, feedback-driven development, and delivering high-quality software increments. | – When integrating testing activities seamlessly into Agile development processes to ensure early defect detection, continuous quality improvement, and customer satisfaction effectively. – Adopting Agile Testing practices to foster collaboration between development and testing teams, deliver high-quality software increments, and respond quickly to changing requirements. |
Design Thinking | – A human-centered approach to innovation that focuses on understanding user needs, ideating creative solutions, prototyping, and testing. Design Thinking encourages empathy, collaboration, and experimentation in problem-solving. | – When solving complex problems or developing innovative solutions that meet user needs effectively. – Applying Design Thinking principles to foster empathy, collaboration, and experimentation in product development and problem-solving. |
What are the five pillars of Scaled Agile Lean Development?
The five pillars of Scaled Agile Lean Development comprise:
Connected Agile & Lean Frameworks
Read Also: Continuous Innovation, Agile Methodology, Lean Startup, Business Model Innovation, Project Management.
Read Next: Agile Methodology, Lean Methodology, Agile Project Management, Scrum, Kanban, Six Sigma.
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