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.
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.
What are the five pillars of Scaled Agile Lean Development?
The five pillars of Scaled Agile Lean Development comprise:
Connected Agile & Lean Frameworks
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