EN 
DE Agile frameworks at the enterprise level
Author: Urs Böhm, Noser Engineering
Contribution – Embedded Software Engineering Congress 2017
Agile Teams
With the turn of the millennium, the Agile Manifesto and, consequently, agile methods such as Scrum and Kanban became established in software development. Traditional methods like the Waterfall and V-models are increasingly being relegated to the background and niche applications. New, young, and well-trained developers and managers expect agile methods for both projects and line development tasks.
Scrum explicitly addresses the team size of 7 plus or minus 2. This has proven effective since the time of the Roman legions. Back then, 8 legionaries formed a "contubernium" (tent group), who worked and lived together in a spirit of sworn unity.
For larger software projects, a team is often too small or cannot represent all the necessary skills. Kanban development groups can grow somewhat larger, but then you lose team benefits and are still somewhat limited.
This is where scaling comes into play. What do you do when you're building systems that require dozens, hundreds, or more people, but still want to leverage the strengths of individual teams?
You have to scale!
I will discuss three different proven frameworks:
- Safe https://www.scaledagileframework.com/#
- LesS https://less.works/
- Scrum of Scrum (website diversity)
(see illustration in the PDF)
Management support is needed for the transformation.
Behind all of these frameworks is an active community that provides support and adapts and further develops the frameworks. The material is largely copyrighted and freely available on the internet. There are also countless videos about all of these frameworks available online.
From project management to flow management
A colleague and software architect opened my eyes with the words: "Software is never finished, you just keep developing it..."„
In the realm of scaled agile frameworks, software development tends to be more flow-oriented than project-based. This needs to be analyzed, understood, and applied. When working with a flow-based task, different methods are required than for a project-based approach.
Risks, costs, planning
- Project/product will not be completed (cancelled)
- Product is not in use (released)
- Time to market – The features that offer the highest added value should be available first.
This is where the crucial areas of budgeting and prioritization come into play. For large projects requiring a significant number of employees, these decisions are made at the company level and must also be agile. It's a high-risk strategy to use traditional budgeting and planning at the company level while attempting agile product development. This might be manageable for small projects, but in my opinion, it's not feasible for scaled ones!
Conclusion
The consultant often says, "It depends." There is no "silver bullet" or "one size fits all" solution. The current situation and the challenges determine the optimal solution.
All three frameworks work when implemented correctly in a suitable environment. Before switching, please analyze and assess your situation. Consult with experts. Ensure you are in a suitable environment. If not, you will have to create one, which can be time-consuming and demanding.
Keep reserves on hand for radical changes.
Your software – especially in the embedded systems field – may not be large enough to justify these frameworks. Please consider whether breaking down the overall task into smaller subtasks with defined system and project boundaries might be more effective.
Left:
The Universe of „Agile“ Methods
GOTO 2015 Why Scaling Agile Doesn't Work
GOTO 2015 Agile is Dead Pragmatic Dave Thomas
author
Speaker Urs Böhm He studied electrical engineering at Saarland University. For over 15 years, he has worked in embedded software, firmware, and hardware projects as a project manager, consultant, and developer. He continuously expands his knowledge in project management and holds certifications such as VDI Project Engineer, Certified ScrumMaster, and IPMA Level C Project Manager. He has presented at the Embedded Software Engineering Congress and other conferences.
Management – our training & coaching
Do you want to bring yourself up to date with the latest technology?
Then find out more here MircoConsult offers training courses/seminars/workshops and individual coaching on the topics of management / process, project and product management.
Training & coaching on the other topics in our portfolio can be found here. here.
Management – Expertise
Valuable expertise in management / process, project and product management is available. here Available for you to download free of charge.
You can find expertise on other topics in our portfolio here. here.
