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Go Beyond: Scaling of Agile Software Development Lifecycle Across the Whole Company

Software impacts everything. We check the weather info over the web, we navigate our path via GPS, we calculate burned calories after a long walk via smartwatches. We use software on a daily basis, and basically, software has became a huge part of our lives. At some point, software defines our life today.

But what is the main problem with this? The main problem is that there’s no how-to’s of writing amazing software within a brief timeline. Waterfall methodology became irrelevant  more than 15 years ago. Instead of it, IT industry discovered Agile. While Waterfall failed, Agile assured positive results.

For now, there is a proof that Agile became mainstream methodology. Many old giants have implemented it within their development process. Microsoft is now improving Agile support within TFS, and also many other products; IBM just launched Jazz Agile platform.

But what if companies take the methodology not only within a development team, but also scale it across the whole organization?

For those who might be unaware, Agile was made for teams, not for the organizations. It might be possible to ensure the main Agile attributes, such as governance and collaboration, are driving the teamwork. But would it be possible to ensure the same on a corporate level? And on the other hand, if we have Agile-team in non-Agile organization, then surely the team will have to apply un-Agile processes sometimes.

Most of businesses are still living in a Waterfall-to-Scrum frame. The difference between approaches may be more than frustrating to Agile-teams, but more than that, the difference lead to reduced work quality, effectiveness and business value overall. So what should the business do if decides to scale an Agile?

Well, first of all teams must put their processes and tools on a test. That might be not so great thing to hear for Agile practitioners, but scaling on a company level means effective tools, transparent processes and documented practices. Here is four fundamental things that must be inspected:

  • Flow. How ownership is maintained through the lifecycle, how information is added or changed through the whole timeline, what artifacts are added, when they added and why. Flow must be documented on all levels.
  • Communication. How teams and departments cooperates with each other. Yes, there are emails and there are meetings, but provision of access to in-context activity streams, such as HipChat messenger, may accelerate the communication.
  • Measurement. How company is measuring teams. It’s really important one, because clear definition of what to do and what is expected assures great teamwork. People must be aware of how great they move in a set direction.
  • Compliance. Software does not operate in an empty space. It must ensure smooth business operations, and these correlation of “software-business” should be inspected by a third-party.  Audit is a real need: just as we inspect organization’s financial or medical compliance, we should inspect software compliance to company’s actual business needs.

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