Agile Scaling Models
Agile Scaling Models

Summary/Abstract: In the current technology world some companies are more successful than others. While cutting edge technology is available to almost everyone, what differentiates these enterprises? The answer to that could be ‘Agile’. One of the challenges with agile software development is scalability. In this research overview I provide some information about various agile scaling models. Here we have determined that the agile methodology is construed into different models (Ambler) for effective adoption and tailoring of agile practices to meet the unique challenges faced by a system delivery team or an organization. Our practical experience with agile software development is also integrated here in this paper. Core Agile Development: Core agile methods, such as Scrum and Agile Modeling, are self- governing have a value-driven system development lifecycle (SDLC), and address a portion of the development lifecycle. Teams that follow this approach follow the agile practices such as daily stand ups, retrospective meetings, sprint reviews etc. this model is best suited for fairly straight forward development projects where in the teams are co-located. Methodical Agile development : This process includes Dynamic System Development [1] method that go further by covering complete system development life cycle using agile, right from the project inception to transitioning the system into a deployment ready production project. They are self-governed projects that have multiple levels of management involved and value driven approaches to the lifecycle. In these types of projects multiple teams share the same backlog (list of user requirements), these teams need not necessarily be co- located, and they work on distinct feature sets and seldom need to collaborate with the other teams. Each team works as an atomic independent entity wherein they follow all the agile practices. This is an efficient model for offshore-onsite project teams working on the same system. This approach requires a lot of collaboration between the product owners and scrum masters, they have to ensure they gather the requirements and groom the backlog based on the customer’s priorities, at the same time ensure that the two teams don’t interfere with the others development process. Agility at Scale: This model focuses on disciplined agile delivery where one or more scaling factors apply; the scaling factors are team size, geographical distribution, organizational complexity etc. To address these scaling factors organizations have to tailor the agile model to their requirements. One Example is a project that has scrum team members both in the US and in India, these team members share the same backlog and are assigned interdependent user stories, this approach works only if the agile practices like daily stand ups and review meetings are omitted, or conducted via emails. However the team still would follow 2/3 weeks sprints, participate in story grooming and perform peer review driven development. This model operates by adopting a few new practices and overlooking a few existing ones.

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