Abstract Due to their benefits regarding resilience to change and adaptability, agile methods are widely adopted in the software development industry. Despite being intended for small co-located teams, organizations have started to scale agile methods, e.g., applying them in multi-team projects. Consequently, effective and efficient knowledge sharing and coordination become more complex, and agile intra-team practices are not sufficient anymore. While several case studies investigate knowledge sharing and coordination in the scaled agile context, an overview across multiple organizations is missing. To fill this gap, we combined the results of a literature review of 69 studies and an interview study to gain an overview of how coordination and knowledge sharing are conducted in scaled agile organizations and what factors hinder or facilitate their effectiveness and efficiency. Our findings show that organizations implement various mechanisms, including roles (e.g., Product Owners), meetings (e.g., ad-hoc exchange), tools and artifacts (e.g., chats), and other structures (e.g., Communities of Practice). Organizations struggle particularly with misalignment among teams and units, insufficient communication, and distribution across different working locations. Key enabling factors are documentation efforts, as well as both formal and informal exchanges. Context is crucial and should be regularly reassessed as needs evolve. Also, strong organizational support is needed to facilitate coordination and knowledge sharing.

Abstract New Work and agile methodologies share a common foundation in their aim to foster autonomy, collaboration, and adaptability. Their benefits make both concepts highly relevant for organizations as they support agility, innovation, and attractiveness to existing and potential employees. Still, implementing these concepts within large, established companies remains challenging. Therefore, this case study investigates a Community of Practice that promotes New Work principles within a large software organization aiming to be agile and innovative. Our study explores the establishment and functioning of this community and its effectiveness in advancing New Work practices within the case company. The community has been growing and has achieved its first success in promoting New Work, but there remains potential for improvement. In particular, a clearer mandate from the upper management is needed.

Abstract Nowadays, responsiveness is essential to be competitive, particularly in software development. Traditional methods face limitations in meeting this demand for agility, which led to the rise of agile practices. Inspired by their success in small projects, organizations have begun to use agile methods in larger contexts. However, scaling agile practices introduces complexities and requires coordinating teams, managing dependencies, and collaboration. Communities of Practices (CoPs) are argued to address these issues and support organizations in adopting agile methods at scale. Still, empirical insights into the establishment of CoPs in scaled agile settings are limited. This study fills this gap by conducting expert interviews, exploring why organizations applying agile methods at scale adopt CoPs, and examining their characteristics. Our key findings include that, next to benefit from known advantages of CoPs, like knowledge sharing, organizations establish them to foster empowerment, strengthen alignment, and drive their agile transformation. Moreover, CoPs focus not only on agile but also on classical themes such as architecture. Communities are not necessarily established bottom-up but are often initiated by management, e.g., to empower employees. In general, CoPs are accepted by management and play an essential role in decision-making.

Abstract Adaptability is vital in today’s rapidly changing business environment, especially within IT. Agile methodologies have emerged to meet this demand and have thereby gained widespread adoption. While successful in smaller, co-located teams and low-criticality projects, applying agile methods in broader contexts poses challenges. Nevertheless, many organizations have started implementing agile methodologies in various areas, including large-scale Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects. In contrast to traditional development, ERP projects involve deploying extensive integrated systems, are substantial in scale, and entail high risks and costs. Accurate predictions, like effort estimations, are crucial to meet customer satisfaction and deliver within plan and budget. However, estimating effort in an agile environment poses its own set of challenges. For instance, coordination efforts and dependencies among teams must be considered. While effort estimation is well-explored in classical software development and small-scale agile contexts, limited research exists in large-scale agile settings, particularly in projects rolling out and customizing standard ERP solutions. To address this gap, we conducted a case study on effort estimation in a large agile ERP transformation program, describing the estimation process, highlighting challenges, and proposing and evaluating mitigations.