Abstract As agile software development is increasingly adopted in the software industry, the popularity of scaling frameworks supporting adoption in large development contexts is increasing rapidly. While several such frameworks exist, the most popular one at the moment is the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Despite its popularity, there exists limited research on its usage and adoption. In this paper, we contribute by presenting a single case study in a large financial organization, studying the transformation reasons, transformation process, as well as the benefits, and challenges of SAFe adoption. We conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with 27 interviewees and analyzed the transcribed interviews using open and axial coding. We identified 17 reasons for SAFe adoption in this organization, of which the most salient ones were to shorten the time to market, improve collaboration, and use a well-described and comprehensive framework. An industry context-specific reason was the popularity of SAFe in the financial sector. The transformation in the case organization was top-down and proceeded step-wise. The most significant activities during the transformation were piloting, education, coaching, and the forming of agile release trains. Our case also implemented "Scrum tours" to increase the understanding of lean and agile principles. We identified 13 benefits of SAFe, of which improved collaboration, transparency, and shorter time to market were considered the most important. We identified a total of 16 challenges, with the most salient one being aligning the release trains with value streams. Failing with this led to cross-release train dependencies and coordination overhead, inhibiting agility. Further, the organization did not get rid of projects and project managers, which led to priority clashes and coordination overhead.

Background: The adoption of agile scaling frameworks has become increasingly prevalent in the software industry as organizations seek to extend the use of agile to large and complex projects. The frameworks claim to provide the necessary structure and guidance for scaling agile practices across multiple teams and domains. Despite their growing popularity, the challenges of adopting the frameworks are poorly understood. Aims: In this study, we analyze the experienced challenges related to adopting agile scaling frameworks to understand whether they are different for the different frameworks or between industries or roles within the adopting organization. Method: We conducted a survey targeting software practitioners with experience adopting agile scaling frameworks. We received 204 valid responses, representing ten frameworks adopted in 26 countries and six continents. Results: The most salient challenge, regardless of scaling framework, industry, or role, was organizational politics. Across frameworks, the challenge of forming agile teams emerged as the second most significant and change resistance as the third. We found significant differences in the challenges experienced by organizations based on their chosen framework and significant differences in the challenges between different industries and organizational roles, highlighting the importance of context when adopting agile scaling frameworks. Conclusions: This study provides the first quantitative assessment of the challenges of adopting specific agile scaling frameworks in various contexts. By comparing the challenges associated with different frameworks, industries, and organizational roles, other organizations can better understand the most significant obstacles they may face and improve their framework fit to mitigate them. Future studies could build on these findings to provide additional insights and recommendations for organizations seeking to adopt agile scaling frameworks, including identifying strategies for overcoming common challenges and improving the overall effectiveness of these frameworks in a diverse range of contexts.

Background: The benefits of agile methods in small, co-located projects have inspired their adoption in large firms and projects. Scaling frameworks, such as Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), have been proposed by practitioners to scale agile to larger contexts, and become rather widely adopted in the industry. Despite the popularity of the frameworks, the knowledge on the reasons, expected benefits, and satisfaction of organizations adopting them is still limited.

Abstract During the last two decades, turbulent business environments tempted firms to adopt agile methods to cope with the ever-changing customer demands. The success of agile methods in small and co-located teams inspired companies to apply them to large-scale endeavors. Agile scaling frameworks, such as the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), have been proposed by practitioners to scale agile practices to large projects and enterprises. Companies are increasingly taking these frameworks into use. However, the number of quantitative empirical studies assessing the benefits and challenges of adopting the agile scaling frameworks is still limited. This paper starts filling in this gap by presenting the results from a survey of 100 industry participants around the world on their perception of the benefits and challenges of adopting the SAFe framework. Our results show that the SAFe adoption improves transparency, as well as collaboration and dependency management between agile teams. The most commonly mentioned challenges of the SAFe adoption are organizational politics, difficulties in establishing an agile mindset, change resistance, and team formation challenges.

Abstract Over the past decade, agile methods have become the favored choice for projects undertaken in rapidly changing environments. The success of agile methods in small, co-located projects has inspired companies to apply them in larger projects. Agile scaling frameworks, such as Large Scale Scrum and Scaled Agile Framework, have been invented by practitioners to scale agile to large projects and organizations. Given the importance of agile scaling frameworks, research on those frameworks is still limited. This paper presents our findings from an empirical survey answered by the methodologists of 15 agile scaling frameworks. We explored (i) framework evolution, (ii) main reasons behind their creation, (iii) benefits, and (iv) challenges of adopting these frameworks. The most common reasons behind creating the frameworks were improving the organization’s agility and collaboration between agile teams. The most commonly claimed benefits included enabling frequent deliveries and enhancing employee satisfaction, motivation, and engagement. The most mentioned challenges were using frameworks as cooking recipes instead of focusing on changing people’s culture and mindset.

Abstract The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is currently the most widely adopted framework for scaling agile in the software intensive industry. Despite this, there exists very little scientific research on the transformation process, as well as on the challenges and success factors of using SAFe in large-scale organizations. To start filling in this research gap, we conducted a case study by investigating the formation of agile release trains and the related challenges in a large financial organization adopting SAFe. We conducted 24 interviews with 27 interviewees, after which we analyzed the transcribed interviews using open and axial coding. The SAFe transformation started by forming a pilot train with teams that already had experience in agile practices. The success of the pilot led to the launching of new release trains. The forming of new agile release trains was challenging due to politics, difficulties in identifying the value streams, and the avoidance of a radical restructuring of the organization. These challenges led to opting for an organic way of transformation. Management organized several workshops to identify stakeholders for the second train. This was followed by team members choosing their teams based on skills and interests. The last two trains were formed using Lego workshops. The most significant challenges after forming the release trains at the case organization were struggles with existing projects and challenges due to inter-train dependencies.

There has been a tremendous increase in the rate of agile method adoption across large and globally distributed large organizations. Despite of several challenges, organizations have shown profound interest due to the potential benefits of agile at small scale. Several scaling frameworks and scaling practices have been proposed by the consultants and practitioners to support globally distributed large scale agile transformations. The present research has 3 dimensions: (i) scaling practices (ii) scaling frameworks (iii) enterprise agile. Various research methods have been adopted in the study to address the these dimensions. This would help agile practitioners and consultants to reflect on the scaling approaches and help them during the agile transformation process across large and globally distributed large organizations.