In this post, we highlight one of the most popular Agile scaling frameworks – Large Scaled Scrum<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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For many companies, the LeSS approach to scaling Scrum<\/a> teams may be the next logical step on their journey to scaling Agile.<\/p>\n LeSS literally means Large Scaled Scrum. This is one of the leading frameworks of Agile software development. You can apply this multi-team framework to an Agile team that consists of dozens or hundreds of people. They can work together on one specific shared product.<\/p>\n LeSS isn\u2019t a new and improved Scrum, it is something different layered on top. It is about figuring out how to apply the goals, principles, and key elements of Scrum in a large-scale context, as simply as possible.<\/p>\n Large Scaled Scrum allows creating large or small-sized products. This is a minimalistic and quite a simple framework that requires less enforcement of rules, roles, processes, and artifacts (in contrast to other popular scaling Agile frameworks). It only involves conventional Scrum roles<\/a>: PO (Product Owner), SM (Scrum Master<\/a>), and the team.<\/p>\n LeSS is a customer-centric framework, so teams may interact directly with customers while the PO focuses on setting the product roadmap, and establishing priorities.<\/p>\n At the very beginning of the century, many believed that Agile development was only for small groups. This judgment was greatly facilitated by “Agile and Iterative Development” written by Craig Larman in 2002. Over time, there were more and more requests to apply Scrum to large, multi-site, and offshore development.<\/p>\n Nowadays, the LeSS framework has been adopted in big groups worldwide in disparate areas: trading systems, telecom equipment, investment, and retail banks, marketing and analytics platforms, video conferencing, online gaming, etc.<\/p>\n The basement is cross-functional Agile teams that range from having 8-12 members who are experienced and seasoned in coding, testing, architecture, design, and business domain knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n Depending on the company\u2019s structure, there can be multiple teams. The types of LeSS are:<\/span><\/p>\n These teams are responsible for producing high-quality software while collaborating with other teams. A Scrum Master may facilitate 1-3 teams. He\/she guides the teams on how to work in LeSS.<\/span><\/p>\n Then there is the PO who manages the backlog that includes the list of features. There is also a team of product owners that report to the head PO.<\/span><\/p>\n In LeSS Huge, there are multiple Basic LeSS implemented at the same time. It suits large enterprises with more than 8 teams. There are Area Product Owners. They are responsible for their respective product backlog. The PO manages up to 3 teams, and the Chief PO leads the area product owners and focuses on the entire product.<\/span><\/p>\n There are a dozen of principles that Less defines for applying the value, elements, and purpose of Scrum across an organization. These principles help to build more responsible teams with better collaboration and customer focus.<\/p>\n Teams can be focused on transparency, learning, and delivering customer-centric values that companies need to stay competitive and responsive.<\/p>\n The list of the LeSS principles includes:<\/p>\n As we’ve mentioned above, LeSS provides two configurations: Basic LeSS (8 teams = 10-50 individuals) and LeSS Huge (8+ teams about 50-6000+ individuals).<\/p>\n There are useful recommendations described by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde based on experiments conducted with LeSS. They compose the LeSS guides. They are helpful in understanding the ways to adopt the framework, the roles and responsibilities, and how to coordinate and integrate between teams.<\/p>\n LeSS includes experiments. The authors propose some companies to try them, and others to avoid. Some of them have had mixed results. The outcomes from these experiments were foundational in the forming of the framework.<\/p>\n In LeSS, sprints are planned, and teams create a deliverable product in each sprint. The development is iterative and incremental, and the sprints usually last for 1-4 weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n Two stages of planning in LeSS are defined:<\/span><\/p>\n A product backlog grooming session also takes place. The team and the customer discuss how the existing requirements can be improved or if new requirements should be added.<\/span><\/p>\n Teams also run their own retrospectives, reviewing what is done to continuously improve.<\/span><\/p>\n Scrum and LeSS are often compared to determine which is best. And this is actually not the right mindset. Remember that LeSS isn\u2019t a better version of Scrum. LeSS builds upon Scrum to support its use in a larger context and how to scale it across larger companies and beyond one team.<\/p>\n However, many admit that Basic LeSS looks similar to one Scrum team. All teams work together as a Scrum team even though comprised of one or more teams. With the aim to support these efforts, the PO runs the single team product backlog grooming. The meeting helps to align the delivery of the work across all the teams working together.<\/p>\nWhat Is LeSS?<\/h2>\n
Origins<\/h3>\n
What is the LeSS structure?<\/h3>\n
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Key LeSS principles<\/h3>\n
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LeSS frameworks<\/h3>\n
LeSS guides<\/h3>\n
LeSS experiments<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nPlanning in LeSS<\/h3>\n
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LeSS vs Scrum<\/h3>\n
\nIn LeSS Huge, the role of a PO is expanded to include Area POs that coordinate and collaborate across many teams.<\/p>\nLeSS vs SAFe<\/h3>\n