Abstract
We present a case study on scaling Scrum in a large globally distributed software development project at Nokia, a global telecommunications company. We discuss how the case project scaled Scrum while growing from two collocated Scrum teams to 20 teams located in four countries and employing a total of 170 persons. Moreover, we report scaling challenges the case project faced during this 2,5 year journey. We gathered data by 19 semi-structured interviews of project personnel from two sites, interviewees comprising different roles including managers, architects, product owners, developers and testers. The project was highly successful from the business point of view, as agile enabled fast response to customer requirements. However, the project faced significant challenges in scaling Scrum despite attempts at applying the Large-scale Scrum (LeSS) framework. The organization experimented with different ways of implementing scaling practices like implementing common sprint planning meetings, Scrum-of-Scrums meetings, common demos and common retrospectives, as well as scaling the Product Owner role. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the scaling approach used in the case organization in contrast to the LeSS framework.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings - 11th IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering, ICGSE 2016 |
Publisher | IEEE |
Pages | 74-83 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781509026807 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 26 Sept 2016 |
MoE publication type | A4 Conference publication |
Event | IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering - Irvine, United States Duration: 2 Aug 2016 → 5 Aug 2016 Conference number: 11 |
Conference
Conference | IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering |
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Abbreviated title | ICGSE |
Country/Territory | United States |
City | Irvine |
Period | 02/08/2016 → 05/08/2016 |
Keywords
- agile transformation
- large-scale agile
- LeSS