The Scaled Agile framework
It is a group of business and workflow processes designed to guide small to mid-size organizations to rapidly and safely transition to agility and lean management. Its underlying concept is that any change in an operational process requires an initial assessment of its impact on business processes and the degree to which those changes are viable solutions to the problem at hand. It furthers the effort by enabling owners to articulate a vision for their organization, develop policies and evaluate choices, while continuously monitoring and adjusting policies to ensure the ultimate goal of successful implementation.
Lean and Agile can be applied to just about every operation and department within an enterprise. However, there are key areas where these frameworks differ and require customization to achieve successful implementation. Lean primarily focuses on improving the speed and quality of activities and eliminates waste through eliminating non-value-adding actions.
Agile focuses on improving the speed of decision-making and thus removes unneeded actions, but does not eliminate waste or value add choices. Both of these organizational philosophies support the principle of safekeeping – the continuity of supply and demand upon an enterprise over any given period. Therefore, Agile and Lean can be considered two important sidekicks to safekeeping, each with its requirements for successful implementation.
Creation of New Products
Lean also supports the principle of establishing a sustainable advantage by decreasing cost while establishing greater control over manufacturing. While Agile is primarily focused on the creation of new products and the improvement of methods by which existing ones are produced, Lean’s principle of creating a sustainable advantage by reducing costs in a new product development flow represents a critical mass of its philosophy.
Both lean concepts are based on the understanding that businesses when operating efficiently, can become much more productive and profitable through the reduction of waste and unnecessary actions that do not add value to the process. These principles drive both the creation of value-added products and methods of eliminating waste throughout the product development process.
Lean and Scaled Agility
Lean and Scaled Agility teams use parallel software and tools to identify problem areas before reaching critical mass. The team then works together to develop a solution to the problem through the integration of these solutions into the business’s value streams. In Lean, this solution development is usually done in Scrum or waterfall fashion with teams involving the full organization participating.
Many companies believe that “safe” software development methods cannot be properly characterized as both sustainable and agile. This is because, while Agile and Lean provide strategies for getting the job done, it does not address whether or not the approach is sustainable. Most organizations want to rely on “safe” software development to reduce risk, and invest in training and hiring programmers who are committed to staying within the software release boundaries of the software company. Many prefer to rely on a “safe” software release to meet their short-term objectives without considering how to achieve long-term sustainable success. If this is the case, the company may be depending on the wrong methodology and model. that site
Problem Solvency and Safety
Companies that embrace agile and lean principles stand at the forefront of solving problems innovatively and cost-effectively. Software development teams must realize that the purpose of a software release is to solve problems with a minimum of effort and with a high degree of safety. This will drive the business towards continued success, and it will also attract customers who demand only the best products and services.
These principles build support for the “safe” development model by defining characteristics and behaviour required from software development activities. It requires that teams embrace open communication lines to enable clear discussions regarding what is expected of them when those expectations are not being met, and how to address these issues. Likewise, it requires that teams work together in a spirit of cooperation so that collaboration can occur and grow in scrum and agile processes. Finally, it requires that all aspects of the organization contribute towards the success of the release.
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Successful Solution
Each of these principles and concepts rests on a robust set of organizational and cultural assumptions and policies. Most notably, these assumptions are grounded on the principle of unit accountability. In an agile environment, each team needs to have a clear sense of ownership for the products and services they deliver. Because the product or service is delivered as a complete system, there is strong accountability for the entire system, not just a piece of functionality within the organization. The safe development model and its reliance on core values to create a framework for a successful solution to the most difficult and complex development projects.
