While working recently on customization and configuration of the TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Framework for an enterprise that has the ambition to become Agile@Scale, I looked at one of the agile delivery methods called Nexus from Scrum.org. Nexus builds on the basic definition of scrum but with the goal to make it possible to scale agile development via multiple combined teams pursuing the integrated increment of a product.
Ken Schwaber, one of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto, says that the Nexus framework is like the exoskeleton of scrum. He notes that it has been designed to overcome the limitations of a basic scrum, which makes agile development scalability questionable as a method for a large number of collaborating and interacting teams pursuing agile. Simply put, it gives us “Scaled Scrum” by providing additional, “nexus” methods on top of basic scrum.
Scrum.org is not the only one organization attempting to develop a “Scaled Scrum” approach. Similar developments have taken place at SAFe™, LeSS™ or DAD™, all of which providing pathways for overcoming the basic limitations of essential scrum to enable agile development at scale. SAFe™ has probably done the most to enable Agile@Scale development. It provides prescriptive guidance on how to approach large, complex initiatives to deliver large solutions or to transform an enterprise’s operating model. Jim Johnson from the Standish Group also recently decided, after 25 years of producing it, to abandon the publication of his popular Chaos Project Management Report to transition to an “Infinite Flow” model. This model departs from the classical project management use of a waterfall model approach to instead pursue a developmental value stream one advocated by SAFe™ and the VSM Consortium.
Unfortunately, though, such newer methods focus more on what should be done at the expense of providing actionable guides and methods to succeed on such large undertakings. In other words, opportunities still exist to relate how to combine the varied approaches as a coherent whole, as well as how to customize it to a given enterprise context.
Agile@Scale approaches need to be mined for appropriate building blocks by enterprise architects to build organization-specific frameworks design roadmaps that will support such transformation. Such customized frameworks would need, at a minimum, to include enterprise architecture (EA) and portfolio management (PM) frameworks. They could be designed in an interwoven way for pursuing a modern, agile, digitalized operating model at scale for organizations.
Ken Schwaber, one of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto, says that the Nexus framework is like the exoskeleton of scrum. He notes that it has been designed to overcome the limitations of a basic scrum, which makes agile development scalability questionable as a method for a large number of collaborating and interacting teams pursuing agile. Simply put, it gives us “Scaled Scrum” by providing additional, “nexus” methods on top of basic scrum.
Scrum.org is not the only one organization attempting to develop a “Scaled Scrum” approach. Similar developments have taken place at SAFe™, LeSS™ or DAD™, all of which providing pathways for overcoming the basic limitations of essential scrum to enable agile development at scale. SAFe™ has probably done the most to enable Agile@Scale development. It provides prescriptive guidance on how to approach large, complex initiatives to deliver large solutions or to transform an enterprise’s operating model. Jim Johnson from the Standish Group also recently decided, after 25 years of producing it, to abandon the publication of his popular Chaos Project Management Report to transition to an “Infinite Flow” model. This model departs from the classical project management use of a waterfall model approach to instead pursue a developmental value stream one advocated by SAFe™ and the VSM Consortium.
Unfortunately, though, such newer methods focus more on what should be done at the expense of providing actionable guides and methods to succeed on such large undertakings. In other words, opportunities still exist to relate how to combine the varied approaches as a coherent whole, as well as how to customize it to a given enterprise context.
Agile@Scale approaches need to be mined for appropriate building blocks by enterprise architects to build organization-specific frameworks design roadmaps that will support such transformation. Such customized frameworks would need, at a minimum, to include enterprise architecture (EA) and portfolio management (PM) frameworks. They could be designed in an interwoven way for pursuing a modern, agile, digitalized operating model at scale for organizations.
This “nexus” capability is needed to design a mix of customized methods could make up a collective, more coherent set by building appropriate relationships between environment concerns, resource management, and emerging technologies to ensure agility, adaptability, and survival of an enterprise in a rapidly evolving digital world. VeriSM™’s concept of The Management Mesh provides a good pattern for consideration by forward-looking EAs.
http://growing-agility.com/nexus/
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/identify-value-streams-and-arts/
https://www.vsmconsortium.org/
https://www.qmansys.com/verism-model-management-mesh/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nexus
Authored by Alex Wyka, Senior Consultant and Trainer, EA Principals