According to PMI’s Pulse of the Profession Report from 2018, only 47% of projects used predictive/traditional approaches. At that time, almost half of all projects were agile in nature. To date, their share has increased significantly. Half of this is “purely agile”, i.e. mostly Scrum, and the other half is hybrid agility. Most companies see agility as essential to remaining competitive (71%).
This means that learning Scrum was a good investment since you will probably need these skills in every other project you undertake professionally. If we take a look at the main reasons for project failure, it becomes clear that Agile will become more and more important.
Here are the top reasons projects fail, according to PMI’s pulse of the profession:
In fourth place with 29%, the following points are tied,
When you consider these aspects, how do they fit into the Agile Manifest? How do they match the benefits we’ve discussed in previous articles about how Scrum works?
The reality is that Agile directly addresses the key challenges facing projects today: goals, requirements, and communication.
The State of Agile Report from Version One/Digital.ai shows that most projects are using Scrum and that Agile continues to grow:
The reason behind this is that Scrum is simple, works and is suitable for small teams. But as we have already established, there is no larger “organization” in the Scrum model. So, what about the scope? How do these organizations using Scrum scale their agile approaches?
According to the Version One/Digital.ai survey, there are four main types of scaling methods in use today:
Often, we see that internally created methods look more like hybrid methods. In the next sections we will examine SAFE, DAD and LESS. They all have the following points in common:
The easiest way to understand Agile at scale is to look at the two methods originally used to scale Agile:
Scrum of Scrums Stand Ups: The teams send a representative, usually this is a Product Owner or Scrum Master
Scrum of Scrums have a Scrum Master
Scrum of Scrums applies when two teams have potential dependencies
Shared goal or vision
This was originally proposed by Jeff Sutherland, one of the founders of Scrum and signatory of the Agile Manifesto in 2001
Scrum of Scrums provides a very simple yet elegant way to scale Scrum. In fact, this practice has been used by many very large organizations to achieve organizational agility.
The HBR article Agile at Scale (2018) provides examples of Scrum of Scrums involving hundreds of people in under an hour:
This model is currently experiencing a resurgence among many Agile practitioners. Especially because many organizations are expanding their understanding of Agile and using hybrid methodologies or SAFE to develop into an Agile organization.
The hybrid model most commonly used by organizations is quite simple:
Traditional means are used to control key decision points.
Agile (Scrum) methods are used to develop products quickly and iteratively in every phase.
This looks like iterations between stage gates and is often more successful in organizations that resist Agile. Since organizational resistance to Agile and a misunderstanding of Agile are the main reasons Agile fails (according to Version One/Digital.ai), this makes sense for many newbies learning Agile for the first time.
If we look at the main reasons for Agile failure, we see the following:
These statistics show why the hybrid model is so popular with about half of Agile practitioners in more traditional organizations. For this reason, “Internal Agile” is a great means of proving the effectiveness of the method when there is no support from upper management. However, the only way to truly achieve Agile is with leadership support and good Agile training.
So how can we convince the leaders who don’t believe in Agile? Show them the data:
Reasons for adopting Agile:
Benefits of adopting Agile (percentages indicate number, not impact)
When it comes to impact, the benefits can be four to five times the productivity and value, as the 2013 Ambysoft survey shows.
One scaling framework that was deliberately left out is Nexus. This offers another easy way to scale in Scrum, which experience shows seems to be a hidden champion. This will therefore be discussed in a separate article.
Now that you perhaps understand Scrum a little better in the world of Agile, you can try to answer a few questions:
In answering question 1, some of the following articles will be helpful.
VOQUZ offers training in the IT sector under the label VOQUZ Masterclass. The training offer and concept is based on years of project experience of our coaches on site with our customers.
5 days – high practical content – Scrum outside of IT – certification exam
Pulse of the Profession 2018, Project Management Institute
Agile At Scale, DarrellK Rigby, Jeff Sutherland, and Andy Noble, Harvard Business Review
Scrum of Scrums, Agile Alliance
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