Large-Scale Scrum – LeSS

Large-Scale Scrum – LeSS, Large-Scale Scrum scaled Agile, LeSS scaled framework, LeSS scaled Scrum, Large-scale Scrum framework

Large Scale Scrum – LeSS uses the principles of Scrum in a large-scale context where multiple teams collaborate to produce one shippable product. Like single-team Scrum, the LeSS framework includes product owners, managers, scrum masters and scrum developers. Teams use a customer-centric approach when deciding on the various features to include during Sprint Planning sessions to deliver a successful product.

  • LeSS applies the principles and practices of Scrum in a large scale enterprise as simply as possible
  • Maintains many of the practices and ideas of one team Scrum
  • Comes in two configurations:
    • Basic LeSS – up to 8 teams of 8 members each
    • LeSS Huge – up to a few thousand people on a single product
  • Fosters collaboration and coordination:
    • Just Talk
    • Communicate in Code
    • Travelers
    • Scouts
    • Open Space
    • Communities of practice

Large-Scale Scrum roles

  • Scrum roles – Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development team
  • LeSS Huge Product Owner Team – Area Product Owner, Product Managers
  • Travelers for cross team interaction
  • Guild Coordinator for Guilds
  • Chapter Lead for Chapters
  • Area for team of teams

LeSS events

  • one product level Sprint
    • Sprint Planning 1
      • Sprint Planning 2
      • Daily Scrum
    • Overall Product Backlog Refinement
      • Product Backlog Refinement
    • Sprint Review
      • Sprint Retrospective
    • Overall Retrospective

LeSS principles

  • Large-Scale Scrum is Scrum – applying the principles, elements and purpose of Scrum in a large-scale context for multiple-team Scrum, not multiple Scrum teams
  • Empirical process control – inspection and adaptation of the product, processes, organizational design and practices are used to craft a situational appropriate organization based on Scrum, rather than following a detailed formula
  • Transparency – LeSS is focused on tangible done items, short cycles, teamwork, common definitions and driving out fear and mistrust in the workplace
  • More with LeSS – in empirical process control – more learning with less defined processes, in lean thinking – more value with less waste and overhead, in scaling – more ownership, purpose and joy with fewer roles, artifacts and special groups
  • Whole-product focus – one Product Backlog, one Product Owner, one potentially shippable product increment and one Sprint, regardless of the number of teams, to build essential functionality in a single product, not distinct technical components
  • Customer-centric – identify value and waste in the eyes of the paying customer, reduce the cycle time from their perspective, increase feedback loops with real customers and everyone understands how their work today directly relates to paying customers
  • Continuous improvement towards perfection – create and deliver a product all the time, without defects, that utterly delights customers, improves the environment and makes lives better, do humble and radical improvement experiments each Sprint towards that
  • Systems thinking – see, understand and optimize the whole system and explore system dynamics, avoid the local and sub-optimizations of focusing on the ‘efficiency’ or ‘productivity’ of individuals and individual teams, customers care about the overall concept-to-cash cycle time and flow, not individual steps
  • Lean thinking – create an organizational system whose foundation is managers-as-teachers who apply and teach systems thinking and lean thinking, manage to improve and who practice Go see – Gemba walk, add the two pillars of respect for people and continuous improvement, all towards the goal of perfection
  • Queuing theory – understand how systems with queues behave in the R&D domain and apply those insights to managing queue sizes, work-in-progress limits, multitasking, work packages and variability

Large-Scale Scrum – LeSS practices

  • Continuous integration
  • Continuous delivery
  • Architecture & Design
  • Clean code
  • Unit testing
  • Test-Driven Development – TDD
  • Thinking about testing
  • Test automation
  • Acceptance testing
  • Specification by example

https://less.works/less/framework

Scaled Agile