Key Lessons from Tailoring Agile Methods for Large-Scale Software Development

We describe advice derived from one of the largest development programs in Norway, where twelve Scrum teams combined agile practices with traditional project management. The Perform program delivered 12 releases over a four-year period, and finished on budget and on time. In this article, we summarize 12 key lessons on five crucial topics, relevant to other large development projects seeking to combine Scrum with traditional project management. By Torgeir Dingsøyr, Tore Dybå, Mette Gjertsen, Anette Odgaard Jacobsen, Tor-Erik Mathisen, Jan Ole Nordfjord, Kjetil Røe, Kjetil Strand In the past years, we have seen a major change in how software is developed with the emergence of agile development methods [1]. These methods were believed to best suit small development teams that make software which is not life-critical [2]. However, with the popularity of agile methods, many have started using the methods also in large projects. Large projects pose great risk and are often associated with cost overruns, late completions and outright project failures [3]. The perils of large-scale development is illustrated by a number of examples such as HealthCare.gov in the US [4]. To ensure successful projects, practitioners using agile methods ask questions like "How do you scale up a large project over many months or even years"[5], and "agile in the large" has been voted the "top burning research question" [6]. Frameworks for managing large agile development projects have started to appear, such as the Scaled Agile Framework [7] and Large-Scale Scrum [8]. However, there are few studies of these frameworks, and the frameworks primarily describe product development, while many organizations choose to establish projects or programs for developing new systems. Projects are different as they are limited in time, will involve setting up a project organization and usually have project participants who need to learn a new domain. In this article, we describe 12 key lessons from one of the largest development programs in Norway, which provides an example of how twelve Scrum [9] teams combined agile practices with traditional project management [9]. The Perform program (see description in box) delivered a new pension solution after a public reform to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund ("the Pension Fund"). The program delivered 12 releases over a four-year period, and finished on budget and on time. In this article, we summarize key advice, which we think is relevant to other large development projects seeking to combine Scrum with traditional project management: 1 (C) IEEE, accepted for publication in IEEE IT Professional.