This document discusses scaling agile without frameworks and focuses on the limits of teams, products, and dependencies. It makes the following key points: Focus and independence are limits to scaling. Too many products per team or teams per product lead to loss of focus and coordination challenges. Dependencies between teams introduce risks to integration. Dividing products into independent sub-products and using techniques like Scrum of Scrums can help improve communication at scale. Release trains can synchronize teams but may slow overall delivery. Automating integrations is also suggested. While frameworks like SAFe and Nexus are mentioned, the document emphasizes checking with the Agile Manifesto and discovering what the product is through techniques like Lean Startup before

1. Scaling Agile without frameworks
by @jmbeas
23/Nov/2015

2. TEAM
Product
Owner
Product
Backlog Product
Increment
Feedback
1 team & 1 product

3. 2 teams & 2 products
# of teams
#ofproducts/projects
1
1
2
2

4. N teams & N products
# of teams
#ofproducts/projects
1
1
2
2
N
N
x N
1 team
per product

5. 1 team & 2 products

6. 1 team & 3 products
How many
products per
product owner
are feasible?
On how many products can
one team work effectively?

7. 1 team & N products
The more
number of POs
the more
coordination is
needed.
Too many context switching
lowers productivity.

8. 1 team & N products
POs and Teams need focus to do their job.
- Small projects are easier to schedule.
- Don’t split teams too early/late: look at their
cycle time.
- Don’t overflow POs. If needed, create a Product
Management Team.

9. # of teams
#ofproducts/projects
1
1
2
2
N
N
x N
1 team & N products
FOCUS IS THE LIMIT

10. 2 teams & 1 product
TEAM A
TEAM B
Dependencies
will become
impediments
between
teams.
A new risk
activity appears:
integration.

11. 3 teams & 1 product
TEAM A
TEAM B
How many
teams can a
PO attend
effectively?
How many projects can
be integrated without a
significant quality
degradation?
TEAM C

12. TEAM A
TEAM B
TEAM C
N teams & 1 product
You’ll need to
synchronize
deliveries of all
teams.
You’ll need a
strategy to divide
your product
among your
teams.

13. # of teams
#ofproducts/projects
1
1
2
2
N
N
x N
FOCUS IS THE LIMIT
N teams & 1 product
TEAM A
TEAM B
TEAM C
INDEPENDENCY IS THE LIMIT

14. REMEMBER: 9 women can’t have a baby in 1 month.
- Divide your product in other independent sub-products.
- Scrum of scrums improve communication between teams.
- Release train synchronizes all teams although it can
slow the whole production.
- Automate integrations.
N teams & 1 product

15. DISCLAIMER
This approach only considers
Delivery processes, not Discovery
You can use Lean Startup, Design Thinking,
Agile Inceptions, User Story Mapping… any
technique to DISCOVER what you think your
product is.

16. AND REMEMBER…
Jf you want to stay Agile,
check with the Agile Manifesto.

17. But if you still want a framework…
Scrum-based:
- SAFe : http://scaledagileframework.com/
- Nexus : https://www.scrum.org/Resources/The-Nexus-Guide
- Less : http://less.works/
Kanban-based:
- ESP : http://www.djaa.com/introducing-enterprise-services-planning

18. Thank you!
hola@jmbeas.es
@jmbeas
http://linkedin.com/in/jmbeas