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Staying in competition requires companies to adopt an agile methodology. Research shows that those companies that optimize agile reduce the time to market by 40%. It adds value to the business. Efficient teams help in bringing revenue to the business. Research shows that organizations with high agility report a minimum growth of 5% in a year. Scaling agile requires a company to go beyond software development and IT.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to scaling agile. Specific strategies should be followed for managing large teams. Replicating the same process for a larger team could not work better. The bottlenecks are more significant when an entire organization needs a change.
Strategies for managing large teams
Organizations need to build strategies for efficiency, just like the inclusion of Power Apps. Certain strategies are important to manage large teams. Let’s discuss them.
- Define a backlog
- Developing a collaborative culture
- Supporting training and certifications
- Minimize iteration duration
- Using the right tools
- Prioritizing testing
1. Define a backlog
Organizational goals must be clear to all teams. For this, there is a need to define backlog clearly. Cross-functional teams have a list of prioritized tasks. The prioritized functions are listed in the backlog. A portfolio must be created for the products. A high-level master backlog is necessary for the status update of all the products. This helps the teams to identify what their progress is related to and how it affects other products.
2. Developing a collaborative culture
Scaling agile means that different teams work together to achieve a single goal. It requires the business to optimize a cross-functional team environment. That means better collaboration is significant. Teams must bring new ideas by practicing engagement. Team leaders need to provide updates on achieving milestones. It will help in assessing the progress of their teams. Constant communication helps in generating creative ideas and positive and negative feedback.
3. Supporting training and certifications
Training the employees in agile methods is an essential part of scaling agile. It will equip the members with the necessary information required for agile transformation. Agile methodologies can be understood through different courses and online resources. Online certification programs help in training professionals with the latest agile methodology.
4. Minimize iteration duration
Iterations must be kept from attaining positive results. It is a significant step for scaling agile. If the iteration is kept short, the team can effectively make changes after hearing feedback in a short time. The team can easily measure the progress while identifying risks. There is no room for confusion.
Longer iterations may lead to blunders and frustration at the same time. It will take a lot of time to make changes that will slow the process. Therefore, maintaining a balance between longer and shorter tasks is necessary.
5. Using the right tools
Using the right tools will eventually lead to success. An effective agile strategy will fall in place by using tech tools. Project management tools will help in every step, from planning and execution to reporting and analysis. Wrike, Trello, and Agile are some of the crucial tools. Scrum-based tools can also be used for it.
6. Prioritizing testing
Testing will make the process more transparent and freer of errors. It helps in attaining the feedback of the teams and stakeholders. The risk of costly mistakes gets minimized as well.
Scale Agile framework
A top agile framework like scale agile must be used for business agility. From assistance to implementing agile practices and addressing the challenges of a large team, all can be overcome with it. It works in four steps.
1. Team Level
This starts with the task operations and procedures.
2. Program level
Different teams collaborate at this level to speed up the Agile Release Train. The system is working with the DevOps team. The system team looks at all the non-functional requirements. This helps in setting up the environment for development. The DevOps team does code development and deployment with automation and testing.
3. Large solution level
It is suitable for a business that has more than 150 employees.
4. Portfolio level
This level includes the achievement of all the business objectives.
Wrap up
Scaling agile is relatively easy if an organization opts for the right strategies. Scaling agile would be easy if the teams remained in constant contact. Backlogs must be clear at the initial stage. A cross-functional team environment must be maintained. The organization must train employees to better understand the latest Agile methodology. Shorter iterations will help in minimizing errors quickly with timely feedback.
Moreover, the organization must use the right tools and technology to automate the process. Several project management tools are present to assist. Finally, testing will help improve the work speed.
