Benefits and Challenges of Adopting the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): Preliminary Results from a Multivocal Literature Review

Putta, Abheeshta; Paasivaara, Maria; Lassenius, Casper

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03673-7_24

Cited by 57 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In scaled projects, the existence of an architecture team is significant, as it guides all teams on the proper implementation of the requirements, reducing development costs by proactively analysing alternatives and finding solutions that best meet the needs, adaptability, and future use [58]. As shown by [59], several case studies show that moving to SAFe feels like moving back to plan-driven methods (such as Waterfall and RUP) which include fixed increments, centralized planning, a loss of incremental and iterative development, and too much detail. Although LESS applies agile practices, we also investigated agile/plan-driven.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plan-Driven Approaches Are Alive and Kicking in Agile Global Software Development

Marinho

Noll

Richardson

et al. 2019

2019 ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM)

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Background: Agile methods are no longer restricted to small projects and co-located teams. The last decade has seen the spread of agile into large scale, distributed and regulated domains. Many case studies show successful agile adoption in GSD, however, taken as a whole, it remains unclear how widespread this trend is, and what form the agile adoption takes in a global software development (GSD) setting. Aims: Our objective is to gain a deeper understanding of how organisations adopt agile development methods in distributed settings. Specifically we aim to plot the current development process landscape in GSD. Method: We analyse industrial survey data from 33 different countries collected as part of the HELENA project that explored the wider use of hybrid development approaches in software development. We extract and analyse the results of 263 surveys completed by participants involved in globally distributed projects. Results: In our sample, 72% of globally distributed projects implement a mix of both agile and traditional approaches (termed 'hybrid'). 25% of GSD organisations are predominantly agile, with only very few (5%) opting for traditional approaches. GSD projects that used only agile methods tended to be very large. Conclusions: Globally Distributed Software Development (and project size) is not a barrier to adopting agile practices. Yet, to facilitate project coordination and general project management, many adopt traditional approaches, resulting in a hybrid approach that follows defined rules.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plan-Driven Approaches Are Alive and Kicking in Agile Global Software Development

Marinho

Noll

Richardson

et al. 2019

2019 ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM)

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“…Both benefits and challenges of SAFe adoptions have been reported. However, more empirical research is needed to understand how to adopt established frameworks like SAFe, how are they used and tailored, and what their benefits and challenges are under different circumstances [5,6]. This paper examines SAFe usage, benefits, and obstacles in organizations in Finland to contribute to those research gaps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The existing research on SAFe cover for example SAFe and Portfolio Management [7][8][9], SAFe and testing [10], SAFe in distributed settings [11], maturity model for adoptions [12][13][14], principles of large-scale agile [15], case studies of adoption [16,17], comparison of different scaling frameworks [18], and reported benefits and challenges [6]. However, there is lack of empirical research on SAFe adoptions and usage in companies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SAFe Adoptions in Finland: A Survey Research

Laanti

Kettunen

2019

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops

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Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) was released in the year 2011. Since then it has become the most popular agile scaling framework in use. In this paper we examine the benefits and obstacles of SAFe adoptions in Finland. The data is based on a survey we conducted in Finland in 2018, when many respondents had already been following SAFe for some years. The biggest benefits reported are transparency, co-operation, and cadence. The biggest obstacles are the old organizational culture, that the SAFe model has not been fitted to the organization and implementation problems. The results indicate that although many respondents of the survey (80%) use SAFe, they are still struggling with their agile transformation, while using a mix of old and new methods and only a subset of the SAFe practices.

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“…Researchers have identified the lack of research, and emphasized the need for scientific studies on the adoption of scaling frameworks [6,7]. A recent multivocal literature review (MLR) on SAFe identified only six scientific studies published on the framework [8]. Most of the published information related to SAFe consists of the experience reports written by practitioners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Are Agile Release Trains Formed in Practice? A Case Study in a Large Financial Corporation

Putta

Paasivaara

Lassenius

2019

Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing

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The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is currently the most widely adopted framework for scaling agile in the software intensive industry. Despite this, there exists very little scientific research on the transformation process, as well as on the challenges and success factors of using SAFe in large-scale organizations. To start filling in this research gap, we conducted a case study by investigating the formation of agile release trains and the related challenges in a large financial organization adopting SAFe. We conducted 24 interviews with 27 interviewees, after which we analyzed the transcribed interviews using open and axial coding.The SAFe transformation started by forming a pilot train with teams that already had experience in agile practices. The success of the pilot led to the launching of new release trains. The forming of new agile release trains was challenging due to politics, difficulties in identifying the value streams, and the avoidance of a radical restructuring of the organization. These challenges led to opting for an organic way of transformation.Management organized several workshops to identify stakeholders for the second train. This was followed by team members choosing their teams based on skills and interests. The last two trains were formed using Lego workshops. The most significant challenges after forming the release trains at the case organization were struggles with existing projects and challenges due to inter-train dependencies.

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Benefits and Challenges of Adopting the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): Preliminary Results from a Multivocal Literature Review

Cited by 57 publications

References 19 publications

Plan-Driven Approaches Are Alive and Kicking in Agile Global Software Development

Plan-Driven Approaches Are Alive and Kicking in Agile Global Software Development

SAFe Adoptions in Finland: A Survey Research

How Are Agile Release Trains Formed in Practice? A Case Study in a Large Financial Corporation

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