Today, the top trending technology in the IT industry is Agile and Scrum development. An Agile/Scrum approach has the competency to produce continuous iterations of a business project within the desired time.
Considering the rising importance of Agile approaches to meet organizational goals is what has attracted thousands of IT companies across the world to utilize its benefits for their large-scale and complex projects. Because Agile follows a systematic framework it delivers best practices that can be followed while carrying out a large-scale transformation of business.
Moreover, for Scaled development projects, it requires team members ranging from 100 to 1000 who can adopt Agile techniques such as Scrum and XP but that doesn’t make a lot of difference in the progress of the project. Thus, eventually various other effective management frameworks and strategies are now developed to embrace Scaled Agile framework in its true sense. Some popular examples of a Scaled Agile framework are SAFe®, LeSS, or Nexus, Spotify.
The present article provides you with a quick overview of the two leading Agile frameworks for scaled development in large scale projects LeSS vs SAFe. The first one is Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) and another is Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®️ 4.5). The idea is to give you a better overview so that you can make a choice of which one to choose for certification. So, let’s begin:
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Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS)
Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS), the scaling model was introduced by Bas Vodde and Craig Larman. It is an effective approach for multiple teams to operate Scale Agile software development. The acronym LeSS suggests less process, less artifacts, and fewer roles. It has a big role to play in investigations, cross functional teams and self-managing teams. LeSS basically provides a simple yet systematic framework of rules and principles to incorporate Scrum in carrying out large projects. The major benefit of using LeSS is that it can scale up development with less process in comparison to single Scrum team.
It includes effective principles and practices for organizational structure. At present we have two sub-frameworks of LeSS i.e., Smaller LeSS and LeSS Huge which were introduced by its founders to be adopted separately for Large-scale and small-scale projects.
While Smaller LeSS applies to smaller companies that have less team members, the LeSS Huge is ideal for larger companies that have a huge number of team members for one product.
Some of the principles of using LeSS are as follows:
- Project team focuses on being self-managing and cross-functional.
- Emphasis is on development teams and product owners to carry out organizational structure in line with Agile principles.
- Scrum Master plays an important role in LeSS adoption and it is required from him to do full time work and serve at least 1 to 3 teams simultaneously.
To opt for LeSS certification, it is immaterial which Scaled Agile approach you want to use for your project because it essentially depends on the company’s size and scale of project along with the team size. Individuals who are interested and possess fundamental knowledge of Scrum can attend this training program and get certified.
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Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®)
The Scaled Agile frameworks (SAFe®) is an iterative approach that facilitates the organization to address the crucial challenges they may face by spreading or delivering enterprise software system in shortest intervals. With SAFe®, you can easily learn free knowledge online on how to build software systems following the success pattern for your organization.
Dean Leffingwell’s was the first person who developed SAFe® in his books with the objective to encourage large scale companies to set prescriptive and highly structured methods to achieve success. The idea behind SAFe® has always been to scale the enterprises using the Lean Agile practices for large-scale Agile teams. SAFe® follows a centralized strategy with a reasonable approach to guide the enterprise in addressing common problems.
This framework works on four core values that are:
Alignment
SAFe® practices give a proper channel for alignment to handle business priorities, plans and commitments along with IT outcomes.
Transparency
It ensures transparency in the plans and strategy and entails continuous workflow progress.
Build-in quality
It maintains the built-in quality of creative products and provides continuous support.
Program Execution
It monitors overall program execution at the enterprise in order to improve the quality and quantity of the product and its timely delivery.
SAFe®️ training program helps the interested individuals gain an in-depth knowledge of the concepts of Agile and Scrum, thus ensuring a career boost. The SAFe® certification course covers every aspect and underlying principles of the Scrum and Agile manifesto. If you have adopted the SAFe® framework to be implemented in your organization, you can expect to receive the following benefits in business:
- You don’t require predefined metrics in this stage
- When you discuss the strategies of SAFe® implementation with the team, it enhances the chance of products-retrospective
- It ensures that the product is released within the productivity-estimated time
- The time-to-market for the business will majorly depend on the status of the report with workflow variations.
Final Remarks on LeSS vs. SAFe®️
LeSS and SAFe®️ are the two major and leading Scaled Agile frameworks that play a crucial role in leveling up the success of an organization. Though in layman’s perspective, the frameworks of Agile seem similar, in reality, each of them works on different lines so it becomes imperative for you to choose the best one that suits the size of your enterprise and its project goals. We have aforementioned all the basic details about the LeSS and SAFe®️ and now the decision is up to you to choose the best one to meet your project goals and experience optimum productivity and success of your product.
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