Scaling Scrum

without crushing its soul

Kurt Bittner, Scrum.org May 16, 2019

Professional Scrum Day Chile @ScrumDotOrg ©1993 – 2019 Scrum.org All Rights Reserved 1

Why be agile?
Hint: it’s not to go faster

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 When do organizations need agility?

Cynefin framework
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When do organizations need agility?

Current Inspect Target

State Adapt State

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Why Scale?
To get more done in a given timeframe…

But what is more important?

Output or Value?

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“A system is never the sum of its parts. It is the

product of the interactions of its parts.. The art
of managing interactions is very different.. Than
the management of actions..”
- Russell Ackoff

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 The Cost of Scaling – Scaling is Not Linear
Velocity

Team 4
Team 5
Team 3

Team 2

Team 1

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Cross-Team Dependencies Reduce Delivery Capability

Team 3

Team 4

Team 1

Team 5
Team 2

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 Avoid adding overhead and complexity
in the wrong places and
too many places.

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You Can Scale As Long As You Continuously…

• Identify and remove dependencies

• Integrate work across all level
• Create and inspect integrated increments
regularly
• Provide adequate tooling and skills
• Inspect and adapt frequently

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 But first,
Try to AVOID scaling
… and make sure you “Scrum” well

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Nexus™
Nexus | noun
\ˈnek-səs\

1) a relationship or connection between people or things

2) a framework for scaling Scrum

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 Nexus™ Framework

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Cross-team Product
Backlog Refinement
• A technique for visualizing
dependencies
• Helps teams to identify PBIs that may
need to be broken-down, or…
• Where teams may need to improve
their skills

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 Nexus Integration Team – Normal Mode

• Facilitation
• Coaching
• Highlighting dependencies
• Identifying cross-team issues

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Cathay Pacific Airline

Makes Nexus Official
Scaling Framework
• 2015 launch of major project to develop a new
Internet Booking Engine
• UX/UI, backend, and front-end and middleware
development teams
• Implemented Nexus in 2017
• First step: de-scaled from 40 to 29 people
• Second step: formed 3 new Scrum Teams
• 1 Product Owner
• a Scrum Master for each Scrum Team
• Went from releasing once every 3 months to at
least once per month

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 Net Health Scales
Scrum with Nexus

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Capital One Delivers Complex Product with Nexus

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 Scaling Product Ownership in
Petroleum Industry with Nexus

• Enterprise software implementation with teams in multiple

countries and time zones
• Evolved from using Scrum to Nexus, and didn’t mix with
other practices of other scaling frameworks
• 1 Product Owner was quickly spread too thin. Delegated
responsibility to a representative in different geographies
• Transparency about autonomy and escalation needed
(financial, application, policy)
• How? Where? When? Who? – no formal process
• Kept process simple, so they can make decisions fast and
preserve bottom up intelligence

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Nexus in Transportation
Solution Industry

• Develops solutions for truck fleets -

sensors and analytics
• Software/Hardware constraints
• 3 teams: software, mechanical
engineering, electrical engineering
• Reform into multidisciplinary teams
• NIT challenge
• Nexus Sprint Planning was key

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 Major Technology Consulting
Organization uses Nexus+ for
agile initiative
• Started agile initiative in 2012, officially launched
Nexus in 2016
• Found that it was a way to bring people together
toward one goal
• Agile initiative was product
• Practice what they preach to clients
• Nexus+ of 4 Nexuses (13 Scrum Teams):
• Markets and Clients
• People Ecosystem
• Platforms and Services
• Operating Systems

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• Inspired by the IT organization to use Scrum, which evolved

into Nexus
• Introduced Scrum into 1 team first for about 6 months in the
UK
• Success was significant enough at 10 month mark that other

Marketing at large geographic locations also adopted Scrum

• CMO wanted the whole marketing organization to adopt Scrum
consulting organization • Company rebranded using this approach

using Nexus • Marketing Group qualified as Finalist for ITSMA Marketing

Excellence Awards

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 Some common themes across Nexus Implementations

• Improved team satisfaction and morale

• Better alignment – Nexus Sprint Goal
• ROI of Scrum knowledge
• Quick ability to get started and faster decision making

• Decision latency theory – “Many.. solutions make the problem of slow decision latency
worse, while others, such as Scrum, can alleviate the underlying obstacle (if
implemented correctly) by speeding up decision latency. Eliminate things that have no
value, but add time and cause delays. If your process is delaying decisions—get rid of
it.” (Standish Group 2018 Chaos Report)

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2018 Chaos Report – Decision Latency

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 So, what
does
successful
scaling look
like?

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Getting Started with Nexus Framework

Common Challenges Pre-requisites

• Stabilization • Scrum experience
• Dependencies • Teams identified / Nexus
• Alignment overview
• Nexus Integration Team identified
• Single Product Backlog
• Definition of Done
• Sprint cadence identified

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 Scrum.org Nexus Resources

Nexus Guide Workshops Assessments

Assessment

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Further Reading on Nexus & Enterprise

The Nexus Framework For Scaling Scrum Case Studies And White Papers

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 Connect With The Scrum.org Community

Forums Twitter LinkedIn Facebook RSS

Scrum.org @scrumdotorg LinkedIn.com Facebook.com Scrum.org/RSS
/Community /company/Scrum.org /Scrum.org

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Thank You!

scrum·on /skrʌmˈ ɔn/

1. Explore the art of the possible.

Kurt Bittner | kurt.bittner@scrum.org | @ksbittner

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