Scaling Scrum – a brief comparison of DAD, LeSS, and SAFe

There are currently three major approaches for scaling Scrum into large enterprises that gain the most attention. The three approaches are the Scaled Agile Framework ("SAFe") by Dean Leffingwell, Disciplined Agile Development (DAD), by Scott Ambler, and Large Scale Scrum (LeSS), by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde.

But which one is right for your organization?

Below we will briefly examine each of these three approaches:

SAFe - is described as an interactive knowledge base for implementing Agile practices at enterprise scale. Increasingly recognized by its “Big Picture” graphic, SAFe provides a model for enterprise agility. The big picture addresses the enterprise at three levels: Team, Program, and Portfolio.

• At the Team level, SAFe looks a lot like Scrum (including XP practices). One of the biggest differences is that not every sprint necessarily produces a potentially shippable increment, but this should happen frequently, possibly after a hardening sprint.
• At the Program Level, the efforts of the Agile teams are aligned and integrated to serve the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders. SAFe provides a fair amount of detail on how to do this.
• The Portfolio level provides similar product and goal alignment between the investment levels and the operational levels of the organization.

Lean thinking, the Principles of Product Development Flow and the extensive benefits that Agile development (Agile Manifesto, Scrum, XP technical practices, Kanban) all play important roles in defining the principles and practices of SAFe," but SAFe "really values" Alignment, Code Quality, Transparency and Program Execution.

• Pros: Involves all levels in your organization, promotes collaboration amongst teams, and keeps everyone focused on the release
• Cons: Can be criticized as being overly prescriptive and HUP sprints can be considered wasteful.

DAD - This process framework is a people-first, learning-oriented hybrid agile approach to IT solution delivery. It has a risk-value life cycle, is goal-driven, and is enterprise aware. The top four priorities in DAD are:

1. People first
2. Learning-oriented
3. Agile
4. Hybrid

Hybrid means that DAD also draws on other, more traditional sources, especially the various flavors of Unified Process for governance and life-cycle management. Projects are divided into three phases, Inception, Construction, and Transition. Compared to Scrum, DAD puts more emphasis on architecture and technical risk reduction through the designation of an Architecture Owner.   One interesting concept within the DAD approach is the shift to “Potentially Consumable Service" as opposed to "Potentially Shippable Product".  This shift correlates with the increased understanding of risk since the days of RUP to include Market Risk and Social Risk, among others.

• Pros: Focus on architecture and design can lead to building a better product, scalable
• Cons: Less market share therefore fewer outlets for assistance and requires specialized roles that may not already exist in your organization

LeSS - Under the LeSS approach, Large-scale Scrum is regular Scrum applied to large-scale development. Craig Larman and Bas Vodde have developed two frameworks depending on the size of the project. Since they remain true to the constraints for Scrum, Large Scale Scrum cannot be considered a practice. Instead, it is an organizational design framework.

• Framework-1 is designed for projects of up to 10 teams. The basic roles are unchanged, but some the of the meetings are changed and some are replicated at the-cross team level. For example, Sprint Planning 1 may be held with representatives of each team, rather than all members of all teams. Similarly, a cross team retrospective with representatives of each team facilitates overall improvement. Teams are organized as Feature-Teams. Other inter-team coordination meetings may be added, in the form of Scrum of Scrums or Open Space meetings.  
• Framework-2 is designed for larger projects with more than 10 teams. Framework-2 adds an additional role, the Area Product Owner, who assumes product Ownership of a major section of the product. At this point, an Overall Sprint Review and Retrospective is also added to ensure overall product consistency and process improvement.  

Beyond Scrum, there are many technical practices which are helpful and encouraged to enhance coordination: Continuous Integration. Internal Open Source (any source can be modified by anyone), and Team-controlled build systems. These become even more important for multi-site projects.  

• Pros: Considered to be the “most” Agile scaling method, teams already doing Scrum will view this practice as natural and familiar
• Cons: The least prescriptive method which leaves some gaps for organizations to fill in

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