The structure of Agile development under scaled planning and coordination

Abstract

Agile and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodologies are increasingly being deployed, both for software development and also by teams in broader work settings. This is a proof-of-concept study to develop a DSM for a SAFe development environment. Key takeaways from this study are: (i) Agile and SAFe DSMs are characterized by a unique set of nested information dependencies that are absent in waterfall development; (ii) these dependencies are not readily evident in the conventional and layered rendering of SAFe process documentation. We discuss the organizational and analytical process improvement opportunities available based on such DSM analysis and conclude by identifying possibilities for follow-on research.