LeSS, SAFe and Nexus
Author of the article: Dmitry Kurdyumov
Participated in Agile transformations in the largest companies in Russia (Alfa Bank, MTS, X5 retail group), with international experience in a startup abroad.
Many companies that successfully work with Agile in a single team face the problem of scaling. When the number of teams grows and Agile principles are not adapted to a higher level, chaos begins. Teams lose synchronicity, tasks are not completed on time, and problems with process transparency arise.
To address these challenges, scaling frameworks such as LeSS, SAFe, and Nexus were created. In this article, we will look at their core principles and best practices.
The Challenges of Scaling Agile
When a company operates with a single team, working in Agile can help improve processes, increase transparency, and speed up value delivery. However, when the number of teams increases without clear scaling processes, difficulties arise:
Lack of a single vector. Without a common Product Owner or aligned goals, teams can work in disarray, building different parts of the product without a unified strategy.
Dependency management. Interdependencies between teams become more complex, leading to blocked work and increased time to complete tasks.
Communication barriers. Interaction between teams becomes more complex and time-consuming, which reduces the speed of adaptation to change.
Transparency and visibility of work. As the number of teams increases, it becomes more difficult to track progress and identify problems early.
Scaling frameworks help address these challenges by structuring interactions between teams and creating rules that help maintain agility and productivity.
LeSS (Large Scale Scrum)
LeSS — is an adaptation of Scrum for several teams working on one product. The main principle of LeSS is minimal changes to classic Scrum and an emphasis on value creation. Teams in LeSS are organized around a product in a broad sense: a product is what a company sells. This definition allows for maximum coverage of all work related to creating value for the client.
Key features of LeSS:
Cross-functional feature teams. Each team should have all the necessary competencies and team members should strive to be able to implement any feature from the backlog. What may seem like challenges at the start for a company that has decided to use LeSS
One Product Owner for all teams. This allows all teams to work towards the same priorities and see a common goal.
General backlog. All teams work from the same backlog, which ensures transparency and a single direction.
Regular meetings. Shared planning and retrospectives help teams stay in sync and improve communication.
Creating cross-functional teams around a product is the ideal goal in LeSS, but in practice it can be difficult to implement, especially in large corporations where it is impossible to assemble cross-functional teams around a product due to existing constraints or structure. In such cases, Nexus can be used as an intermediate option.
Nexus
Nexus — is a framework from the creators of Scrum, focused on managing dependencies between teams. Nexus focuses on improving the integration of work between teams working on the same product, and can be useful on the way to more complex structures, such as LeSS. Nexus uses an integration team (Nexus Integration Team), which helps coordinate the work of all teams and eliminate integration risks. This team is largely responsible for the final assembly of the work of all teams and its integration and then deployment to production.
The main elements of Nexus:
Nexus Integration Team. A team consisting of representatives from all teams is responsible for integrating the results.
General planning and synchronization. Sprint planning and retrospectives are held for all teams to take into account dependencies and integration risks.
Transparency and dependency management. Nexus helps identify and resolve dependencies between teams, improving the quality of integration.
Nexus is recommended for organizations that want to keep Scrum at the core of their work and minimize the complexity of interactions between teams. This framework is suitable for cases when the company is not yet ready for LeSS and needs an intermediate approach to help build cross-functional skills and integration.
SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)
SAFe — one of the most popular and structured Agile scaling frameworks. SAFe includes three levels: team, program, and portfolio, which allows synchronizing work from strategy to implementation. This framework is often chosen by large organizations that need a strict structure and clear distribution of roles.
SAFe is especially useful when it is not possible to organize teams around a broadly defined product, as suggested by LeSS. This is often the case in large corporations, where teams focus on components or features rather than the full product cycle.
The main elements of SAFe are:
Software increments. Planning and execution of work is done through a series of releases (increments) that enable regular delivery of value to the user.
Roles and ceremonies. SAFe adds roles such as Release Train Engineer and Product Manager to help manage more teams.
Strategic management. The portfolio level allows you to link the company's strategic goals with the daily work of teams.
SAFe is suitable for organizations with a large number of teams, complex hierarchies, and the need for strict control over the execution of tasks. This framework helps ensure predictability of deliveries and manageability of processes.
How to choose an approach?
Each framework has its own characteristics, and the choice depends on many factors: the scale of the company, the structure of teams, current processes and strategic goals.
LeSS is suitable if you already use Scrum and want to scale while maintaining minimalism and flexibility. It is effective for organizations with a small number of teams working on a single product.
Nexus can be an intermediate step on the way to LeSS for companies where it is difficult to create universal teams right away. Nexus helps manage integration and minimize dependencies.
SAFe will be the best choice for large companies with a developed hierarchy, where it is necessary to synchronize many teams and manage complex projects. SAFe provides clear roles and processes, which allows you to structure work at all levels of the organization.
Conclusion
Scaling Agile requires a systematic approach and careful selection of a framework. LeSS, SAFe, and Nexus are tools that can help you cope with the challenges of growth and make teams more synchronized and productive. It is important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all solution — each framework has its own strengths and weaknesses, and success will depend on how well it fits your company’s needs.
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