Final Thoughts

Although this chapter has a number of organizational and product practices for scaling agile methods to larger projects, the fundamental question remains—do agile principles apply to large or distributed projects? For large/distributed projects, is it more important to deliver value or to meet constraints? For large/distributed projects, is it more important to lead teams or to manage tasks? For large/distributed projects, is adapting to change more important than conforming to plans? To me, the unequivocal answer to all three questions is “yes.” The question is not, “Can agile methods work with large/distributed projects?” but, “How do we adapt agile methods to work on large/distributed projects?”

All the enhanced practices and tools in this chapter can be accommodated within the APM framework. Agile principles still apply. The need for self-organizing, self-disciplined teams still applies. Short, story-based iterative development still applies, as does the need for frequent, comprehensive feedback and adaptive adjustments. Scaling to larger projects requires additional thought, and practices, for both people and product. ICS cards provide one mechanism for scaling the self-organizing practices of single teams to teams of teams. Capability-level planning and reporting (using a parking lot graphic) provide a mechanism for scaling story-based planning to larger projects. Project leaders will bring other practices to bear on larger projects, some taken from traditional approaches.