An Empirical Study of a Large-Scale Agile Transformation of an Online Retailer

Abstract

With the ongoing digital transformation organizations are confronted with new emerging
challenges e.g., constantly changing customer demands or the constant emerge of new innovations.
And with the success of applying agile methods and the possibility to overcome
multiple challenges that arise due to the ongoing digital transformation more companies
are increasingly adopting agile methods at scale. Primarily developed for the use of small
teams, using agile methods became attractive due to the advantages that arise from the
large-scale application of agile methods for larger projects in larger companies. However,
adapting agile methods at scale also comes with challenges e.g., the company’s overall resistance
to change or the company’s culture contradicting with agile values. As a result,
the organization’s processes, policies and culture have to reflect agile values and they need
to develop an agile mindset if they aim to succeed in large-scale agile application. The goal
of the organizations is therefore to achieve the capability to react quickly and with flexibility
to technical innovations, new business possibilities and unforeseen environmental
changes. To achieve this goal, they initiate a large-scale agile transformation which is defined
in this thesis as the switch of an organization from a different development approach
or work organization concept to the application of agile methods on an organizational
level with at least two teams. While research on large-scale agile transformation mainly
focuses on the challenges and success factors, there is a lack of empirical studies on adopting
agile methods in large organizations as well as the lack of understanding agility in the
enterprise context and the lack of focus on the impact of the large-scale agile transformation.
This thesis aims to fill this existing gap in research by conducting a case study on a
large-scale agile transformation of a German online retailer. This thesis provides a framework
for organizations to determine their actual state of agility within the organization as
well as their target state. By conducting a total of 17 interviews with people from different
fields within the organization, the actual state regarding the large-scale agile transformation
as well as the target state of the German online retailer could be determined by means
of categories that enable the distinction of agile methods and plan-driven methods since
they have contradicting emphases. Using the socio-technical systems theory, the impact
of the large-scale agile transformation on actors, tasks, technologies, and structures were
identified. In addition, a total of 7 challenges, 4 barriers, 6 success factors, and 8 lessons
learned were identified.

Research Questions

Research Question 1: What is the actual state regarding the large-scale agile transformation?
The objective of the first research question is to identify the actual state of the large-scale
agile transformation by means of categories that were identified in literature and enable
the comparison of organizations by means of these categories. These categories can be
split up into two contradicting dimensions and allow the distinction between agile and
plan-driven methods as they have different emphases. Furthermore, it is to find out the
desired state regarding the large-scale agile transformation of the organization.

Research Question 2: Which impact has the large-scale agile transformation on the organization?
The second research questions focuses on the impact of the large-scale agile transformation
in the organization by means of the socio-technical systems theory. This theory is used
to analyze the changes induced by the agile transformation and to describe the impacts of
the agile transformation on the four components, namely people, structure, task, and technologies.

Research Question 3: What are success factors and barriers of the large-scale agile transformation?
This question addresses the success factors, challenges, and barriers that could be identified
so far by the organization through the large-scale agile transformation.

Research Question 4: What are the lessons learned of the large-scale agile transformation?The last research questions addresses the lessons learned that could be identified by theorganization through the agile transformation so far.

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