The Role of Architecture in a Scaled Agile Organization: A Case Study in the Insurance Industry

Abstract

Digitization and disruptive innovations change the environment organizations act in rapidly. Especially, large organizations face big challenges when it comes to developing applications which satisfy the customers' changing requirements rapidly. Their original enterprise architecture is characterized by legacy systems with long life and release cycles. The role of architecture is adjusted to this strongly intertwined environment, in which making changes is very complex and happens slowly.
To stay competitive many enterprises start to develop applications using agile development methods, such as Scrum. However, Scrum is a method for small, cross-functional teams. As soon as there are several agile teams working on one project, challenges such as cross-team coordination and communication as well as the focus on a common goal become challenging. Especially, the lacking architecture guidance poses a challenge for the teams. To address these challenges there are agile scaling practices, such as Nexus, Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). In this thesis these frameworks are analyzed with focus on their approach to architecture. However, their advise on architecture in agile development projects is limited. As two of the frameworks suggest Domain-driven Design (DDD) for architecting in an agile way, this approach is discussed.

Goals

So far no approach on how to combine agile scaling practices and DDD was defined. The goal of this thesis is to explore how DDD can be established in a scaled agile development project. Therefore, based on a case study a framework for (enterprise) architecture in agile teams is defined. The framework is largely based on LeSS and incorporates strategic and tactical DDD. The framework is evaluated by applying it in cooperation with three agile teams in a large insurance company. The results are part of the presented pre-study. Additionally, the framework is evaluated in interviews with different stakeholders and roles in the framework.
In the discussion, the key findings and limitations are presented. Finally, the research questions are answered and an outlook on future research and practical applications is given.

Research Questions

1. What is the Role of Architecture in Scaled Agile Organizations?

2. How can Domain-Driven Design be adopted in a large organization with several agile Development Teams?

3. Which Roles, Processes, Artifacts and Tools are required for Scaled Domain-Driven Design?

Sources

Evans, E. (2003). Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software. Addison Wesley.

Evans, E. (2015). Domain-Driven Design Reference – Definitions and Pattern Summaries.

Larman, C. & Vodde, B. (2016). Large-Scale Scrum: More with LeSS. Addison-Wesley Professional.

Millett, S. (2015). Patterns, Principles and Practices of Domain-Driven Design. John Wiley & Sons.

Scaled Agile Inc., (2016). SAFe® 4.0 Introduction - Overview of the Scaled Agile Framework for Lean Software and Systems Engineering (White Paper).

Vernon, V. (2013). Implementing domain-driven design. Addison-Wesley.

Vernon, V. (2016). Domain-driven design distilled. Addison-Wesley Professional.

http://www.scaledagileframework.com/agile-architecture/

https://less.works/less/technical-excellence/architecture-design.html