How to Organize Large Projects with Scrum? SoS!

More and more companies are interested in organizing projects in an agile way with Scrum. During the orientation phase, I regularly get asked what the maximum size of a Scrum team is and whether the size limits the maximum project capacity.

The short answer is yes and no: there is a maximum size for an efficient self-organizing Scrum team. However, because a Scrum organization is scalable, this doesn't affect the maximum project capacity. Large projects can also be organized using Scrum.

A Scrum team is self-organizing

An efficient and self-organizing Scrum team ideally consists of 5 to 8 team members. The team members are often generalist specialists who, in addition to their own expertise, are able to look beyond the boundaries of their own specialism. They also have the soft skills to collaborate in a self-organizing way. Could the Magnificent Seven ever have functioned as a Scrum team?

The Chief PO decides and the Scrum Master helps

Of course, a Scrum team of maximum 8 members has limited capacity. However, agile working according to Scrum is scalable by using SoS. In this case, that doesn't mean help! but: Scrum of Scrums. A project organization where multiple Scrum teams work in parallel on a project.

Each of these teams has its own Scrum Master and Product Owner. For coordinating activities, communication between teams is an important responsibility and task of the Chief Scrum Master, who regularly organizes the Scrum of Scrums meeting.

Depending on the status and needs of a project, the frequency is multiple times per week or weekly, and it's the Product Owner, Scrum Master or one of the team members who represents their team in the Scrum of Scrum meeting.

How decisions from one team may impact another team

Similar to the Daily Standup meeting format, at the start of the Scrum of Scrums meeting, each team's representative answers the following questions:

1. What has your team worked on since the last Scrum of Scrum meeting?
2. What will your team complete by the next Scrum of Scrum meeting?
3. What obstacles are there that other teams could help with?
4. What decisions have been made in your team that might affect other teams?

After which, unlike the Daily Standup meeting, the Scrum of Scrums not only provides alignment but often already looks for solutions.

From Scrum of Scrum to alternative methods

Just like a maximum number of Scrum team members, the number of Scrum teams in a Scrum of Scrums is also limited. When more than 10 teams work within a Scrum of Scrums, these are split into scrum-of-scrum-of-scrums. There are then parallel Scrum of Scrums.

Coordinating a scrum-of-scrum-of-scrums has its own challenges. And because Scrum of Scrums as a tool offers too little guidance here, alternative methods have been developed over time for implementing large projects:

• SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) - almost a complete detailed blueprint
• LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) - more of a framework of principles
• The Spotify model - squads, tribes, chapters and guilds

Some of these methods are suitable for large organizations while others are better for organizing large projects in smaller companies. What they all have in common at their core is that they have (Scrum) teams work together in parallel in a coordinated way: Scrum of Scrums.

In summary

Scrum teams are limited to maximum 10 members per team, but Scrum projects can be scaled by setting them up as pure Scrum of Scrums, SoS, or depending on the organization, one of the variants mentioned above.

Want to learn more about scaling? Check out our Agile training courses.