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Sep 05

Scaling Agile Frameworks Terminology Comparison

  • 05.09.2022
  • ValueInsights
  • No Comments
  • Agile

Ever wondered about the differences between the various Agile scaling frameworks out there? Well, check this post which compare the terminology of the most popular Agile scaling frameworks! 

Table of Contents

Scaling Agile Frameworks terminology

Differences and commonalities between scaling Agile frameworks

If you are confused about the different terms used between the various Agile scaling frameworks out there, this post should be able to explain them to you.

The key thing to know is that the vast majority of those scaling frameworks have much more in common than what they would like to admit. If you are looking to know what those frameworks have actually in common, have a look at our article on this subject: Scaling Agile building blocks.

In terms of differences, what differentiate those frameworks between them would be:

  • Their philosophy
  • Their scope of application and breadth, more on this with our Scaling Agile Frameworks Quadrant

If you want to know about the main scaling Agile frameworks in the market, have a look at our Agile scaling frameworks article.

Now, let’s look at the most popular Agile scaling frameworks before going into their terminology. Those are:

  • SAFe
  • LeSS
  • Scrum@scale
  • Nexus

Agile Scaling frameworks

Below is a table presenting key attributes of those frameworks as well as their official websites should you want to explore them in details.
Scaling... with SAFe with LeSS with Scrum@scale with Nexus

Name

Scaled Agile Framework
Large Scale Scrum
Scrum@scale
Nexus

Creation Year

2011
2005
2018
2018

Created by

Dean Leffingwell
Craig Larman, Bas Vodde
Jeff Sutherland
Ken Schwaber

Organization

Scaled Agile
Less works
Scrum Inc.
Scrum.org

Website

Scaled Agile Framework
LeSS.works
Scrumatscale
Online Nexus Guide

Now we will look at the terminology used in those frameworks.

We will do that around the main Scrum elements, those are:

  • The events
  • The roles (accountabilities in the Scrum Guide 2020)
  • The artifacts
So let’s review them in this order…
 

Scaling Scrum events

Below table presents the names used for the scaled events under our four popular frameworks:
Scaling... with SAFe with LeSS with Scrum@scale with Nexus

Sprint Planning

PI Planning
Sprint Planning One
Scaled Sprint Planning
Nexus Sprint Planning

Daily Scrum

ART sync (PO sync, Scrum of Scrum)
No prescribed event but recommended practices
The Scaled Daily Scrum
Nexus Daily Scrum

Sprint Review

I&A - PI System Demo
Sprint Review (replace single teams' reviews)
The Scaled Sprint Review
Nexus Sprint Review (replace single teams' reviews)

Sprint Retrospective

I&A - Retrospective and problem solving workshop
Overall Retrospective
The Scaled Retrospective
Nexus Sprint Retrospective

Product Backlog Refinement (PBR)

Program Backlog Refinement
Multi-team PBR, Overall PBR
Scaled Backlog Decomposition and Refinement
Cross-Team Refinement

You may have noticed that only LeSS is not prescribing an event to scale the daily Scrum.

Based on Craig Larman and Bas Vode, this scaled event does not necessarily provide value and other ways to inspect and adapt between the team can be found, explored and tested. Take what works for you!

Now that we have seen the events, let’s proceed with scaling the Scrum roles…

Scaling Scrum roles

Below table presents the names used for the scaled roles under the different frameworks. There are only 3 accountabilities in Scrum so this one is fairly easy…

 

Scaling... with SAFe with LeSS with Scrum@scale with Nexus

Product Owner

Product Manager
Product Owner (1 for multiple Scrum teams)
Chief Product Owner
Product Owner (1 for multiple Scrum teams)

Scrum Master

Release Train Engineer (RTE)
Scrum Master
Scrum of Scrum Master
Nexus Integration Team Scrum Master (can also work in one or more teams)

Developer

System Architect
No scaled role
No scaled role
Nexus Integration Team members

Notice here that SAFe want to ensure alignment between teams with the help of a system architect for topics such as coding convention, delivery pipeline (can also be system team), technology to use, etc…

Scaling Scrum artifacts

Below table presents the names used for the scaled artifacts under the different frameworks.

Scaling... with SAFe with LeSS with Scrum@scale with Nexus

Sprint Backlog

Sprint Backlog (per team)
Sprint Backlog (per team)
Sprint Backlog (per team)
Nexus Sprint Backlog

Product Backlog

Program Backlog and Team Backlogs
Product Backlog (one only)
Product Backlog(s)
Product Backlog (one only)

Increment

System Increment
Potentially Shippable Product Increment
Fully integrated set of potentially shippable increments of product
Integrated Increment

Here, it is also interesting to note that SAFe is splitting the Product Backlog into two parts: the Program Backlog containing large items that the teams need to work on during a Program Increment (scaled Sprint, usually containing 4 to 6 Sprints) and the teams” backlogs which contains those large items decomposed as user stories and enablers which can be completed in a Sprint.

Agile Scaling Frameworks Terminology Conclusion

We hope that this short post helped you to understand the different terminology behind those 4 scaling Agile frameworks.

Should you have any question, do not hesitate to contact us with the link below!

Yours,

The Value Insights team

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