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International Conference on Agile Software Development

XP 2015: Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming pp 178–190Cite as

Scaling Kanban for Software Development in a Multisite Organization: Challenges and Potential Solutions

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 212))

Abstract

In software development organizations, large-scale distributed projects pose many challenges, such as hierarchical requirements, large team size, and managing workflow. Agile methods, like Scrum, seem to have limitations in addressing those issues. Kanban offers an interesting alternative in this concern by setting work-in-progress (WIP) limits to manage flow and establishing visibility of requirements using a visual signaling system. However, only few empirical studies have investigated scaling Kanban for large organizations. To address this concern, a case study was conducted in a large multisite company to identify the challenges and possible solutions in scaling Kanban. During the study, defining WIP limits, coordinating with distributed teams, and dividing features between teams were found as major challenges. Setting WIP limits by common agreement between teams and visualizing product backlogs and teams on electronic board, with teams pulling features from the board, were found as possible solutions for overcoming the mentioned challenges.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, P.O.Box 3000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland

    Nirnaya Tripathi, Pilar Rodríguez, Muhammad Ovais Ahmad & Markku Oivo

Authors
  1. Nirnaya Tripathi
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  2. Pilar Rodríguez
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  3. Muhammad Ovais Ahmad
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  4. Markku Oivo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nirnaya Tripathi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Casper Lassenius

  2. SINTEF, Trondheim, Norway

    Torgeir Dingsøyr

  3. Aalto University, Aalto, Finland

    Maria Paasivaara

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Tripathi, N., Rodríguez, P., Ahmad, M.O., Oivo, M. (2015). Scaling Kanban for Software Development in a Multisite Organization: Challenges and Potential Solutions. In: Lassenius, C., Dingsøyr, T., Paasivaara, M. (eds) Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming. XP 2015. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 212. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18611-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18612-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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