LeSS framework is basically Scrum, only scaled-up. It is more an additional set of rules and a really good explanation on how to apply Scrum in a scaled situation and still remain effective, than a framework on its own. This is especially evident when compared to other scaling frameworks. LeSS can be used to work effectively on a single product with multiple teams, and even thousands of developers.

A particularly interesting part is the emphasis on technical excellence. It is one of the extremely important aspects often neglected in Agile introductions. Among things like clean code, TDD, continuous delivery, the framework also describes the way we should deal with Architecture & Design in a very refreshing manner. Instead of creating additional organisational structure, roles and artifacts, Craig and Bas give a number of tips.

Think ‘gardening’ over ‘architecting’—Create a culture of living, growing design

This metaphor is intended as replacement for the building metaphor, which is usually used to describe what architecture means. The software systems are grown by incremental development, not built.

The rest is a large set of useful tips and direction of thinking when dealing with large scale Scrum. Here are few of these:

It is so important that every act of agile modeling and programming for the life of the system should be treated as an architectural act.

Standard whiteboards are possible but not usually sufficient–and in fact are often an impediment, because modeling is best done on vast open wall spaces without borders.

Encourage everyone to question and challenge all these assumptions [early architectural choices] and decisions, and to find ways to apply the lean thinking principle of decide as late as possible or defer commitment.

Technical leaders teach during code reviews.

Communities of practice (CoP) are an organizational mechanism to create virtual groups for related concerns.

Internal open source with teachers—for tools too

Don’t use stubs to delay integration

This should be captivating enough to make you visit the site.