Case study
REN 21: Using agile in service focused organisations to achieve an outcome fast
“
We’ve never achieved so much. This has been amazing, a fantastic team event and the process you designed really allowed us to deliver. I’m very happy how this has all evolved and worked out. Thank you!!!"
Rana Adib - REN21
Why LeSS is more
These days we all pretty much accept that agile is perfect for organisations where the destination is known but the journey to get there is not. Agile is ideal for teams that value the ability to adapt and the freedom to learn by doing rather than sticking to a rigid plan, no matter what they discover along the way.
Once organisations click with agile the obvious next step is to ask ‘so, how do we do it?’.
Which commonly leads to the answer ‘let’s try Scrum’.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love Scrum. It provides a clear structure for defining roles and responsibilities and enables teams to deliver results incrementally. People get to see the benefits of their work sooner, and it's a fantastic way to collaborate openly.
But here's the catch: Scrum doesn't always fit seamlessly into service-focused organisations.
In service organisations that focus mainly on ‘change’ or ‘improvement’ when running projects, it's not about being part of a Scrum team full time; it's about juggling multiple projects while handling the day job. This can be a tricky balancing act, especially when your day job isn't necessarily project-oriented in the first place. Think about social care staff involved in internal change initiatives as well as their ‘day job’ – it's not always straightforward and the ‘structure’ of Scrum can feel overwhelming and even convoluted. Roles can be a bit fuzzy, and that ambiguity around role ownership can slow down ‘getting going’ or decision making. As much as Scrum is a lifesaver when all the stars align, there are times when it can make tackling challenges feel more complex.
So, the question is, what can we use that retains the agility and structure of Scrum but doesn't overcomplicate things? This is where I believe a lighter version of Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) can come to the rescue.
So, What's LeSS All About?
LeSS is all about keeping things simple and agile while providing the structure you need.
LeSS is based on the principles and practices of Scrum, but adapts them to the context of multiple teams working on the same product. LeSS aims to reduce complexity, bureaucracy, and set roles but creating self-organising teams who constantly communicate. See an Intro to LeSS here.
So there is LeSS (for 2 to 8 teams) and LeSS Huge (for more than 8 teams).
This is LeSS Lite (copyright Matt Barnaby - for my inflated ego 
) for 2 to 8 teams with a defined project scope and duration.
I recently applied a LeSS Lite approach to a super-short, four-day project. In this case, we focused on the principles of LeSS, not the full implementation of the methodology.
And you know what? It worked like a charm.
The Challenge
The challenge we faced was that we had a single product owner with a laundry list of objectives. They needed to define a five-year ambition, get a three-year strategy in place, and implement a one-year work plan.
They needed these things in place in order to secure future support and funding to achieve their mission. But imagine a team of about 18 people, each with different entry points on how to tackle this mammoth task. Some are more focused on community engagement, others on communications, and some on strategic intelligence. Interpretation of the ‘what, why and how’ differed massively. I not only needed to create the environment where they could focus and do the work but I also needed to create the environment where they felt ‘on the hook’ during and after so that their efforts could be operationalised with a sense of ownership.
So, how did we do it?
So the trick was to break down the organisation into 4 teams and each work on defined needs in rapid sprints to ‘do’, then gather input and validation from the ‘whole’.
We divided each day into a sprint, and within each day, we further broke it down into about three sprints. At the start, we shared the objectives and allowed the team to have open discussions to gain a deeper understanding.
With the objectives crystal clear, we took the team through a LeSS Lite process. They formed small self organised teams within each sprint to brainstorm and develop their initial ideas for tackling the objectives.
Throughout the day, we had regular alignment points where the team checked in on the objectives, then split off into their small (self organised) teams to work. They reconvened as a full team to review their work, get input from each other, and perhaps even change teams based on the skills needed for the next iteration of their efforts.
“This has been amazing, a fantastic team event and the process you designed really allowed us to deliver. I’m very happy how this has all evolved and worked out.”.
Rana Adib - REN21
The outcome
Of course, the work carries on with the final session of the days focused on key session dates for further iteration and review.
In a nutshell, even a lighter version of LeSS can bring simplicity, structure, and agility to an organisation. It's perfect for navigating through challenges when Scrum might be ‘a bit much’ but a structure of iteration is hugley beneficial.
So, if you're looking to keep things agile, boost your team's delivery, confidence, and adapt at lightning speed, LeSS Lite might just be your new best friend. 
PS: Written by a 
not a 
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