Using an agile approach in a large, traditional organization

Can agile approaches be used successfully in large organizations, where traditional methods and high levels of governance are the norm? Although the iterative, agile approaches have been seen to work well in small, flexible organizations, or on smaller projects, they frequently fall foul of the larger organization\´s need for governance, investment appraisal and control. Formed in 1967, OCLC develops software for use by libraries and their users, museums, and academic institutions. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information. OCLC aims to be the leading global library cooperative. More than 54,000 libraries in 96 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. This paper examines how TCC, a training and consultancy company from Cheshire, England has worked with OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center based in Dublin, Ohio to incorporate the Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) into a development culture that was deeply-rooted in "traditional" software development methods. Examples from multiple projects illustrate how the adoption of DSDM helped OCLC change its culture and achieve success in software development and deployment. OCLC\´s TLC dashboard was used to track the effectiveness of the development cycle, and to collect metrics from 2003 to the present. We discuss some of the challenges we faced and the six agile steps to success