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Large Organisations — Why Agile Is Difficult

publish date: 2026/06/04 04:30:5.834799 UTC

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Applying agile methods to large organisations is described as difficult. What is identified as one key reason?

Agile methods require co-located teams and large organisations are always globally distributed

Large organisations always develop safety-critical systems that cannot use agile methods

Large organisations lack the computing infrastructure needed to run agile tools

Large organisations have often spent years building a culture of defined and followed processes, and moving to informal processes defined by development teams is difficult

Correct Answer

Large organisations have often spent years building a culture of defined and followed processes, and moving to informal processes defined by development teams is difficult

Explanation

Many organisations, especially large companies, have spent years changing their culture so that processes are defined and followed. It is difficult for them to move to a working model in which processes are informal and defined by development teams. This cultural resistance is a major obstacle to adopting agile methods.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition

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