FAST Process

What is FAST Agile?

FAST Agile combines Open Space and Open Allocation to create a lightweight, simple to understand, and simple to master agile method - that scales!

FAST is an acronym for Fluid Scaling Technology.

FAST Agile is Fluid Scaling Technology for Agile and Agile at Scale.

High-Level Overview of the FAST Process

Merge teams into a tribe, throw the work on a wall, let individuals self-organise into teams around the work. Repeat the process every two days.

FAST does not build on static teams, instead, it creates a fluid-structure - a dynamic network or lattice organizational structure where teams form, change, dismantle and reform dynamically with the changing demands and conditions of the product, the people working on it, the surrounding business conditions, and the world interacting with all of these.

To transition from a static team model to FAST, start by merging the teams into a tribe. The tribe participates in cadence in the FAST Meeting; an event inspired by Open Space. The FAST Meeting is a planning and synchronization meeting in which the highest priorities are called out, and teams dynamically form around these priorities. The teams break away, plan, and then deliver what value they can for the remaining time allotted to the iteration. At the end of the iteration, the tribe comes back together, and each team shares their progress with the tribe. This ensures that everyone in the tribe is in sync with the current state of the system under development.

FAST in Use

FAST is a system for organic collaboration on creative endeavours, from the small scale to the large. Creative endeavours are not limited to software product development.

FAST is suited for business environments or challenges that show high complexity, rapid change, or when innovation is needed.

Software projects are typically complex. Multi-team software projects (agile at scale) increases that complexity. Therefore, FAST is an ideal fit for software development and large-scale software development, though it is not limited to the software domain, as stated earlier.

The best resource for the FAST process is the FAST Guide