For global enterprises, scaling agile isn’t just about choosing the right framework — it’s about enabling consistency, visibility, and flow across hundreds of teams. Novo Nordisk, a leading pharmaceutical company supporting over 50 million patients worldwide, has embraced this challenge head-on.
Anders Vognsen, who leads the Global Lean Agile Center of Excellence at Novo Nordisk, recently shared his experience navigating this complexity. With over 170 agile teams and 18 ARTs (Agile Release Trains), their journey sheds light on what it really takes to scale agile effectively in large, regulated organizations.
Prefer to watch the story in action?
Here’s a 4.5-minute video summary where Anders from Novo Nordisk shares how they scaled agile across 170+ teams using Azure DevOps and Nooga Scale:
Transparency Is the Cornerstone of Scaling Agile
When asked about the biggest challenge in scaling agile, Anders didn’t hesitate: transparency.
“We’re running 18 ARTs programs with over 170 teams. How can we ensure transparency and data quality across them so we can sync, align, and create joint roadmaps?”
For Novo Nordisk, transparency isn’t just about seeing what’s happening — it’s about ensuring all teams are working toward the same goals with shared context and high-quality data. This visibility is essential for making real-time decisions and driving continuous alignment at scale.
Azure DevOps as a Single Source of Truth
To support this need for visibility, Novo Nordisk relies heavily on Azure DevOps.
“With so many teams and programs, we need one source of truth — one place where we plan, execute, and extract metrics.”
Azure DevOps enables them to align work around clear business goals, with a consistent structure for describing problems, value hypotheses, and acceptance criteria. This shared language helps cross-functional teams stay aligned and ensures leadership gets meaningful, consistent insights.
Why Nooga Scale Became Essential
While Azure DevOps is a powerful backbone, it lacked the functionality needed to run scaled PI planning out of the box. That’s where Nooga Scale came in.
“Azure DevOps didn’t give us a good way to run PI planning — to connect stories, features, and epics to the planning level. Nooga Scale solved that.”
With Nooga Scale, Novo Nordisk was able to:
- Plan across teams and ARTs directly in Azure DevOps
- Eliminate the need for manual tools like whiteboards and spreadsheets
- Provide RTEs (Release Train Engineers) with the tooling needed to orchestrate planning efficiently and accurately
The result? Less friction, better planning quality, and less time spent syncing tools — all while keeping everything within the Azure DevOps ecosystem.
Leadership Buy-in Starts with the Teams
Securing leadership support for agile tooling and practices can be tough, but Novo Nordisk found a path that works: start with the teams.
“For me, it’s a bottom-up approach. Build the foundation first. Then lean back — the data will come, and meaningful conversations can follow.”
Anders emphasized that leaders often want dashboards and reports before the underlying data exists. But true agility comes when teams are empowered to work in a structured, consistent way — and when leaders trust the process enough to wait for that foundation to be built.
Advice to Enterprises: Prioritize Team Enablement
When asked for his advice to others trying to scale agile, Anders was clear:
“Dear leaders, don’t focus on your own needs. Focus on team needs. Teach teams how to write good features — clear problems, benefit hypotheses, acceptance criteria, and metrics.”
This team-first mindset doesn’t just create better data — it also reduces the reporting burden and shifts the focus from chasing metrics to delivering value.
Final Thoughts
Novo Nordisk’s story reflects the reality of scaling agile in large, complex environments. Their experience highlights the importance of:
- Clear tooling strategy (Azure DevOps as the backbone)
- Fit-for-purpose extensions (like Nooga Scale for PI Planning)
- A strong foundation of team practices and shared language
- Trusting the data will come — if you invest in the teams first
Whether you're starting your scaling journey or refining your current approach, their lessons offer practical insight for any enterprise looking to make agile work at scale.
