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Scaled Agile Framework better known as SAFe is a very popular framework or knowledgebase which is used by larger organizations to implement Agile practices beyond the team level. To clearly understand SAFe, we may have to start from Agile concepts.
What is Agile ?
As we all know Agile is the most commonly used Project management model or methodology in today’s world. Agile SDLC model is an iterative approach to project management that build software incrementally from the start of the project throughout the development life cycle. Agile focuses on process adaptability and customer satisfaction by doing rapid delivery of working software product. These short, time boxed periods during which the development takes place is known as sprint, which may last anywhere between 1-4 weeks. Thus, Agile approach introduced many benefits that were missing in the traditional Waterfall model and thereby it became widely accepted.
Eventhough Agile has numerous benefits and wide acceptance; there are a few complaints which comes up as well. The most common one among those is that Agile development doesn’t scale well. Agile concepts like working as small self-managing teams is effective for small projects but what happens when the there are 20 to 30 teams? Guiding and coordinating multiple teams working on a huge scale project in a large organization is impractical especially in the early phase of a project.
Some of the challenges faced by such organizations when scaling Agile principles and practices are:
Coping with longer planning horizons
Lack of common goal and coordination
Lack of framework for Agile practices at management levels
Dealing with delegated authority
Unmapped dependencies creating obstacles
Multiple sources of requirements from multiple teams
Too many team members to collaborate and manage
As a solution to this; there are a number of scaling agile frameworks that solve the problems associated with agility at scale. A few among these are:
Scaled Agile Framework ( SAFe)
Large-Scale Scrum ( LeSS)
Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)
Nexus
Spotify Model
Scrum at Scale
The most popular from the list are SAFe, LeSS and DAD .
Here here we would be discussing more about SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework –its principles, levels, configurations and much more.
Pioneered by Dean Leffingwell, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is an enterprise-scaled development framework which combines existing lean and agile principles into a templated framework for large scale projects .
SAFe leverages 3 primary bodies of knowledge:
Agile Software Development- SAFe incorporates the core principles, practices and collaborative team-based efforts of Agile.
System Thinking- System thinking focuses on the integration of two systems — one built for the greater benefit of the customer and the second representing the organization that builds it. It emphasizes the consolidation of different parts of the organization to achieve overall business objectives.
Lean Product Development – The best of product development practices and lean thinking are combined here to achieve overall business objectives.
These building blocks form the foundation of SAFe, combining Agile methodologies, lean principles, and a holistic systems approach to enable organizations to scale Agile practices effectively across larger and more complex environments.
Remember; SAFe is not designed as a single methodology or framework but as a broad knowledge base of proven best practices that helps organizations to implement Agile practices at scale.
The above image represents SAFe which is often called SAFe Big Picture which shows all roles, artefacts, events and elements of the framework. Historically, Scrum, Extreme Programming and other agile methods tend to focus, and stop, at the team level. SAFe on the other hand presents a single, unified view of the work to executives, allowing them to drill down for details or drill up for trends and analysis.
The four levels or configurations of SAFe methodology:
Essential SAFe - The basic and the most straightforward starting point for SAFe implementation. It includes the Team and Program levels, focusing on the Agile Release Train (ART) as the primary construct for value delivery
Large Solution SAFe – This configuration builds upon Essential SAFe and is mainly used by complex solutions that require multiple ARTs and suppliers, but may not need portfolio-level considerations.
Portfolio SAFe –This configuration adds the Portfolio level and includes Organizational Agility and Lean Portfolio Management competencies to those included in Essential SAFe.
Full SAFe - This is the most comprehensive configuration, including all four levels: Team, Program, Large Solution, and Portfolio.It integrates all the core competencies of business agility and is mainly used by large enterprises
Key Roles in SAFe
In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), several key roles are essential for ensuring the successful implementation of agile practices and the delivery of value. These roles are distributed across different levels of the framework:
Team Level
Agile Team: Responsible for the delivery and quality of the work undertaken.
Scrum Master: Ensures that the team works well and follows agile processes, acting as a coach and facilitator.
Product Owner: Prioritizes user stories and ensures they are well described and understood by the team.
Program Level
Product Manager: Prioritizes features and ensures they are clearly defined and understood.
Release Train Engineer (RTE): Facilitates the Agile Release Train (ART), ensuring that the team of agile teams works cohesively.
Business Owner: Key stakeholders responsible for the business outcome.
System Architect/Engineer: Designs and shares the architectural vision across the ART.
Solution Level
Solution Manager: Prioritizes capabilities and ensures they are well-defined and understood.
Solution Architect/Engineer: Designs and shares the architectural vision across multiple ARTs.
Solution Train Engineer: Facilitates and guides the work done by all the ARTs delivering the solution.
Portfolio Level
Epic Owners: Define epics, articulate their benefits, and facilitate their implementation.
Enterprise Architect: Drives architectural initiatives for the portfolio.
Other Key Roles
SAFe Program Consultant (SPC): Uses their technical knowledge of SAFe to advance the organization’s systems and processes, often coming from an internal center of excellence or external consultancy.
These roles collectively ensure that SAFe is implemented effectively, promoting alignment, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the organization.
Benefits of SAFe
Some of the key benefits of implementing the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) include:
Alignment – SAFe ensures that all teams are aligned with organizations business objectives.
Increased productivity as SAFe promotes in aligning cross functional teams across the organization contributing equally to the final goal. It also helps in bringing the final product faster into the market .
Enhanced Quality since SAFe aims at reducing the roadblocks throughout the development process.
Better employee engagement - SAFe aims to create an environment that fosters autonomy, mastery and purpose, which are key factors in motivating employees .
Process Transparency - SAFe product development helps to maintain transparency across teams and departments which in turn builds team trust. Once there is trust — performance, motivation, innovation, and continuous improvement become evident.
Challenges of SAFe
Potential lack of flexibility
Top-down decision making
Excessive overhead
Difficulty in organizing work into small batches
Challenges in prioritizing epics
Conclusion
SAFe provides a 12-step implementation roadmap to guide organizations in adopting the framework, including training change agents, preparing teams, and launching Agile Release Trains (ARTs). Overall, SAFe aims to provide a structured approach for scaling Agile practices in large enterprises, fostering alignment, collaboration, and delivery across numerous teams.
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