1. Introduction to SAFe

SAFe is an agile delivery system for enterprise-scale software development. It is designed to address the limitations of single team-based delivery. In this introduction we discuss:

• Problems Solved by SAFe
• The SAFe Delivery Model
• How to Implement SAFe

Why SAFe

Enterprise software delivery requires the capacity of multiple development teams, multi-sprint delivery cycles and solid alignment between product strategy, planning and execution. The SAFe framework defines a set of organizational and workflow patterns for scaling agile delivery beyond single teams.  Specifically, SAFe addresses:

• Scaling delivery capacity with multiple delivery teams.
• Multi-sprint planning increments.
• Organizing delivery teams around product value streams short-term, temporary projects.

While many scaling frameworks are now available, SAFe has become the most widely adopted, supported extensively with training and consulting resources.

SAFe leverages multiple bodies of knowledge, including agile delivery, lean, systems thinking, agile leadership, portfolio management and business strategy. SAFe continues to evolve, and since the release of SAFe 5, the framework has redefined itself in terms of Seven Core Competencies and positioned itself as a solution to the broader challenge of Business Agility. The Seven Core Competencies are designed to support a shift from Scaled Delivery to a more comprehensive Business Agility and include topics like Organizational Agility and Lean Portfolio Management. Scaled delivery using teams-of-teams remains at the foundation with Agile Product Delivery and Team and Technical Agility competencies. The fundamental product delivery framework continues to be based upon organizing around value stream-aligned Agile Release Trains (ARTs).

The Seven Core Competencies

The Seven Core Competencies constitute a framework for the broader goal of Business Agility – not just for scaling software delivery. Each core competency has 3 dimensions that define Key Practices, Roles & Responsibilities, and Values & Principles that support that competency area. PI Planning is supported by the Agile Product Delivery competency.

Here’s a summary of each competency:

• The Lean-Agile Leadership Core Competency is the foundation of the entire framework. This competency area comprises the Lean-Agile Principles plus SAFe Principles and talks about the necessity for an organization’s leadership to exemplify these principles in their leadership behaviors.
• Team & Tech agility: small cross-functional teams, with the ability to deliver working increments of a product or solution as the output of every iteration – using the important principle of building quality in.
• Agile Product Delivery – is where PI Planning fits and defines a delivery model using teams-of-teams – known as ARTs, operating in fixed-width timeboxes (PIs) to plan and deliver solutions.
• Enterprise Solution Delivery is about creating large solutions requiring the capacity of multiple Agile Release Trains.
• Lean Portfolio Management is where we connect strategy to execution and describes how ART Backlogs represent the work needed to realize strategy. It also covers topics like Lean Budgeting – Lean Budgeting is an adaptive approach for investment funding among multiple value streams in a portfolio.
• Organizational Agility: the ability of an organization to sense and quickly respond to threats and opportunities in the fast-changing business environments of today.
• Continuous Learning Culture: is about how Organizations must embrace continuous improvement as a way of life, and where everyone in the organization must be involved in change & continuous improvement.

The Seven Core Competencies:

SAFe 6.0 Changes

The release of SAFe 6.0 brought some terminology changes, which have been adopted in this edition of the book. (PIs are now Planning Increments, and the Program Backlog is now the ART Backlog). The term Program, which is usually associated with traditional project and program management, has been phased out. A list of terminology changes that specifically relate to PI Planning is provided below. We will introduce other changes as we meet them throughout the book. Beyond that, no fundamental changes have been made that impact PI Planning or SAFe’s cadence-based delivery model. Here’s a summary of terminology changes in SAFe 6.0 that specifically relate to PI Planning.

From	To (SAFe 6.0)
Program Backlog	ART Backlog
Program Increment (PI)	Planning Increment (PI)
Program Board	ART Planning Board
Program Execution	ART Execution
Program Risks	ART PI Risks
SAFe Program Consultant	SAFe Practice Consultant

SAFe is a large, complex, and evolving framework, and organizations are encouraged to engage the help of SAFe Practice Consultants (SPCs – trained and certified by Scaled Agile Inc.) to provide implementation guidance and coaching. In this book we will cover the baseline patterns needed to get started with the SAFe product delivery model.

The SAFe Delivery Model

SAFe delivery is based on a Develop-on-Cadence, Release-on-Demand model. To support this approach, planning and delivery occurs within fixed width timeboxes of 5-6 sprints known as Planning Increments (PIs). Many organizations plan in quarterly increments (6 sprints). Within each Planning Increment, multiple delivery teams, organized into Agile Release Trains (ARTs), plan and execute against an ART Backlog, producing potentially releasable product increments every 2 weeks. Actual releases to production are based on business demand. In this way the process of releasing is decoupled from the development cadence.

Each team within an ART is a standard Scrum Team (or sometimes a Kanban Team), and an ART may comprise up to a dozen teams. Additional roles are employed to coordinate planning and execution across the ART. Specifically, a Product Manager owns and manages the overall ART Backlog, which is the single source of work for all teams in the ART, and a Release Train Engineer (RTE), facilitates all ART-level events, including PI Planning and execution governance events within each PI.

Teams produce features incrementally via short iterations that deliver production-quality code. Most teams use the scrum framework to accomplish this. Additional engineering practices like Continuous Integration and Test Automation, supported with DevSecOps tools, are used to ensure that quality and security is built into every iteration. At the end of each sprint, the combined work of all teams is integrated to produce a working system increment which can be demonstrated to stakeholders at System Demo events.

SAFe Adoption Strategy

SAFe has recommended a series of steps for adoption. This approach has proven to be effective across many organizations, and can be summarized as follows:

Details will vary by organization based on their needs, but essential steps include:

• Make the Go SAFe decision.
• Train internal change agents and organizational leaders needed to own and actively support the transformation.
• Identify Value Streams. These are the products and/or services that the organization provides. For IT organizations that exist to support business operations, identify the fundamental business processes that must be supported, for example hiring/onboarding, payroll, supplier contracts, and so on. Identify the systems and teams needed to support these value streams. Setting up ARTs based on Value Streams is one of the most consequential actions that can be taken by an organization for successful delivery at scale. (See Chapter 2 of the eBook for more).
• Start with one or a small number of ARTs. Ensure ART roles (Product Managers and RTEs) are in place and trained. Train the ARTs in PI Planning and PI Execution.
• Provide coaching for the ARTs as they plan and execute their first PI.
• Learn, and make any necessary adjustments to the basic framework, then launch more ARTs.

SAFe provides a framework, or reference model, that must be tailored and evolved by each organization beyond its baseline patterns. This takes time but it is important to leverage the built-in Inspect & Adapt mechanisms to learn from experience and continuously improve.

For more, download the eBook: Agile Delivery at Scale with SAFe.

eBook Contents:

• Chapter 1. Introduction to the Scaled Agile Framework. This provides an overview of the SAFe framework.
• Chapter 2. Organizing for scaled delivery. Describes the organizational prerequisites for successful SAFe adoption.
• Chapter 3. Constructing an ART Backlog. The ART Backlog is the starting point for PI Planning. This chapter describes how to create a backlog that is aligned with product vision and strategy and has product features sufficiently well-refined to support PI Planning.
• Chapter 4. PI Planning Step-By-Step, takes you through each of the basic steps of planning a PI.
• Chapter 5. PI Execution Practices explains the essential roles, practices, and artifacts necessary for successful execution and delivery throughout a PI.