Quick Guide to Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

What is SAFe?

SAFe is short for Scaled Agile Framework and is a Lean-Agile approach. It draws from three primary bodies of knowledge: Agile development, systems thinking, and Lean product development.

It’s a template that can be used in organisations of varying size. From StartUp to Enterprise. Although, I think it starts making sense at about 20-50 people organisations.

The three levels of SAFe

The Scaled Agile Framework works on three Levels: Portfolio Management, Program and Team.

Team

The Team Level works pretty much like standard Scrum. The team can be cross-functional and works in 2-week sprints (also called iterations). The product owner is essentially the Team Leader, who keeps track of the backlog, which consists of user stories.

A sprint starts with a team meeting, where the Team decides which user stories they can deliver by the end of the sprint. The team holds daily standup meetings to discuss their progress. At the end of the sprint, the team demos the result for the product owner, to make sure it is how they imagined it. Before the cycle starts over, there is a retrospect meeting, that recaps what went well and what has to be improved for the next sprint. This whole process is usually guided by a scrum master, to ensure a constant progress. This is achieved by a bi-weekly meeting of the Team Level Scrum Masters with the Release Train Engineer, as well as a product demo.

Program

The program level is the heart of SAFe and consist of the same elements as the basic Scrum on the Team Level, only scaled up.

Instead of just one team, many teams work on delivering something together. A group of Teams on the Program Level is called an Agile Release Train (ART). Their sprints are PSIs (Potentially shippable increments), which are usually five regular sprints long. A PSI delivers a bigger working software than on the Team Level.

Similarly, as on the Team Level, a Program Manager defines Business and Architectural features in the Program Backlog. This backlog provides most of the content for the team backlogs.

The train itself is governed by an RTE or Release Train Engineer. who fills the role of Scrum Master for the whole train. They ensure it runs smoothly and stays on track.

Product Increment (PI) Plannings

First, everyone on the train gets together to hear the vision, see the roadmap and goals for the upcoming PSI. Then, each team breaks out to plan what the can do to reach the PSI goals while communicating with fellow teams about potential dependencies.

The Sprints

Four of the five Sprints are dedicated to reaching the PSI goals. The final Sprint is a so-called HIP-Sprint. HIP stands for Hardening Innovation Planning. Hardening confirms, that the PSI-Objectives have been met and includes tests that couldn’t have been performed otherwise (ie. load tests). The innovation part is pretty open. The train can, for example, choose to do a hackathon, that solves problems creatively. The planning part reviews the accomplishments and can be used to “perform maintenance on the train”, by retrospecting how collaboration can be improved in the next PSI.

Portfolio Management

The final Level in the Scaled Agile Framework dictates the directions for the trains, by allocating budget along investment themes. They also create a Backlog of Portfolio Level Epics, which need to be addressed by the team’s Product Managers.

Kanban limits the amount of Portfolio Level initiatives and ensures cohesiveness.

I hope this quick guide has given you a brief overview of how SAFe works. If you’d like to learn more about agile methodology, check out my post on agile marketing.

This post was originally published on my personal website: https://justuspfeiffer.com/quick-guide-scaled-agile-framework-safe/