Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Introduction

Introduction to Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

• The speaker has extensive experience implementing Agile methodologies, including Waterfall and Scrum.
• The speaker has worked with numerous companies across various industries, including travel agencies, American Express, Slalom Consulting, and clients such as USAA, Nautilus, Chase Bank, and Ford.
• The speaker will illustrate implementing SAFe in large-scale projects, with 50 million dollar budgets and 12 concurrent agile teams.

The Need for SAFe

• SAFe emerged to leverage Agile benefits in large-scale, multi-team projects.
• Traditional Agile methodologies (Scrum and Kanban) are not designed for large-scale endeavors.
• The key challenge is coordinating diverse teams working on intricate value propositions.

Key Principles of SAFe

• SAFe frameworks assist organizations with multiple teams developing a unified value proposition (e.g., simultaneously creating an email and calendar feature for an application).
• SAFe promotes teamwork, avoids duplication of effort, and maximizes value through iterations and feedback loops.
• Consistent development practices across teams enhance quality and efficiency.

SAFe Levels and Roles

• Portfolio Level: CEOs, business directors, and marketing teams set strategic themes, define overall value propositions, and allocate resources.
• Program Level: Release Train Engineers, product managers, and system architects define the program backlog, capabilities, epics, and features; establishing program-level standards.
• Team Level: Scrum teams (6-12 people) handle sprint planning, story grooming, refinement, delivery, demonstrations, and feedback integration.

Agile Release Train (ART)

• An ART consists of 5-12 agile teams (50-125 people) working collaboratively on a shared objective.
• ARTs employ a Release Train Engineer (RTE) to facilitate ceremonies and align scrum masters.
• A dedicated Product Manager prioritizes epics and features, ensuring alignment and optimizing resource allocation.
• ARTs utilize 2-week iterations (sprints) for rapid development and frequent demonstrations.
• The final iteration focuses on innovation and planning, to evaluate progress, incorporate feedback, and adapt strategies.

Key SAFe Roles and Responsibilities

• Release Train Engineer (RTE): Maintains consistent practices across the Agile Release Train, facilitates meetings and ensures adherence to SAFe guidelines.
• Product Manager (PM): Prioritizes epics and features throughout the Agile Release Train, steering the overall product development strategy.
• System Architect: Provides technical guidance and leads architecture and design decisions.
• Epic Owners: Define and manage large-scale epics (complex features).

SAFe and Iteration Cycles

• SAFe emphasizes iterative development and continuous feedback loops.
• Two-week sprints are usual, prioritizing delivery of "good enough" solutions.
• The final iteration (Innovation and Planning) is for reflecting, incorporating feedback, and adapting future strategies.

The Value of Consistency

• Consistent story grooming and refinement are fundamental for uniform development across teams.
• Common acceptance criteria minimize development inconsistencies.
• Collaborating architects and product managers ensure software aligns with agreed-upon architecture.

Strategic Themes and Backlogs

• Strategic themes direct the project's overall course.
• Each theme translates into an epic, feature, and story backlog.
• Successful implementation relies on effective communication and feedback at all levels.

Key Take Away

• SAFe encompasses Agile methodologies for organization-wide scaling.
• It provides a well-structured approach to managing multiple teams and delivering value in complex projects.
• Successful SAFe implementation depends on effective communication, collaboration, and iterative development.

Program Increment Planning

• Program Increment Planning (PIP) is when agile teams plan their upcoming three-month, six-iteration program.
• It usually involves investors, CEOs, CIOs, business directors, release train engineers, product managers, system architects, scrum masters, product owners, and development teams.
• The goal is understanding program direction, facilitating communication, and identifying potential project impacts.
• The two-to-four-day session typically involves preparation, discussions, breakout sessions, and presentations.
• Important information includes system design, upcoming features, and screen mockups.
• Teams ask questions and potentially adjust features.
• Scrum Masters conduct Scrum of Scrums to assess progress, dependencies, and potential problems.
• Scrum Masters adjust backlogs to align with objectives and communicate progress, timelines, and any adjustments.
• Voting is used to assess project confidence levels.

Key Takeaways

• Agile teams should be open to communication and collaboration, inviting input from everyone.
• Ceremonies provide structure, consistency, and a road map for Agile processes.
• Feedback loops are crucial for Agile success. Feedback guides iterations and improvements.
• Program Increment Planning ensures alignment, communication, collaboration, and transparency across the organization.

Planning Iterations

• Teams plan iterations by prioritizing features and breaking down work into smaller stories.
• The goal is to create valuable outcomes of calculated complexity levels in every iteration.
• Dependencies, risks, and team capacity are considered to influence iteration planning.

Dependencies and Risks

• Identifying task dependencies is essential to avoid delays.
• Teams rely on other teams' deliverables. Delays in one team affect related teams.

Iterations and Scrum

• Iterations and sprints are interchangeable in Scrum discussions.
• Iterations function like Kanban boards, where tasks depend on each other.
• Identifying dependencies is critical for successful iteration planning.

Scrum of Scrums

• Scrum Masters lead these meetings to discuss team progresses, identify concerns, and solve dependency issues.
• This fosters communication between teams.

Inspect and Adapt

• A meeting for stakeholders to review progress; discuss metrics, identify and solve problems.
• Demonstrations highlight achievements and alignment with expectations.
• Key metrics (burn-down charts for sprints and the entire PI) are assessed and issues relating to defects are addressed.

System Demo

• A public demonstration showcases accomplishments with a user-friendly presentation.
• Emphasis is on the value and context instead of technical details.

Scrum Masters Meeting (Scrum of Scrums)

• Scrum Masters coordinate to discuss team progress, identify impediments, and address emerging concerns.
• Teams impacted by changes are made aware and able to adjust their plans.

Art Sync

• Engineers, Product Owners (POs), Product Managers (PMs), and Scrum Masters meet to discuss dependencies, backlog management, and technical challenges.
• Release Train Engineers facilitate addressing concerns to ensure progress.

PO Sync

• Product Owners collaborate on progress, priorities, and roadblocks.
• They align on deliverables to maintain product vision.
• If major issues arise, breakout sessions follow.

Community of Practice

• Role-specific meetings (e.g., Quality Engineering, Development) facilitate knowledge sharing, best practices, and trend identification across teams.
• Engineers identify recurring issues like database or API problems.
• Knowledge sharing and avoiding assumptions are critical.

Agile Principles

• Agile emphasizes collaboration, communication, and knowledge-sharing to build trust among team members.
• Social interaction and shared experiences are crucial to Agile community building.
• Sharing best practices and tools promotes efficiency and reduces redundancy.

Example of Knowledge Sharing within Agile Teams

• Sharing tools (like automatic email generators) for testing promotes efficiency and collaboration between teams.

Teams within SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)

• SAFe includes a DevOps/Platform Engineering team to handle code implementation and deployment.
• Agile emphasizes rapid feedback and iterative development.
• Errors are shown immediately to allow quick bug fixing during compilation.

Introduction to Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and its implementation in large-scale projects. SAFe helps companies leverage Agile in larger teams when Scrum and Kanban aren't sufficient. It coordinates multiple teams working on complex value propositions.