© Scaled Agile, Inc.

SAFe Starter Reference

Scaled Agile

Version 0.2

This
This document
document is
is only
only for
for awareness
awareness about
about SAFe
SAFe &
& not
not sufficient
sufficient for
for deciding
deciding
implementation
implementation approach.
approach.

For details on SAFe implementation feel free to contact :

vishal.tyagi@soprasteria.com
ritesh.tiwari@soprasteria.com
1 SAFe Starter Reference
 An awareness guide for SAFe?

Why Principl
Agile? Why
SAFe? es of
SAFe

Most
popular
SAFe
What is
Agile - Organis
SAFe?
SCRUM? ation

Core Agile at
Challenges Values Program
with Agile of SAFe? Level

Lean Implem
Agile entation
Mind Roadma
Set p

2 SAFe Starter Reference

 Based on the survey in
Why we want Agile development ? organizations which have adopted
REASONS FOR ADOPTING AGILE Agile

Source: VersionOne 11th

Annual State of Agile Report

Respondents were able to make multiple selections.

3 SAFe Starter Reference
THE AGILE WAVE, SHARING IN A FEW WORDS…
Agility concepts have became a new standard for products
developments and innovation management.
The agile method anticipates change and allows for much more
flexibility than traditional methods.
There are many Agile frameworks in the industry: SCRUM, KANBAN,
Extreme Programmin(XP), LeSS, SAFe, Spotify.
Agile promotes an iterative process for application development,
with multiple development cycles known as SPRINTS.
Agile & DevOps both excel with facilitating communication between
software developers and IT personnel with automated deployment.
Agile performance measurement can be done with various metrics
like: Velocity, burndown, client satisfaction, MMRT, Defects/deployment
4 SAFe Starter Reference
COMMONLY USED AGILE APPROACH - SCRUM

3 Roles 3 Artifacts 5 Events/Ceremonies 2 definition

Product Owner Product Backlog Sprint Planning Meeting Done
Scrum Master Sprint Backlog Daily Scrum Ready
Team Member Product Increment Sprint Review & Backlog Grooming
Sprint Demo
Sprint Retrospective

5 SAFe Starter Reference

 AGILE PROJECTS
Challenges / Limitations
Restriction of team size 7-9 people max
Big picture / Vision of team is limited
X-team Collaboration is low/missing
Architectural approach is weak/delayed
Rework can be more in Agile, due to less planning
Limited opportunities for integration points
Enterprise Agile Frameworks like SAFe addresses these concerns. Let’s have a closer look at SAFe.
6 SAFe Starter Reference
The team size proposed for ideal agile project is max 9
people. This can be a limitation for large team to go Agile.
In agile project, team has access to Product Owner, but with
limited direct approach to business executives. Due to this
big-vision can be missing from Dev team
Agile propose many ceremonies but limited to team/PO and
business, there is no event for collaboration with other teams
Systematic approach to address architecture evolution can be
missing in Agile format, due to missing formal event
Product Owner & team working in silo and any miss by PO in
big picture, can result in large rework effort to rebuild the sol.
Agile does not propose event/opportunities to perform
integration with other part of software developed by other
teams, in large solutions this is a big issue
WHY SAFe ? Based on the survey in
® organizations which have
SAFe DELIVERS BUSINESS RESULTS
adopted SAFe, there are good
results.

10 – 50% happier, 30 – 75% faster

more motivated time-to-market
employees
BUSINESS
RESULTS

20 – 50% increase in 25 – 75%

productivity defect reduction

7 SAFe Starter Reference See ScaledAgileFramework.com/case-studies

 WHAT IS SAFe ?
Knowledge for people building the SAFe is a framework for business to implement Agile
world's most important systems within the organization/enterprise.

It provides concrete solutions for an entire

organization development team, program
SAFe is a freely revealed
®

management, portfolio and strategic direction

knowledge base of integrated,
SAFe is relevant and profitable only from a number
proven patterns for enterprise of Agile teams working on the same product /
Lean-Agile development. program

The first iteration dates from 2011 (1.0 by Dean

Leffingwell), today we are at version 4.5 of SAFe)
scaledagileframework.com

© Scaled Agile, Inc.

8 SAFe Starter Reference Be Agile. Scale Up. Stay Lean.

 SAFe Building blocks - Starter There are 5 building blocks on which the SAFe
Framework is constructed.

Agile
These are some of the key considerations for any
Manifesto lean Agile Enterprise and then to tailor the
(4) implementation around these building blocks.

We will see these blocks in following sections/slides.

Lean Agile
Thinking Principles
(6) (12)
Creator of SAFe :
SAFe Dean Leffingwell

SAFe SAFe
Principles CORE
(9) Values (4)

9 SAFe Starter Reference

SCALED AGILE FRAMEWORK - CORE VALUES
Core Values
SAFe Synchronizes alignment, 1. Built-In Quality
collaboration, and delivery for ItIt ensures
ensures that
that everyevery increment
increment ofof the
the solution
solution reflects
reflects quality
quality
standards
standards & & isis aa prerequisite
prerequisite of
of Lean
Lean and
and flow.
flow. Remember,
Remember, "you
"you can’t
can’t
large numbers of teams. scale
scale crappy
crappy code"
code"

2. Program execution
With
With ART(Agile
ART(Agile Release
Release Train)
Train) focus
focus isis to
to implement
implement agility
agility at
at
program
program level
level and
and get
get the
the value
value and
and efficiency
efficiency with
with multiple
multiple agile
agile
team
team working
working together
together to
to achieve
achieve aa bigger
bigger objective
objective
3. Alignment
Everyone
Everyone has
has to
to understand
understand the
the vision
vision and
and roadmap
roadmap to to ensure
ensure
alignment;
alignment; Alignment
Alignment then
then supports
supports fast
fast changing
changing needs,
needs, disruptive
disruptive
competitive
competitive forces
forces and
and geographically
geographically distributed
distributed teams
teams
4. Transparency
Trust
Trust isis important
important toto build
build high
high performance
performance teams
teams and
and transparency
transparency
isis enabler
enabler of of trust.
trust. Transparency
Transparency has
has to
to be
be assured
assured at
at each
each step
step and
and
for
for each
each contributor
contributor (executives,
(executives, developers,
developers, business,..).
business,..).

10 SAFe Starter Reference

 The Lean-Agile Mindset is the combination of beliefs,

LEAN-AGILE MINDSET
assumptions, and actions of SAFe leaders and practitioners
who embrace the concepts of the Agile Manifesto and Lean
thinking.

Thinking Lean Embracing Agility

House of Lean Agile Manifesto
Uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and
VALUE helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
people and culture

improvement Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Respect for

Relentless
Innovation
Flow

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
LEADERSHIP
That is, while there is value in the items on the
Value in the shortest right, we value the items on the left more.
sustainable lead time
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Agile Principles Agile manifesto proposes 12 principles to embrace the benefits
of Agility.

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and
continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile
processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a
couple of months, with a preference for the shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily
throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the
environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job
done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to
and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors,
developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace
indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
enhances agility.
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is
essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-
organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

12 SAFe Starter Reference

agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
HOUSE OF LEAN The goal of LEAN is to deliver VALUE, in
The SAFe House of Lean is derived from lean
manufacturing (inspired by Lean from Toyota & others).
The principles & practices of Lean thinking are applied
• Sustainably shortest lead time to software, product & systems development.
• Quality This house has one roof, one foundation and 4 pillars.
• High morale
• Customer delight

People do the work. Respect for people &
Culture is basic human need
• Don’t overload them
• Don’t make them wait
• Don’t force them to do wasteful work
• Don’t impose wishful thinking
• Build long-term partnerships based on trust
Continuous flow of work that supports
incremental value Delivery
• Continuous and sustainable value delivery
(no “start-stop-start” project delays)
• Build quality in; flow depends on it
• Integrate frequently
• Informed decision-making via fast feedback
Lean focuses on identifying and continuously
removing delays and waste.
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Foundation is Lean-Agile Leadership
Management applies and teaches LEAN Thinking
• Lead the change
• Develop people
• Inspire and align with mission
• Decentralize decision-making
Relentless Improvement, encourages learning
and growth through continuous reflection
and process enhancements.
• Optimize the whole
• Consider facts carefully, then act quickly
• Apply lean tools to identify and address
root causes
• Reflect at key milestones; identify and
address shortcomings
To avoid decline of product and process,
innovation is must. To support Innovation:
• Provide time and space for creativity
• Apply innovation accounting
• Pivot without mercy or guilt
9 PRINCIPLES OF SAFe
1 Take an economic view
 Delivering projects with quality in
the shortest sustainable lead time,
requires making routine decisions in
a proper economic context
 Sequence jobs for maximum benefit,
considering all factors like, Cycle
Time, Product Cost, Value,
Development Expense, Cost-of-delay
& associated risks
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We are talking about ‘Principles’ because... Every implementation is
different & Principles ensures moving in the right direction as we account
the differences. The principles give us something to check against.
2 Apply Systems Thinking
3 Assume Variability, preserve options
 We need to make sure our actions  A key success factor is the discipline
are geared toward optimizing the to identify possible design
system as a whole and not just a alternatives
component  Designs must be flexible to support
 If we left component alone to changing requirements
improve, they become selfish,  Preservation of options improves
independent profit centers and thus economic results
destroy the system - W. Edwards
Demig
9 PRINCIPLES OF SAFe
4 5 6
Build incrementally with fast, integrated Base milestones on objective evaluation Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch
learning cycles of working systems sizes, and manage queue lengths

 The shorter the cycles, the faster the
learning
 Improves learning efficiency by
decreasing the time between action
and effect
 Reduces the cost of risk-taking by
truncating unsuccessful paths quickly
 Encourage small batch sizes to
achieve it
 Progress should be evaluated via
working system and not on phase
based milestones/phase gates
 Evaluation of progress on phase gate
like requirement, design… will
increase the risk towards end of the
project
 To achieve the shortest sustainable
lead time, it’s very important to
maintain the flow, which can be
achieved via limit Work In Progress
items and small batch sizes.
 Long queues are always bad which
leads to higher risks more variability,
lower quality and less motivation
with in team

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9 PRINCIPLES OF SAFe
7 8
Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-
domain planning
 Cadence – Rhythmic pattern,
transforming unpredictable events
into expected events
 Synchronization between SCRUM
events of all teams to synchronize
program level events like system
demo, PI planning…
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Unlock the intrinsic motivation of
knowledge workers
 Provide Autonomy with Purpose,
Mission, and Minimum Possible
Constraints.
 Create an Environment of Mutual
Influence.
 To effectively lead, the workers must
be heard and respected
9
Decentralize decision-making
 Decentralized decision-making
reduces delays, improves product
development flow, enables faster
feedback & creates more innovative
solutions by those closest to the local
knowledge
 Centralize decisions which are
infrequent, long lasting & significant
economics of scale
 Decentralize decisions which are
frequent and common, time critical
and require local information
SAFE ORGANIZATION SAFe proposed a structured approach for
deploying agility at different levels in an
4 levels in SAFe Framework enterprise.
Portfolio Level
Investment portfolio management through a
KANBAN
Top management is given the tools to manage
their strategic themes
Large Solution Level
Investment portfolio management through a
KANBAN
Top management is given the tools to manage
their strategic themes

Program Level
An ART (Agile Release Train) is an organization
built to deliver a product or value
Program level roles RTE, Prod.Mgr, Sys.Engg.
An ART relies on a Program backlog

Team Level
The implementation of projects in agile
(SCRUM method, XP)
Each team works synchronously on the same
pace (cadence)
Teams can deliver on demand
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AGILITY AT PROGRAM LEVEL
Agile Release Train (ART)
Program level contains roles and
activities needed to deliver solution
via an ART
Agile Release Train (ART) is a large
team of Agile teams, is a virtual
organization (50 – 125 people) that
plans, commits, and executes
together
Teams in ART are Cross functional
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Program Roles & Teams
Roles at Program level
 Release Train Engineer(RTE)
 Product Manager(PM)
 System Architect/Engg
 Business Owner
 Customers
Additional functions
 Systems Team
 Shared Services
 Release Management
Program Increment (PI)
Program Increment is a time-box
during which an ART delivers
incremental value in the form of
working, tested software and
systems
Typically 8-12 weeks long, 4 Dev-
Iteration(2weeks each), followed by
Innovation & Planning(IP) Iteration
PI used cadence & syncronisation
PROGRAM EVENTS DRIVE THE TRAIN
Like Agile team events/ceremonies there are program events.
The Program events create a closed loop system to keep the ART on the tracks.

Scrum of Scrums
 Provides visibility & impediments ART Sync Program events
 RTE is facilitator
 Participants: Scrum Masters Team events
 Weekly or more frequently Scrum of Scrums PO Sync PO Sync
 Visibility on Progress. Scope priority
PI Planning  Participants: PM, PO, Stakeholders
 It is Cadence based, 2 days Daily
 Weekly or more frequently
every 8-12 weeks PI Iteration Stand-up
Planning Iteration System
 Everyone attends in person Planning
Iteration Review Demo
Backlog
Retro
Refinement System Demo
System Demo is a significant event that
provides an integrated view of new
Inspect & Adapt Inspect & Adapt
Prepare for PI Planning Features for the most recent Iteration
Inspect & Adapt, happens end of delivered by all the teams in the Agile
each PI, where the current state of Release Train (ART)
the Solution is demonstrated and
evaluated by the train.
19 SAFe Starter Reference
 PI Planning
Purpose of PI planning is to gain
“Alignment to a common mission”
Days event
 All teams & members have to participate
 RTE is the key facilitator of this ceremony.
 Product mgmt. owns features & priority
 Teams own story planning and estimates

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 IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP
SAFe Implementation roadmap
includes following 12 steps:
1. Reaching the Tipping Point
2. Train Lean-Agile Change Agents
3. Train Executives, Managers, and
Leaders
4. Create a Lean-Agile Center of
Excellence
5. Identify Value Streams and ARTs
6. Create the Implementation Plan
7. Prepare for ART Launch
8. Train Teams and Launch the ART
9. Coach ART Execution
10. Launch More ARTs and Value
Streams
11. Extend to the Portfolio
12. Sustain and Improve

21 SAFe Starter Reference

 SAFe FOR LEAN ENTERPRISE

SAFe framework related details are freely available at

their website. See link below
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/#

For regular updates please join us on

Yammer

https://www.yammer.com/soprasteria.com/#/threads/i
nGroup?type=in_group&feedId=15674834&view=all

22 SAFe Starter Reference

 SAFE ROLE-BASED LEARNING PATHS More info: ScaledAgile.com/which-course
Roles Core Advanced

Implementing
Agile Change Agents Relevant experience of agile and SAFe 4 Certified
SAFe®
Consultants & coaches scaling agile 4 days
Program Consultant

Executives Leading
Managers SAFe® SAFe 4 Certified
Lean-Agile Leaders
Stakeholders 2 days Agilist

Release Train Engineers / SAFe® Release

SAFe 4 Certified
Train Engineer
Value Stream Engineers 3 days
Release Train Engineer

Product Managers / SAFe ®

Product Owners PO/PM
2 days SAFe 4 Certified Product
Owner/Product Manager

SAFe ® SAFe® Advanced

SAFe 4 Certified
Scrum Masters Scrum Master OR Scrum Master Advanced Scrum Master
2 days SAFe 4 Certified 2 days
Scrum Master CSM, PSM,
other

SAFe ®
Teams for Teams Agile Teams
2 days SAFe 4 Certified
Practitioner

23 SAFe Starter Reference

Let’s GO SAFe, together !

T h a n k U !