Problem statement or else why does SAFe exist
There are numerous frameworks (eg Scrum) & methods (eg Kanban) that follow the Agile principles. However, many of them focus on the way that a single team works and they do not mention anything about the rest of the people / roles that we encounter on a modern organisation / company. The Scrum guide for example, focuses only on the golden triangle of the Product Owner (PO) /Scrum Master (SM) / Development team (Devs) roles, and just refers to the people outside this triangle as stakeholders, without providing further information.
What happens though on big organisations / companies where multiple teams are working together in order to meet a common product goal? Apart from the PO, SM & the Devs mentioned above, there are many more people, with different roles that work together – such as Product Managers, Product Architects, Quality Assurance engineers, Release Managers etc. They all need to align their plans, to constantly monitor their actions and to perform adaptations when necessary. The Scaled Agile Framework, provides the solution to this issue.
❓What is the Scaled Agile Framework
First of all, and as the name very descriptively suggests, the Scaled Agile Framework (or SAFe) is a development framework. The goal of this framework is to built upon the principles of the Agile Manifesto and to apply them on a scale – where multiple teams work towards the same objective.
SAFe provides a solution on how all those people & multiple teams shall cooperate, in order to meet their common objectives. In the heart of the Scaled Agile Framework you will find multiple Scrum teams, working according to the Scrum guide. The differentiating factor though, what SAFe really brings on the table, is built on top and between those Scrum teams.
As a result and in addition to what you already know from the Scrum framework (nothing Scrum related goes wasted here), SAFe defines:
👉 A set of roles who operate on a higher level than the Scrum teams & details their responsibilities.
👉 A set of the artifacts, that the people within SAFe work with.
👉 A scalable meeting cadence, in order to make Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Closing effective, when working with multiple teams.
👉 A set of principles & core competencies to be followed in order to make all the above work seamlessly.
🚀 Where to start
It is important to note that due to its large scale, implementing SAFe is not as straightforward in comparison with Scrum. Thus, the decision to implement SAFe within an organisation / company has to be taken by its C-level employees in first place and needs their constant backing.
In case that you are a developer, what you mainly need to know is Scrum (Scrum guide, Udemy, Skillshare), since SAFe’s additional complexity won’t affect you on your daily work – at least not to a great extent.
In case that you are a Product Owner, a Scrum Master or if you plan another role found in SAFe, and taking as a given that you already have advanced Scrum knowledge, then your next step is to take a look at SAFe’s official website, and on Agileteka’s SAFe course currently on Udemy (soon on more platforms).
With Agileteka, apart from getting a solid understanding of the SAFe framework, you will be able to make the most of it. Stay tuned for more!
Useful links: Scrum Guide, SAFe official website, Agileteka Scrum (Udemy, Skillshare), Agileteka SAFe (Udemy)
