Do you want your business to work a bit quicker with efficiency? If yes, then consider the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Customer satisfaction is the most important aspect of making the business run for a long time. SAFe is a source to satisfy all your business needs and satisfy your clientele base. So what are you waiting for?
If anyone is thinking of improving the agility of the business, then understand the concept of SAFe through this blog. We will delve into what SAFe is, its framework, differences, principles, and other aspects. So let’s get started.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a structure of organizational workflow and patterns to imply efficient and agile practices to set all enterprise goals. It is basically a knowledge-based structural body, which includes some guidelines, roles, responsibilities, management of workflow, and value-uphold programs to align the business operations appropriately.
You can build an agile and seamless operational system in complex parameters with SAFe.
Align business
(Scaled Agile Framework SAFe) was introduced in 2011 by Dean Leffinwell, and it became a famous software development framework across large-scale enterprises. Scaled Agile claimed provider for SAFe – 70% of US Fortune 100 companies have already adopted SAFE in their work systems.
There are numerous enterprises confused between agile and SAFe. Agile sets up no time for iterations; whereas SAFe offers 4 iterations in every release. We have a small table showcasing the differences between both:
| Parameters | Agile | SAFe |
|---|---|---|
| Framework | Agile principles from the agile framework. | Agile scale-up framework principles from SAFe. |
| Decision-making | Agile allows for individual decision-making. | SAFe allows decisions based on the scope of the issues raised at the team level or enterprise level. |
| Planning | Developers engage in short-term planning, which is also convenient. | SAFe works on the basis of long-term planning for the big and long-running entire project. |
| Roles of Team Members | Agile requires dedicated team members’ expertise in specific projects. | SAFe follows a top-down approach, in which the members work on strategic decision-making based on certain business goals. It focuses on establishing permanent leadership. |
| Organizational goals | Agile employs a bottom-up methodology, which tends to cause testers and developers to lose sight of the project’s business objectives while they work on it. | SAFe adopts a top-down methodology that requires strategic decision-making at every level to guarantee adherence to business objectives. |
There are 4 configurations or levels of SAFe. We are discussing those levels, such as:
It is the basic and simplest configuration or level of the Scaled Agile Framework, which provides limited elements and offers most of its benefits.
This configuration is at the comprehensive level and contains all the tools necessary to create large-scale, intricate, and integrated solutions as part of team projects. Teams with hundreds of members working on a solution that necessitates creating and managing various processes are best suited for this level.
The projects in the portfolio are in line with the enterprise’s overall solution strategy thanks to this setup. Additionally, it aids in defining investment funding and strategy for the value streams of the portfolio. Additionally, it provides the participating teams with agile portfolio operations and lean governance.
It is the most suitable option for large-scale and complex applications that work independently of the portfolio level. The level facilitates coordination and sync in the business operations and workflow.
SAFe relies on some fundamentals or principles, and here we are providing some insights into them-
The business, entrepreneur, and team members; everyone should get economic insights into their business at the earlier stage of scaled agile development helping them to make the right and impactful decisions. It is advisable to gain insights into businesses for every entrepreneur to make the right decisions accordingly.
In the system thinking principle, the entrepreneur can ensure that all the systems applied in business operations, workflows, and environment are appropriately settled in the software development lifecycle stages. Three aspects are followed up in system thinking, which is the fully-functioning system of the solution, the enterprise building The system is itself called a system, and third is this whole process of system thinking helps in optimizing the entire value stream.
This idea maintains that technological and market unpredictability occurs at all stages of the development process. The improper course of action for development practice is to completely ignore variability. Instead, using a set-based design approach, the objective should be to foresee, accept, and manage variabilities while maintaining alternatives.
This principle states that to create a high-maintained system, cadence, cross-domain planning, and synchronization are necessary. To keep track and maintenance of everything in schedule, cadence ensures that the events move in a systematic manner. Understanding, examination, and seamless integration of various system components are all made possible through synchronization. Moreover, cross-domain planning offers the opportunity to combine and test the technology of systems and business solutions.
This principle states that only decentralized decision-making can deliver value in the predicted time frame. There is a danger that the choices will be of lower quality when they are made by higher authorities, who frequently lack clarity owing to a lack of local context. Furthermore, if there is a lengthy wait for approval from the relevant authorities, the information needed to make the choice may become outdated or change entirely as a result of the delay. To optimize the overall flow of product development, decisions should be decentralized (apart from those that are rare, permanent, and offer economies of scale).
Product development initiatives are considered successful in today’s world if they can adapt quickly to change and provide value. Enterprises must structure the workplace culture around standardized values in order to attain this agility. The business may Swiftly adjust to new expectations for the orderly flow of values when customer and market demand changes.
This idea states that all knowledge workers must be consistently inspired and encouraged to perform better. This can be accomplished by realizing that rewards and incentives alone do not motivate employees; rather, leaders must inspire by providing a purpose, imposing the fewest restrictions feasible, and valuing the viewpoints of all team members.
It has been estimated that more than 1000000 users in 20000+ companies have adopted and witnessed the benefits of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Here are some of the benefits mentioned below to prove that SAFe is a great structure to follow in business workflow:
It is one of the biggest advantages of SAFe helps in improving marketing time. The cross-functional teams of agile teams add value to the operational process and improve the workflow to meet customers’ needs quickly. The power of the scaled agile framework empowers the decision-making process, improves communication, and streamlines the communicational process to retent on customers.
One of the fundamental principles of SAFe is “built-in quality,” which emphasizes the significance of incorporating quality into each stage of the development cycle. Scaling agile with SAFe helps organizations by making quality a shared responsibility rather than a last-minute priority.
By enabling high-performing teams and teams of teams to cut out wasteful tasks, spot and fix delays, constantly improve, and make sure they are creating the correct things, SAFe offers quantifiable increases in productivity.
One of the fundamental principles of SAFe is “built-in quality,” which emphasizes the significance of incorporating quality into each stage of the development cycle. Scaling agile with SAFe helps organizations by making quality a shared responsibility rather than a last-minute priority.
By enabling high-performing teams and teams of teams to cut out wasteful tasks, spot and fix delays, constantly improve, and make sure they are creating the correct things, SAFe offers quantifiable increases in productivity.
SAFe is the most widely used Agile scaling framework. According to a 2021 poll, 37% of Agile practitioners utilize it, thanks to its several configurations, all of which focus on value streams and have well-defined guides and procedures.
SAFe arrange teams into agile release trains (ARTs) because it is used to create complicated solutions that require more than 50 people. SAFe takes use of the program increment iterations, which are similar to the Scrum sprints, to synchronize the teams in an ART, and each iteration typically lasts eight to twelve weeks. This technique enables product managers to stay focused on the overarching goals while efficiently overseeing a complex product roadmap without introducing unnecessary adjustments.
SAFe is built on the Scrum framework, but there are a few important differences: SAFe adoption occurs at the business level rather than at the team level; and, whereas Scrum gives the product owner sole responsibility over prioritizing, SAFe fosters a more democratic approach.
The Nexus framework is built on Scrum as well, although it is more lightweight than SAFe, requiring just minor changes to support collaboration from three to nine teams. Nexus implementation does not necessitate any new roles. Instead, one representative from each team joins a central integration team that coordinates efforts toward a Common goal. Like Scrum, all teams gather for a sprint planning session, the outcomes of which create the common product backlog. To track progress, each team holds a daily stand-up meeting, and the integration team meets to report on their team’s progress.
Teams participate in a refinement session during a sprint to prioritize and estimate the backlog. Nexus requires refinement sessions since the complexity of backlog management grows with the number of teams. Following each sprint, teams meet for reviews and retrospectives.
LeSS is nearly identical to Nexus, with the exception of naming standards and additional team-specific sprint planning meetings. It also varies in its potential to be extended with its second configuration, LeSS Huge, which allows more than eight teams to collaborate.
LeSS Huge organizes development in a customer-centric manner. To manage work successfully, the product owner must divide the high-level product backlog into smaller “area backlogs” of more granular items, which are then sorted further into requirement areas.
Area product owners (APOs) oversee these requirement areas. APOs specialize in fields relating to each area and collaborate with many teams on solutions. Each requirement in the backlog belongs to a single requirement area, which is maintained by a single APO. The product owner and APOs work together to establish a team that prioritizes a product-wide perspective.
Scrum@Scale is a Scrum extension that is likely the simplest to learn and understand. It can scale from a single team to a team of teams.
The Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is a key component of the methodology. Each team selects an individual to represent them in SoS meetings, which are often held daily after individual team stand-ups. The goal of each day’s SoS meeting is to improve team collaboration and communication, as well as to make it easier to manage any dependencies or overlaps.
The SoS master, who is effectively a scaled-down version of a Scrum master, and the chief product owner, who collaborates with the team product owners to establish a common backlog for the SoS, are two distinct positions within this framework.
Scrum@Scale is a less prescriptive framework than others, allowing enterprises to scale at their own pace. If the number of teams increases and SoS meetings become too large, organizations might escalate the framework into a Scrum of Scrum of Scrums (SoSoS).
DA varies from other frameworks in that it functions more as a toolbox from which you can select the best scaling tactics, rather than a hard framework with rules you must follow. It is a context-driven hybrid of many frameworks, including Scrum and Kanban, that can be adjusted to the demands of each project and is based on the tenet “Choice is Good.” DA is based on the premise that each team and organization is unique in terms of size, distribution, and domain and that each team member is unique in their own right, with their own set of talents and experiences.
It can be used at the software development team or company level. The latter is addressed by the DA toolkit, which identifies and delivers a variety of choices for various business areas such as finance, IT operations, and vendor management.
DA divides projects into three phases: Inception, Construction, and Transition, with each phase containing delivery-oriented process goals. This framework introduces more responsibilities than the others because it focuses on the entire delivery life cycle rather than just the build. Stakeholder, team member, team lead, product owner, and architecture owner are the core responsibilities found on every DA team. There are five more positions that are frequently utilized on a temporary basis to help with scaling: specialist, domain expert, technical expert, independent tester, and integrator.
To scale further, DA can be utilized on top of other frameworks.
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is the one solution for businesses to improve their workflow operations and utilize agile practices for productivity. Entrepreneurs are responsible for analyzing the right-scaled agile framework to process their business further with efficiency.
If you want to know more about SAFe, then connect with IT professionals to understand its concept. It is worth using in your business for scalability and agility.
Entrepreneurs can connect with Konstant, where expert IT professionals will suggest the best solutions. Also, an Agile software development company will help in integrating the system with the best tools and software for its efficient performance.
There are certain reasons, why you can use SAFe:
SAFe is the best leading framework for the process of seamless and quick business agility. Rest you can check other agile frameworks to figure out the right one.
Scru is good to go for the management of a small team, whereas SAFe is perfectly suitable for bigger teams and large enterprises.
Manish Jain is the co-founder and Managing Director at Konstant Infosolutions. He is responsible for the overall operations of the company and has played a major role in bringing Konstant up from its humble beginnings and, with his immense energy and drive, transforming it into a globally trusted name in IT solutions.
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