SAFe Finest Practices | Toptal

This text is an element two of Toptal’s Agile scaling collection, designed to information mission managers of their workforce enlargement efforts. Learn the primary installment, “5 Agile Scaling Frameworks In contrast: Which One Ought to You Use?” for an in-depth overview of the preferred choices.
Within the closing article on this collection, “SAFe Case Research: Transformation Notes From the Subject,” Toptal consultants and SAFe inventor Dean Leffingwell talk about scaled transitions.

As merchandise develop and develop into extra advanced, so do the groups that produce them. When it’s time to scale, many corporations transition from Scrum to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), a system that’s applied on the enterprise stage and permits companies to handle a number of, advanced merchandise that require groups of groups to develop.

A Scrum grasp shifting into a SAFe framework will step into an surroundings that’s directly acquainted and new. The artifacts, roles, and ceremonies are based mostly on Scrum. However working at a better scale comes with some further obligations, particularly for Scrum masters who choose to maneuver into the function of a launch practice engineer (RTE), a typical trajectory. The RTE acts because the Scrum grasp of your entire launch practice. As an alternative of main a Scrum workforce of 9 to 11 individuals, RTEs develop into servant-leaders to groups of groups that straddle a number of departments, and so they arrange occasions of larger dimension and scope.

The Fundamentals: Scrum to SAFe

SAFe permits an organization to use Agile approaches, values, and ideas throughout a number of groups. The ensuing “workforce of groups” is called the agile launch practice (ART). Particular person groups proceed to make use of a Scrum grasp to do enterprise as normal, whereas the Scrum master-like function on an ART is finished by an RTE. The RTE applies the final mechanisms and governance of Scrum however at an organizational, moderately than workforce, stage. Different conventional team-level Scrum roles and artifacts change accordingly, too. For instance, the ART “product proprietor” turns into a product supervisor; a “product backlog” turns into this system backlog; a “dash backlog” is an iteration backlog; and the “product increment” is now this system increment (PI).

There are 4 configurations of SAFe—Important, Massive Answer, Portfolio, and Full—and the one you utilize is dependent upon how extensively your organization adopts the framework. The configurations enable implementation at a number of ranges, starting from a number of groups working collectively to full portfolio integration and enterprisewide enterprise agility. However at each stage, the purpose stays to scale Agile and Scrum practices, not change them.

Scrum Masters in SAFe

Scrum masters working in a SAFe framework on the workforce stage will discover that their jobs should not considerably completely different. They may stay a servant-leader for an Agile workforce, liable for teaching and training, eradicating impediments, and fostering an surroundings the place workforce members really feel protected to carry out their finest and repeatedly enhance.

Nevertheless, there might be some new obligations. A SAFe Scrum grasp helps the RTE within the PI planning occasion and in program execution, and represents their workforce in ART sync conferences. When there are impediments which can be past the workforce’s functionality to take away, the Scrum grasp escalates them to the RTE.

A Scrum grasp who decides to develop into an RTE will discover that their function comes with decidedly extra issues. The ART could embrace groups which can be new to you or new to Agile, like enterprise evaluation, {hardware}, or compliance. And since the upper configurations of SAFe embrace program or portfolio operations, administration might be immediately and frequently concerned in methods they’d not be in Scrum, ensuring all the things is aligned with enterprise- and/or portfolio-level objectives.

The RTE is liable for eradicating impediments which can be past a single workforce’s capability. They impart with stakeholders and drive steady enchancment on the ART stage. The RTE coaches not solely groups but in addition the leaders of these groups, serving to all ranges of the ART transfer towards self-organization and self-management.

SAFe Occasions

Simply as a Scrum grasp facilitates team-level occasions, an RTE facilitates ART-level occasions—the PI planning, the ART sync, the system demo, and the examine and adapt. As an RTE, you’ll be partaking with a greater diversity of stakeholders than you have been as a Scrum grasp and dealing with a number of groups with competing pursuits. There are extra—and extra diversified—attendees at each occasion, and you should align priorities and get buy-in for initiatives effectively upfront.

PI Planning

The PI planning occasion is a necessary ceremony for SAFe, a huge two-day session to align the objectives of all groups inside the ART for the subsequent eight to 12 weeks by creating the PI plan. It’s like a dash planning occasion, however it spans a number of sprints throughout a number of groups.

Inputs

• Enterprise imaginative and prescient
• Record of prime 10 to fifteen options to be applied
• Particulars on every workforce’s capability

Outputs

• PI plan (a supply plan for the subsequent 5 to 6 sprints)
• PI goals
• Record of potential dangers

Basic Suggestions for the PI Planning Occasion

• Get hold of stakeholder buy-in. Previous to the assembly, RTEs ought to set up who the important thing stakeholders are and share their inputs with the group.
• Align priorities. Earlier than the session, schedule a daylong assembly with the product administration workforce to agree on a high-level view of what options needs to be delivered, in addition to future priorities. There might be lots to work out on the occasion, like dangers and dependencies, and it’s good to have fundamental directional settlement in place.
• Rehearse! The PI planning is a big occasion. It may not be helpful to spend two full days rehearsing, however a two- to four-hour session with the ART’s workforce leaders that creates an as-close-as-possible expertise will assist immensely. Create a simplified model of the occasion’s agenda and share it previous to the rehearsal in order that observe can begin from a well-informed place.
• Be ready for mission creep. The purpose of the PI planning is to ship a long-term plan in a relatively quick time period. Generally individuals will need to go into in depth element on all the things, which isn’t what the occasion is for. Clarify this to the workforce leaders on the rehearsal and within the session; remind the groups that the goal is to ship high-level plans and create alignment, to not plan each minute of the subsequent three months.
• Put together team-capacity info. Ask your Scrum masters to supply capability calculations for the subsequent eight to 12 weeks. Anticipate some pushback or questions; as an illustration, a Scrum grasp could not know exactly what number of absences their workforce can have over the subsequent two months. In such circumstances, ask for estimates, and be versatile when responding to capability limits throughout the PI itself.
• Share the PI planning agenda. Distribute the schedule at the least two weeks earlier than the occasion, and be ready to reply a whole lot of questions. There might be many attendees, and if SAFe is new to you and your organization, it’s most likely additionally new to many different workforce members. In my expertise, by the second or third PI planning occasion, the strain on the facilitators turns into a lot much less intense because the groups get accustomed to the occasion and know what to anticipate.
• Safe administration attendance. It’s usually tough for managers or senior managers to attend a two-day occasion, however administration attendance is a should to make sure high-level alignment. Affirm their attendance at the least two weeks earlier than the PI planning, and prepare for any help they’ll require. The identical applies to enterprise house owners, who must log out on PI goals.

ART Sync

The ART sync occasion is a weekly assembly the place the RTE can achieve insights into the groups’ progress and determine program dangers and roadblocks. Whereas under no circumstances the one event for an RTE to guage impediments and decide whether or not they require escalation, it’s an essential occasion that gives a daily venue for these issues to be raised.

Inputs

• Groups’ progress
• Impediments log
• The PI plan (to determine any main deviations between the plan and precise progress)

Outputs

• Escalations (if required)
• Choices about any adjustments to the PI plan

Basic Suggestions for the ART Sync Occasion

• Encourage common communication. As a result of the ART Sync is weekly, as an alternative of every day like Scrum stand-ups, the RTE ought to make it clear that groups can elevate pressing points instantly and shouldn’t watch for the subsequent ART sync.
• Be ready with knowledge. Ask Scrum masters and product house owners to carry quantifiable progress metrics, corresponding to burndown or cumulative circulate, to be able to have an knowledgeable dialog about progress.
• Transcend a weekly standing overview. The ART sync is supposed to be an occasion the place priorities are aligned and issues are resolved, not a easy check-in.

System Demo

The system demo is meant to showcase the complete scope of labor created throughout a previous iteration. At this occasion, the product supervisor and their workforce present enterprise house owners and different stakeholders the ART’s built-in progress in its present kind.

Enter

• The present state of labor based mostly on the output of all Agile workforce members over the course of the previous iteration

Outputs

Basic Suggestions for the System Demo Occasion

• Rehearse! Commit 30 to 45 minutes each different week to working with presenters to nail down their segments.
• Ditch the slides. Current the precise built-in work. Should you’re engaged on a software program product, have the presenters present the stakeholders a working product increment moderately than a slide deck. If potential, display your product in a staging surroundings. You need the demo to precisely resemble the end-user expertise. In case you are unable to current an built-in system each two weeks, have a look at your supply pipeline and brainstorm with the groups on how one can undertake CI/CD and DevOps tradition.
• Give attention to enterprise worth. Your presentation is for enterprise house owners and stakeholders; share what’s most essential to them.
• Maintain the suggestions targeted. The stakeholder suggestions you obtain might be essential, however this occasion isn’t the time for drastic adjustments to the product imaginative and prescient or roadmap. Be able to steer the dialog again to high-level suggestions that the groups can flip into motion gadgets at a later time.
• Maintain it quick. Stakeholders are busy individuals; a 45- to 60-minute assembly will lead to extra frequent and engaged attendance.
• Enable time for Q&A. Be clear in your solutions. Do not forget that generally “I don’t know, however we are able to discover out” is the very best reply.

Examine and Adapt

The examine and adapt is a mega-retrospective session that takes place on the finish of a PI. The session is split into three elements:

• The PI system demo: a showcase for your entire PI’s built-in output. It’s just like the primary system demo, however as an alternative of 1 iteration, this occasion showcases the built-in work throughout your entire PI.
• Quantitative and qualitative measurements: a chance for the RTE to current metrics gathered over the course of the PI. These metrics embrace (however should not restricted to) workforce velocity, consumer tales accepted, unit check protection, or open defects.
• Retrospective and problem-solving workshop: an opportunity for members to look again on the PI, mirror on what did and didn’t work, determine systematic points, and suggest methods to resolve them.

Inputs

• Groups’ progress
• The present state of the ART’s built-in work, together with the entire program increment’s output

Output

• Record of potential enhancements

Basic Suggestions for the Examine and Adapt Occasion

• Give enterprise house owners advance discover. Present at the least two weeks’ discover earlier than the occasion. Meet with any attending product managers and enterprise house owners earlier than the session to align on the qualitative outcomes presentation.
• Safe the attendance of senior stakeholders. Their presence is most essential on the PI system demo if you showcase the workforce’s work and the evolving product. Most of the pointers for the common system demo apply right here: rehearse beforehand, keep away from presentation slides, and showcase precise deliverables.
• Keep away from blame. All through the session, be sure that no person feels threatened by the information offered or the issues recognized within the retrospective. Some groups could really feel jealous or defensive if one other workforce’s numbers are increased or really feel singled out if an issue originated with their workforce. Embrace a whole-team tradition to preempt such issues.
• Give attention to systematic points. Attempt to not give an excessive amount of consideration to sporadic issues, present your workforce with the house they should brainstorm, and let imaginations run free for the proposed options.
• Create actionable proposals. On the finish of the occasion, it’s best to have backlog gadgets for the groups to implement. Figuring out issues doesn’t assist in the event you don’t take steps to resolve them.

The desk beneath compares the SAFe occasions with their Scrum equivalents, and describes the frequency and execution of ceremonies on the enterprise stage:

Stepping Up and Scaling Up

The transition from Scrum to SAFe might be an intimidating one. Working at a better scale will all the time current new challenges and new methods of fascinated by even probably the most acquainted practices. Should you select to develop into an RTE, you’ll discover that the job relies upon most on the talents you have already got. An RTE is a change agent and a servant-leader, identical to a Scrum grasp, and the job offers you the prospect to carry out this function at an enterprise stage, elevating your expertise alongside your merchandise.

Learn the subsequent installment of Toptal’s Agile scaling collection, “SAFe Case Research: Transformation Notes From the Subject.”