Created: 01 June 2022

What Is Agile SAFe? What You Need to Know

What is agile SAFe and what should you know about it? You can click here for a guide to how the framework works and why you should use it.

Keyword(s): what is agile safe

Did you know that there are over 1,000,000 professionals that have scaled to using the SAFe framework? There are even more than 20,000 enterprises across the globe that utilize this method. Due to how often it's preferred within project management, this article is intended to help you understand, "What is agile SAFe?"

In today's world of digitalisation, we are always moving towards a seamlessly connected future. There's an increasing focus on artificial intelligence (AI), seamless project coordination, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The adoption of Agile processes has also increased as companies seek to stay ahead of customer expectations and respond quicker to new market opportunities.

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a framework for scaling agile developments and processes. It enables organizations to scale their agile projects in a safe manner whilst maintaining high levels of quality and collaboration throughout the process.

We're going to cover how it works and discuss key considerations when implementing it within your organisation.

What Is Agile SAFe?

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a framework that's used for scaling agile and lean projects whilst maintaining high levels of quality. SAFe is an extension of other forms of management and includes practices from other frameworks such as the Kanban method. What many people forget is that both of these options are principles of the agile and lean methods.

SAFe empowers organisations to scale their agile projects by also combining Kanban with Lean principles of flow and sharpening agile delivery. Kanban is usually always applied to multiple levels of reaching the finished product and it's often a usual addition to using SAFe.

Lean principles focus on an increasing capacity where and when it is needed to deliver high levels of flow in the project team. Kanban, on the other hand, focuses on managing capacity by limiting the number of items in a process. Combining Kanban with Lean principles enables a safe and controlled transition from one stage to the next.

SAFe is not a particular methodology. It's an overarching framework that can be applied to any methodology. Overall, it can be used with any approach.

That could be from other forms of project management, such as Scrum or Kanban. Or it could include other more extensive frameworks.

The most important thing to know is that the main purpose of it is to allow for better implementation of agile practices but at an enterprise level. The overall extension is more easily managed and is more structured in terms of guidance.

Benefits of the Scaled Agile Framework

There are many benefits of SAFe that your organisation will realise by using the framework. Some of these benefits include:

• Increased transparency and collaboration between involved teams
• A more agile and responsive approach to customer needs
• Better alignment overall
• Ability to scale processes by size and complexity of the project
• Improved quality control measures
• Greater predictability and stability

When implemented correctly, the SAFe framework can help organisations to improve their overall performance when delivering agile projects. Implementing SAFe can also help to address some of the common challenges that can occur when scaling.

These benefits make SAFe an attractive option. Especially for organisations looking to improve their agile delivery. The reason many use SAFe so often is that it fills the needs within a project.

It's specifically designed to address more needs at higher levels of operation. It also features quality transparency that's already built-in and makes executing programs simple.

How SAFe Works

SAFe isn't agile and that's one of the most important things to remember. This scaled framework is basically a set of workflow patterns. These patterns help enterprises with scaling their agile and lean processes.

The best way to think about the method is as a broad collection of knowledge. All of that knowledge is related to best practices and proven processes.

It is also the most popular agile framework. Companies will often flock to this method. This is due to its capability of customization, flexibility, and sustainability. Let's talk more about how it works so you have a better chance at a successful implementation phase.

Organizations should have a strong foundation using Scrum to start. The entire method will usually call for specific steps to help managers set up the implementation process across multiple portfolios. The process isn't as difficult to follow when broken down.

You are essentially training the team on the processes and their individual roles. Then you're creating your lean-agile centre and implementation plan. After that, you are acting on the implementation plan whilst extending your deliverables to the portfolio you're working on.

The main principles you should consider within the method are:

• Flow; this is what you want to achieve on the team
• Capacity; this would be the amount of work that the team can handle without affecting the flow
• Transitions; think about how the project team manages flow and capacity
• Feedback; this is how your organisation keeps on track and assesses the performance of projects

With this, you want to also keep in mind that there are three levels to this framework. Those levels are the portfolio, essential, and large solution. You will often include the actual team within this to make up the entire four levels of this method.

Getting the Most Out of Agile SAFe

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When wondering, what is agile SAFe, use a platform dedicated to enhancing your current know-how. Check out the courses we offer or reach out to our team today.