Time moves forward, and technology advances. Project management is no longer a time-consuming undertaking for enterprises. Scaled agile framework is no longer a foreign concept in the technologically sophisticated era of business; rather, it is a requirement for companies to be successful.
If we were to describe Agile, we would say that it is a general name for a collection of product development frameworks. Agile methodologies include the Scrum framework, DSDM, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP), which offer rules, procedures, and recommendations for creating goods and solutions in accordance with the Agile rules and ideals.
Agile is currently one of the most well-liked methods for project management due to its adaptability and evolving nature. Any company that intends to leverage technology to its fullest and favors low-cost solutions for its requirements chooses an agile framework or assigns product development.
Businesses can gain a competitive advantage by investing in the ideal agile framework, which will reduce any resistance in work and user flow. Therefore, if you haven’t considered applying the agile framework to your company, you’re missing out on a lot of technological developments that may propel your company forward.
The Meaning of “Scaling Agile”
According to what was previously stated, Agile pertains to adapting well-known Agile methodologies, like Scrum and Kanban, to smaller teams of individuals while promoting adaptive planning, exploratory development, quick delivery, and continual improvement by letting a diverse workforce establish their objectives and design products.
The advantages of agile-led revenue and growth that startups experience is one of the main factors for corporations to embrace an agile methodology. However, the agile framework frequently doesn’t integrate into an enterprise model despite being the standard-bearer for lean organizations. And this is accurately the situation in which the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is used.
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a strong enterprise agile methodology that may assist big businesses in overcoming obstacles that slow down business growth. We guarantee that reading this post will be time well spent, whether you work for an organization that struggles to handle many projects or are interested in improving your current project management procedure. Now, without any further ado, let’s begin.
SAFe introduction
Lean-Agile specialists Dean Leffingwell and Drew Jemilo launched the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) in 2011, and it has gained prominence ever since. SAFe is a holistic framework that supports Agile-based system and software deployment at scale for businesses. Simply put, SAFe is a comprehensive skill set that development teams in major corporations utilize to apply agile principles and produce successful software products.
Among the most popular forms of agile methodologies is the SAFe technique. The agile iterative and incremental development approach and the lean manufacturing philosophy are the two main pillars of the SAFe paradigm. Performance-wise, it combines knowledge from systems approach, agile methodology, lean product development, and DevOps to increase business agility and support expanding businesses.
Scaled Agile Framework Advantages
Coherence, inherent quality, openness, and programme execution serve as the scaled agile framework’s guiding principles. For any firm, changing workflow to a scalable agile framework has innumerable advantages. Agile scaling entails changes in management, philosophy, and innovation, but the advantages greatly outweigh the drawbacks.
Some of the most important advantages of the Scaled Agile Framework are listed below:
More Rapid Time to Market
Did you know that, according to a survey by the Project Management Institute, 75% of the companies with higher levels of agility report enhanced income growth of at least 5% annually?
Even with a quicker time to market, companies that use scaled agile frameworks have seen a considerable boost in customer experience and ROI. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that more agile businesses are better able to draw top industry personnel compared to their less agile but nonetheless agile competitors.
Improved Strategy and Work Alignment
Scaling Agile also gives businesses the opportunity to plan and act toward the overall goals of the company. Multiple impacts are facilitated by this cooperation, including improved visibility, enhanced cross-team synergy, rapid response times, and many others.
Utilizing the Scaled Agile paradigm also illustrates the necessity of incorporating quality into every step of development. And as a consequence, since everyone within the organization strives to provide value for consumers, organizations ultimately have a tendency to move the quality inspection from being a last-minute priority to everyone’s obligation.
Enhanced Worker Engagement
One of the key requirements of the company for scaling Agile is the synchronization of many people from multiple groups and departments working collaboratively under one roof. Scaled agile architectures take note of this effortlessly.
Utilizing scaled agile methodologies enables organizations to hold fortnightly planning sessions that yield together cross-functional teams to think strategically and work while accommodating prospective correlations, serving up against company’s objectives, and assessing risk by allowing everybody to strive at semiannual milestones.
Enable Corporate Transparency
Planning alone can not guarantee visibility. By integrating and visualizing each team member’s obligations, the Scaled Agile Framework visibility and transparency throughout the organization.
Supervisors and leaders can then develop a well-thought-out approach for allocating work, evaluating performance, and determining the economic implications of their job by gaining a more comprehensive knowledge of the potential barriers.
SAFe’s Core Values
The following are the main tenets of the Scaled Agile Framework:
Alignment
Alignment is the primary key value in a scaled agile framework. When businesses want to scale agile, the first step is to unify all the units to focus on a single, repetitive goal. For geographically scattered teams, better alignment and synchronization are especially important because poor alignment can make it more difficult for a company to adapt to change. By clearly articulating team roles and coordinating tasks, SAFe enables congruence in a consistent way, allowing enterprises to stay ahead of the competition.
Integrated Quality
SAFe encourages a decent level, making sure it is prioritized rather than being treated as a whim. These quality criteria must be incorporated into the development life cycle, especially when developing a large-scale system where untested units accumulate rapidly. Under the five main categories of flow, design, architecture, code quality, system, and end product, SAFe guarantees enduring appeal.
Transparency
The confidence in teams and initiatives to foster a transparent workplace culture are two other crucial components of any organization’s operational sustainability. By guaranteeing total visibility into teamwork and outstanding duties and establishing concrete objectives, using SAFe promotes transparency and allows for the effective detection and correction of any work-related obstacles.
Deployment of a Program
The primary goal of Scaled Agile Framework and Agile in general is to proactively build and deliver an effective final product that provides significant economic benefits. SAFe places a strong emphasis on offering dependable and durable systems that regularly produce financial results.
What Specific Roles Does a SAFe Framework Include?
Scrum Master SAFe (SSM)
As you may already be aware, a typical Scrum Master focuses on the fundamentals of a team-level Scrum. In turn, the SAFe Scrum Master has the authority to examine all aspects of the organization before strategizing and carrying out actions related to the Program Increment.
Product Owner SAFe (POPM)
The SAFe Product Owner is a multi-tasker who sets initiatives, establishes budgets, and decides on flow of work.
Advanced Scrum Master SAFe
The SAFe Scrum Master is a junior to the Advanced Scrum Master with the Scaled Agile Framework. He is responsible for supporting communications with the enterprise-level product management team, engineers, and other stakeholder groups.
SAFe Adviser (SA)
A manager who practises lean thinking and promotes and applies the principles and ideas of the lean-agile paradigm is known as an agilist. All through the agile methodology implementation timeline, the scaled agile framework agilist is foremost in charge of forming and managing effective teams.
Release Train Engineer (RTE)
Another crucial person tasked with using their Lean-Agile expertise to offer the value of the finished product is the Release Train Engineer.
Finishing Up!
With all we’ve read so far, it’s clear that organizations must ramp up their procedures in order to survive the market’s escalating competitiveness. SAFe is the go-to paradigm for attaining business responsiveness because of its core attributes of synchronization, built-in quality, visibility, and delivery.
Although the agile framework is best suited for small businesses and new enterprises, large organizations who wish to extend Agile principles spanning multi-team portfolios and initiatives may find that the scaled agile framework is their only hope. Since Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) may assist you in setting up an organizational strategy that helps ease the laborious effort of team structuring and facilitates effective team cooperation across divisions, the early shift to Agile will be painless.
Guest article written by: Harshita Agnihotri is a Technical Content Writer working with TRooTech Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and having fair experience in penning technology-related blogs, articles, use-cases, newsletters, social media, and more. Driven by passion and the purpose of sharing valuable acumens, she takes pride in providing the most accurate information possible. As a Writer, her goals include delivering meaningful and relevant content.