SAFe – Scaled Agile Framework

As much as we agilists jointly champion our manifesto, our opinions differ greatly when it comes to certain frameworks. Some of you may have guessed: I am referring to SAFe (Scales Agile Framework). Appreciated, ridiculed, recommended, despised – the range of emotions associated with this framework is vast. A little cliffhanger first: I like it. If the conditions are right.

SAfe Is a Real Estate Complex and Scrum Is an Apartment.

I thought long and hard about what image comes to mind when I classify the widely appreciated Scrum framework and SAFe. Perhaps the following: If Scrum is an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom, then SAFe is a real estate complex. Multiple floors, connected buildings, with living areas, offices, common areas, management, administration, controlling, technology, and janitorial services. And: Only those who are able to build a house according to all the rules of architecture can also create a sustainable, viable, and visionary building complex from the ground up. In other words, those who have mastered Scrum and follow the framework without constructing a “how-I-like-it” project landscape have a solid foundation for a “SAFe house.”

Four Dimensions of SAfe

We turned everything upside down again to combine the best of both worlds, analog and digital, and give our fully engaged audience—new BREDEX employees and trainees—a brilliant start to what I like to call the almost “magical world of agility and SCRUUUUUUUUM.” At that moment, at the start of a two-day workshop as part of a quality assurance boot camp, I already had the participants on my side. My training partner, Susanne Schwarz, who, like me, is a great advocate of agile process management and a rare and valuable agile spirit, rolled her eyes with a broad smile. Yes, dear Suse, I saw that!

Both Scrum and SAFe are used in software development to enable effective and efficient workflows. While Scrum enables project teams to respond flexibly to changes, deliver continuous value, and be adaptive, SAFe expands the scope of work. This is because it is not designed for individual projects, but for entire organizations, in order to implement agile principles and innovation in secure structures at the enterprise level. SAFe enables scaling through the application of Scrum and other agile management methods across teams, departments, structures, and hierarchies, and supports both coordination and cross-functional collaboration. There are four dimensions, four scopes, that can be selected depending on the challenge:

Essential SAFe as the most basic configuration of the framework with the minimum elements required for success with SAFe
Large Solution SAFe for companies that create large and complex solutions that do not require portfolio-level constructs
Portfolio SAFe for companies that develop solutions that require a modest number of agile teams and have minimal dependencies on each other
Full SAFe as the most comprehensive configuration that supports the development of large, integrated solutions that typically require hundreds of people or more to develop and maintain

Practical Agility as a Prerequisite

And now to the prerequisites mentioned above: Whether a company decides to use Scrum or SAFe depends on the requirements of a project, individual needs, goals, and the size of the organization. What is ESSENTIAL for both frameworks is a binding, uniform decision to use them based on knowledge of principles, roles, artifacts, and events. Because every decision has consequences – especially if it is made half-heartedly.

Only those who live agility, have the right mindset or at least can trustingly embrace it, and are already able to work according to other agile frameworks should get involved with SAFe – or stay away from it.

Fundamentally, effective, proactive communication that creates clarity in a safe, trusting environment is the basis for any collaboration. In a complex framework such as SAFe, it is the tool for successful implementation – ideally accompanied by a professional change process. As part of an agile transformation.