SAFe 4.5 Distilled: Applying the Scaled Agile Framework for Lean Enterprises

SAFe®: The World’s Leading Framework for Enterprise Agility “Philips is continuously driving to develop high-quality software in a predictable, fast, and Agile way. SAFe addresses this primary goal, and offers these further benefits: reduced time-to-market, improved quality, stronger alignment across geographically distributed multi-disciplinary teams, and collaboration across teams to deliver meaningful value to customers with reduced cycle time.” —Sundaresan Jagadeesan, SW CoE Program Director, Philips To succeed in today’s adapt-or-die marketplace, businesses must be able to rapidly change the way they create and deliver value to their customers. Hundreds of the world’s most successful companies–including Intel, Capital One, AstraZeneca, Cisco, and Philips–have turned to the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) to achieve agility at scale and maintain a competitive edge. SAFe® 4.5 Distilled: Applying the Scaled Agile Framework® for Lean Enterprises explains how adopting SAFe can quickly improve time to market and increase productivity, quality, and employee engagement. In this book, you will Understand the business case for SAFe: its benefits, the problems it solves, and how to apply it Get an overview of SAFe across all parts of the business: team, program, value stream, and portfolio Learn why SAFe works: the power of SAFe’s Lean-Agile mindset, values, and principles Discover how systems thinking, Agile development, and Lean product development form the underlying basis for SAFe Learn how to become a Lean-Agile leader and effectively drive an enterprise-wide transformation Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Table of Contents:
Preface xiii Acknowledgments xix About the Authors xxi Abbreviations Used in This Book xxiii   Part I: Overview 1   Chapter 1: Business Need for SAFe 3 Why Do Businesses Need SAFe? 3 The Challenge of System Development 4 Applying New Bodies of Knowledge 5 Improving System Development Outcomes 8 The Business Benefits of SAFe 9 Summary 12   Chapter 2: SAFe Overview 13 The Big Picture 13 The Configurations 14 The Spanning Palette 23 The Foundation 24 Summary 26   Part II: Mindset, Principles, and Leadership 27   Chapter 3: Lean-Agile Mindset 29 Overview 29 Thinking Lean 30 Applying the Agile Manifesto at Scale 37 Summary 40   Chapter 4: SAFe Principles 41 Why Focus on Principles? 41 Principle #1: Take an Economic View 42 Principle #2: Apply Systems Thinking 47 Principle #3: Assume Variability; Preserve Options 50 Principle #4: Build Incrementally with Fast, Integrated Learning Cycles 51 Principle #5: Base Milestones on Objective Evaluation of Working Systems 53 Principle #6: Visualize and Limit WIP, Reduce Batch Sizes, and Manage Queue Lengths 55 Principle #7: Apply Cadence; Synchronize with Cross-Domain Planning 58 Principle #8: Unlock the Intrinsic Motivation of Knowledge Workers 61 Principle #9: Decentralize Decision-Making 63 Summary 64   Chapter 5: Lean-Agile Leaders 65 Exhibit the Lean-Agile Mindset 65 Lead the Change 66 Know the Way and Emphasize Lifelong Learning 66 Develop People 67 Inspire and Align with Mission. Minimize Constraints 70 Decentralize Decision-Making 71 Unlock the Intrinsic Motivation of Knowledge Workers 71 Evolve the Development Manager Role 71 Adopt a Servant-Leadership Approach 72 Evolve the Partnership with Human Resources Management 73 On the Future of Leadership 74 Summary 75   Part III: Essential SAFe 77   Chapter 6: The Agile Release Train 79 Overview 79 ART Organization 80 Develop on Cadence. Release on Demand 83 Vision 85 Features 85 Program Backlog 87 Roadmap 87 Agile Teams Power the Train 88 User Stories and the Team Backlog 90 Summary 94   Chapter 7: Planning a Program Increment 95 Overview 95 Preparation for the PI Planning Event 96 Day 1: Create and Review Draft Plans 99 Day 2: Finalize Plans and Commit 104 Summary 112   Chapter 8: Iterating 113 Overview 113 The Iteration Cycle 114 Building Quality In 120 Improving Team Flow with Kanban 123 Summary 127   Chapter 9: Executing the Program Increment 129 Overview 129 Introducing the Continuous Delivery Pipeline 129 Enabling Continuous Delivery with DevOps 137 Enabling Continuous Delivery with Architectural Runway 139 Managing Continuous Delivery with the Program Kanban 140 Supporting Continuous Delivery with Program Events 141 Summary 144   Chapter 10: Inspect and Adapt 145 Overview 145 PI System Demo 146 Quantitative Measurement 146 Retrospective and Problem-Solving Workshop 148 Inspect and Adapt at the Large Solution Level 151 Summary 152   Part IV: Large Solution SAFe 153   Chapter 11: Large Solution SAFe Overview 155 Overview 155 The Solution Train 156 Solution Intent 157 Capabilities and the Solution Backlog 158 Solution Epics 160 Economic Framework 160 Applying Large Solution Elements to Other Configurations 162 Summary 163   Chapter 12: Defining Large and Complex Solutions 165 Overview 165 The Solution 166 Solution Intent 167 Solution Context 171 Summary 174   Chapter 13: Solution Train Execution 177 Overview 177 Pre-PI Planning 178 ART PI Planning 179 Post-PI Planning 180 Frequent Solution Integration 182 Solution Train Sync 182 Solution Demo 183 Solution Train Inspect and Adapt 183 Summary 184   Part V: Portfolio SAFe 185   Chapter 14: Lean Portfolio Management 187 Introduction 187 Strategy and Investment Funding 188 Agile Portfolio Operations 190 Lean Governance 192 Summary 193   Chapter 15: Strategy and Investment Funding 195 Introduction 195 Connect the Portfolio Strategy to the Enterprise Strategy 196 Establish Portfolio Flow 204 Summary 209   Chapter 16: Agile Portfolio Operations 211 Introduction 211 Support an Agile PMO, LACE, and RTE and Scrum Master Communities of Practice 212 Coordinate Value Streams 216 Sustain and Improve 219 Summary 219   Chapter 17: Lean Governance 221 Introduction 221 Forecast and Budget Dynamically 222 Measure Portfolio Performance 224 Capitalization of Agile Software Development 226 Governance via Agile Contracts 228 Coordinate Continuous Compliance 231 Summary 231   Part VI: Implementing SAFe 233   Chapter 18: The Guiding Coalition 237 Introduction 237 Step 1. Reach the Tipping Point 238 Step 2. Train Lean-Agile Change Agents 240 Step 3. Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders 240 Step 4. Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence 241 Summary 242   Chapter 19: Designing the Implementation 243 Introduction 243 Step 5. Identify Value Streams and Agile Release Trains 243 Step 6. Create the Implementation Plan 251 Summary 254   Chapter 20: Implementing Agile Release Trains 255 Introduction 255 Step 7. Prepare for the ART Launch 255 Step 8. Train Teams and Launch the ART 262 Step 9. Coaching ART Execution 264 Summary 266   Chapter 21: Launching More ARTs and Value Streams; Extending to the Portfolio 267 Introduction 267 Step 10. Launch More ARTs and Value Streams 267 Step 11. Extend to the Portfolio 270 Leading the Transformation 271 Summary 274   Chapter 22: Sustaining and Improving 275 Introduction 275 Foster Relentless Improvement and the Lean-Agile Mindset 276 Implement Agile Human Resources Practices 277 Advance Program Execution and Servant Leadership Skills 278 Measure and Take Action 279 Improve Agile Software Engineering Practices 280 Focus on Agile Architecture 281 Improve DevOps and Continuous Delivery 282 Reduce Time-to-Market with Value Stream Mapping 282 Summary 283   Conclusion and Moving Forward 285   Glossary 287 Index 297

About the Author :
Richard Knaster, SAFe Fellow and Principal Consultant at Scaled Agile, Inc., has more than 25 years’ experience in software development in roles ranging from developer to executive and has been involved in Agile for more than a decade. Prior to joining Scaled Agile, Inc., Richard worked at IBM, where his career spanned from product line management (PPM domain) and professional services to chief methodologist, Agile and Lean. Richard is a certified IBM Thought Leader and an Open Group Distinguished IT Specialist. He is also a certified SPC, PSM, Agile Certified Practitioner, PMP, and a contributor to the Disciplined Agile Delivery framework and PMI Portfolio/Program Management standards. He is a contributor to SAFe® 4.5 Reference Guide (Addison-Wesley, 2018).   Dean Leffingwell, creator of SAFe®, is widely recognized as the one of the world’s foremost authorities on Lean-Agile best practices. He is an author, serial entrepreneur, and software systems development methodologist. His two best-selling books, Agile Software Requirements: Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs, and the Enterprise (Addison-Wesley, 2011), and Scaling Software Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprises (Addison-Wesley, 2007), form much of the basis of modern thinking on Lean-Agile practices and principles.