Hi, welcome to this rather short lesson where we will focus exclusively on the structure of SAFe.
What content does this lesson cover?
We’ll talk about in the next few minutes:
- the history of its origin,
- the internet platform that SAFe provides us with for our daily work,
- we talk about the scalings that SAFe offers us,
- but also about alternatives,
- and the SAFe fundamentals for all scalings.
But now to the content:
In this lesson we start with the Scaled Agile Framework (called SAFe for short) a chapter that is a bit more extensive and will therefore accompany us over the next lessons.
Who developed the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?
Dean Leffingwell published SAFe in 2011 and continues to constantly develop the framework today.
Why was the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) developed?
While Scrum is designed for a maximum team size of 11 people and only one team, SAFe scales agile methods like Scrum and Kanban to larger projects and companies. The different scales range from small companies and projects with several teams to the mapping of large corporate organizations and major projects with many companies involved.
Where can I find information about the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?
SAFe provides us with comprehensive information about the entire framework on its Internet platform. The scales can be selected via the tabs at the top right. Depending on the scaling, the graphics change or complement each other. Links to the graphs provide us with extensive background information on the respective overviews of each scaling.
What agile scaling are large enterprises using?
If a large company wants to organize itself in a consistently agile way, then you will probably find one of the SAFe scalings that now follow. This is not to say that there are no alternatives to SAFe, but SAFe is simply the jack of all trades among agile scaling solutions, and that is precisely why it is so prevalent in large enterprises. Alternatives would be e.g. Less (also called Large Enterprise Scale Scrum), Nexus or Scrum@Scale. Less would be a leaner and simpler alternative to SAFe, but does not cover all challenges by far. And Nexus only describes the outsourcing of a coordinating body that orchestrates Scrum islands. This is why SAFe is almost without alternative for large companies.
Is the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) complex?
SAFe is said to be rather complex and therefore difficult to communicate, but it also covers the needs of large companies. I myself find SAFe to be exceptionally logically structured, and once you understand the connections, also coherently and practicably structured.
What is the advantage of an overarching understanding of methods?
My course series also builds on an overarching understanding of methods because SAFe links diverse common methods very well. If you know these basics, you will find them in SAFe. After teaching the fundamentals and backbone of an agile large enterprise organization, the structure of my course series is aligned with the lifecycle of business challenges, derived requirements, and resulting partial and total solutions. Exactly how the workflow looks in practice! And with that, I am confident that you will also see the logic and practicality of SAFe and enjoy working with it.
How can I use the SAFe model in my daily work?
In your daily work, the SAFe model provided will be of great help to you – whether in clarifying procedures and organizational issues or in finding possible solutions to emerging challenges. I would like to motivate you at this point to read the links to the symbols and their further linked pages – no matter whether now parallel to this lesson or sometime afterwards. The content is really worth it and you will firstly understand the framework even better with this extensive information, and secondly know where to access which information in everyday life. It makes sense to take a look at it once – for the Full SAFe, of course.
What SAFe scaling will be covered in this course series?
In this course, we focus on organizing large enterprises and large projects, which suggests the Full SAFe. Nevertheless, I would like to give you a brief insight into the different SAFe scalings so that you can determine the scaling that is suitable for you as a basic decision.
Now let’s summarize what we have covered in this lesson:
- we now know who developed SAFe, when and why,
- where we can help ourselves at any time with questions,
- which scalings the framework provides us with for the corresponding needs,
- but we also very briefly touched on some alternatives to SAFe,
- and we now know that all scalings use a common basis.
In the next lesson, we will take an in-depth look at the foundation of SAFe. So, see you in a moment.
