Large solutions are built by large value streams composed of multiple Solution Trains, ARTs, teams, and suppliers. To scale even further, value streams can be nested (as shown in Figure 1, and described in more detail below). The parent value stream’s vision, roadmap, and solution intent align the other value streams to a shared purpose. All value streams operate on the same cadence, which allows them to synchronize their planning, alignment, review, and improvement events and activities. Strategic themes don’t need to restate the obvious, as most elements of a portfolio vision are understood. That is, Portfolio stakeholders know quite well what the portfolio is for, and … Adopt a “10%” strategy where ISD employees are given protected time for training and growth.
Why the Focus on Principles?
Leaders can weigh ongoing projects based on their contributions to the company’s vision and redirect resources where they matter most. By focusing on high-priority items, businesses cut down on wasted effort and remain committed to growth. Using value streams helps organizations map how an idea moves from concept to creation. This ensures that time, resources, and budget are invested where they’ll deliver the most significant return, strengthening ties between daily work scaled agile business strategy integration and the company’s long-range success.
- One benefit of scaling agile with the Scaled Agile Framework is helping knowledge workers achieve autonomy, mastery, and purpose, which are the key factors in unlocking intrinsic motivation.
- Maybe you look at each priority through a solution-driven lens, a portfolio management view, or a cost-focused lens.
- The new thought leadership assets released are an executive guide on The Product Operating Model at Scale, the SAFe Explained eBook, and the 2025 State of SAFe Report.
- Instead, the organization needs fast feedback from early indicators, many of which are not financial metrics.
- Explore key functionalities and best practices to effectively manage portfolios and projects within the ServiceNow platform.
- SAFe also provides distinction and guidance for interacting with different types of operational value streams to include fulfillment, manufacturing, software production, and supporting value streams.
Selecting The Right Metrics
Nexus is a lightweight framework designed by Scrum.org that creates an integration team accountable for coordinating multiple Scrum teams to deliver a cohesive product increment. DAD offers a hybrid approach combining Agile and Lean strategies, addressing the full delivery lifecycle with governance, architecture, and continuous improvement. SAFe integrates DevOps practices to ensure continuous integration, testing, and deployment. Built-in quality ensures that quality practices such as, Test Automation, Continuous Integration, and ensuring technical excellence are embedded into every step of development, not just at the end. If achieving top-level outcomes through Agile development sounds complex, organizations can build alignment in manageable steps.
The Four Activities of Continuous Integration
Costs vary greatly depending on size of organization, complexity of implementation, options you select, and number of people to be trained. The “funnel” column exists in the prototypical kanban systems at the Portfolio, Solution, and Program levels of SAFe. However, an organization is not precluded from “pulling” any portfolio construct into Essential SAFe or Large Solution SAFe when it makes sense to do so. Discover what SAFe is and why modern organizations need it to thrive and achieve their goals. Our elite Global Transformation Partners drive measurable results while navigating complex, multi-national business challenges in highly-regulated industries. The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) is the world’s leading Agile Framework for businesses to plan better, work smarter, deliver faster, and scale sustainably.
Organizational Structure Misalignment
Without this, teams can churn out outputs that, although completed quickly, neglect broader targets. Use IoT and mobile technologies to better coordinate and sequence emergency response service activities. Uncommitted objectives are used to identify work that can be variable within the scope of a PI.
Without constant, primarily automated testing, it’s challenging to implement a fast, Continuous Delivery Pipeline and achieve Release on Demand. Learn how executives are transforming agility from a buzzword into a business imperative. Embed agility across your enterprise to drive smarter decisions and real results. Explore expert insights, practical guides, and proven strategies to accelerate transformation and deliver value—faster. Regular assessment against the competency model provides another valuable tracking mechanism. Teams focused on completing predetermined scope rather than adapting to emerging needs, undermining the Organizational Agility competency.
Establish a data sharing and collaboration platform to support the use of data by the Santa Monica Community. Pursue a cloud first strategy for infrastructure to achieve, greater agility, lower cost, and higher resiliency. Successful organizations take a more measured approach, focusing on building depth before breadth.
Organizations increasingly shift focus from project-level agility to end-to-end value delivery, adopting lean portfolio management principles to maximize ROI and customer satisfaction. The Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event is a critical event in SAFe that promotes continuous improvement across all levels of the organization. The purpose of the I&A event is to regularly inspect the results of a recently completed PI and adapt the practices, processes, and outcomes to drive continuous improvements. This aligns with SAFe’s core principles of “Apply fast, integrated learning cycles”.
Implementation: Building Capabilities Systematically
Implementing the competencies of SAFe requires a multi-faceted approach that addresses people, processes, and technology. Structured interviews with leaders, teams, and stakeholders to gather qualitative insights about current practices and pain points. Before embarking on any transformation journey, you need to know your starting point.
Evolution Of Business And Why Every Organization Needs To Embrace Caring Leadership
Migrate paper-based processes to digital ecosystem that is user-friendly, effective, and efficient. A strategic theme is an area in which your organization must excel in order to achieve your vision. Developing strategic themes requires considerations of other strategic elements, such as the challenges, enablers, customer value proposition, and other components of the strategic assessment work.
Improvements in Quality
- Enterprise-level solutions often involve diverse technologies, platforms, and domains.
- This ensures you can respond promptly to fresh data and maintain a healthy balance between short-term pivots and large-scale targets.
- Bringing strategy into harmony with Agile development ensures teams deliver value that genuinely supports long-term goals.
- The goal of value stream mapping, as defined in business architecture communities, is to map value delivery processes from concept to cash within a business.
These dashboards should be accessible to all stakeholders and updated regularly to maintain relevance. Measuring progress in developing the competencies of SAFe provides essential feedback that guides improvement efforts. Companies across sectors report similar obstacles when implementing the competencies of SAFe.
They model Agile behaviors and encourage continuous feedback, ensuring everyone recognizes why strategic alignment is vital. But in complex organizations, aligning the activities across the enterprise is hard. SAFe® provides proven practices that the world’s largest, most complex organizations use to deliver results. Lean Portfolio Management aligns execution with strategy by applying lean and agile principles to portfolio management.