As seen by the growing number of enterprises using Agile development at the team level, nothing surpasses an Agile strategy for delivering thoroughly tested, valued products to customers in the most efficient way possible.

Originally, agile approaches were designed for teams working on a project- and product-focused delivery. On the other hand, Agile principles are increasingly being used to work across portfolios and throughout the company. Today’s SAFe focuses on customer centricity as a means of achieving business agility. It’s a process at the core of digital transformations, responsive businesses, and the capacity to create innovative, high-quality, customer-centric goods and services quicker than the competition. It’s a framework that “agile mature” companies use to build an Agile organizational structure and agility at all levels.

SAFe certification, in essence, offers the capacity to pivot and react, two key attributes. We’ll go through what SAFe is and the four configurations of the framework in this article.

What exactly is SAFe?

SAFe is a value-focused, industry-proven technique for scaling Agile to the enterprise level as companies increase in size. Agile software development, lean product development, and systems thinking were the three fundamental bodies of knowledge that shaped it. “How do we budget?” “How do we plan?” “How do we convert cross-functional in architecture and DevOps?” and “How do we achieve organizational agility?” are just a few of the challenging matters it addresses.

From strategy to execution, SAFe supports the development of business agility across seven fundamental capabilities that create the road to enterprise agility. It assists big corporations in directing teams toward the organization’s strategic objectives rather than specific project goals. In order to give better experiences and service, it also places the consumer at the core of the strategy.

The 4 Configurations of SAFe

Essential SAFe, Large Solution SAFe, Portfolio SAFe, and Full SAFe are the four configurations of the SAFe model that consolidate an organization’s strategic themes and allow varying degrees of size. When combined with decentralized Agile development execution, this centralized approach may be a cost-effective way to achieve enterprise-scale Agile.

• Essential level

Essential SAFe merges the program and team levels from prior versions to facilitate Agile product delivery, ensuring that just the bare minimum is required to succeed with SAFe. This level brings together teams in order to produce Agile products using design thinking and Agile processes. Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban, and XP are common frameworks used by teams. They are cross-functional, with a product owner, scrum master, developers, testers, business owners, and any other specialized roles as needed.

A team backlog, which is a subset of the program backlog and managed by the team’s product owner, takes into account team requirements. Sprint durations for teams are determined by the ART’s (Agile Release Train) cadence.

• Large solution level

SAFe’s large solution level extends the essential level by allowing large, complicated solutions to be delivered. It aids in the coordination and alignment of the whole supply chain in the delivery of extensive systems utilizing lean approaches, as well as the continuous evolution of such systems. It includes the Essential SAFe configuration as well as the Enterprise Solution Delivery capability. This is used in the most advanced software programs, networks, and cyber-physical systems in the world.

• Portfolio level

SAFe’s portfolio levels up the ante once further when delivering on the enterprise’s core competencies. It incorporates lean portfolio management, investment finance, lean governance, and organizational agility in addition to Agile product delivery. As part of the development process, the company’s strategic themes are given life, value, and importance.

The team welcomes epic owners and enterprise architects to guarantee alignment with strategic themes and the entire portfolio strategy.

Key performance indicators are used to assess the success of value stream development (KPIs). In addition, measurement is used to guide improvements and progress in a continuous improvement cycle. This level of SAFe allows firms to finance products using lean budgeting principles. As a result, the traditional finance approach of fragmented project funding will be obsolete.

• Full level 

The most thorough configuration of SAFe is Full SAFe. It helps the development and maintenance of complex, integrated systems that generally need hundreds of workers. It combines all of the preceding tiers to provide large-scale enterprise solutions.

Teams from all company levels work together to achieve the promise of business agility throughout the enterprise, from Agile product and enterprise solution delivery to lean portfolio management, organizational agility, continuous learning, and Lean-Agile leadership, with complete SAFe.

Why should you use the SAFe methodology?

Organizations all across the world adopt the SAFe methodology for the following reasons:

• It boosts productivity and quality.
• Increases the number of employees working on product delivery.
• Allows for a quicker time to market

Here are some examples of when SAFe methodology should be used:

• When a team wishes to operate autonomously and apply an agile methodology to several team initiatives and portfolios.

• While implementing agile, the team faces delays, errors, and roadblocks.

• When a team wants to expand agile throughout the organization but isn’t clear what new jobs to establish, what adjustments to make to current roles, or how to make the changes seem.

• Improving the company’s product development strategy.

• When attempting to expand agile throughout a business, creating a consistent and unified approach across diverse departments arises.

Conclusion

The Scaled Agile Framework is best suited for large-scale projects, first and foremost. However, SAFe may be the best alternative for a company that wishes to spread Agile methods across multi-team portfolios and initiatives.

Another example is that you’ve attempted to grow Agile throughout your organization but haven’t been successful due to a lack of uniformity, alignment, and consistency. With an organizational structure that integrates teams from diverse areas, SAFe can help you overcome these challenges.

SAFe is also appropriate for firms undergoing their first Agile shift. If you’re new to Agile, you may be uncertain about the values, concepts, and management responsibilities that are involved. SAFe may help you tackle this challenge by providing a prescriptive framework for structuring your teams and easing them into the Agile process.