Scaled Agile SAFe-Agilist - SAFe 6 Agilist - Leading SAFe (SA) (6.0)

Conducting a PI planning event is an example of applying cadence and synchronization in SAFe. Cadence is a regular and predictable pattern of events that provides a rhythm for development. Synchronization is the alignment of multiple perspectives and activities within a cadence. PI planning is a two-day event that occurs at the beginning of every Program Increment (PI), which is typically an 8-12 week timebox. PI planning brings together all the teams in an ART to align on a common vision, identify dependencies, plan features, establish objectives, and commit to a plan for the next PI. References: Develop on Cadence; Release on Demand, PI Planning

SAFe emphasizes that effective DevOps implementation is key to enabling continuous value delivery. The workbook highlights that:

“DevOps helps ensure a constant flow of value by automating the Continuous Delivery Pipeline and enabling continuous integration and deployment… A Value Stream with DevOps capabilities implements automation and integration for consistent quality and faster delivery.”

This makes automation a cornerstone in enabling flow within a Value Stream.

Customer Centricity is described as:

“A mindset and way of doing business that focuses on creating positive experiences for the customer by understanding their needs, behaviors, and preferences.”

This drives innovation and aligns solutions to real customer problems.

In the SAFe Workbook under Principle #1 ("Take an economic view"), it states:

“Deliver early and often. Deliver value incrementally… Accelerates feedback and learning, allows early and continuous delivery.”

This principle is illustrated using the difference between waterfall and Agile delivery models.

Source: 01 Workbook SA (6.0).pdf, Pages 2-26 to 2-28

According to the SAFe Agilist 6.0 domain of Lean Thinking, a value stream is triggered by a demand for some value, such as a new feature, a change request, or a defect fix1. A feature is a service that fulfills a stakeholder need2. Therefore, a feature request is a valid trigger for a value stream.

A spike request is a type of exploration enabler that addresses technical uncertainty or risk3. A user story request is a type of backlog item that represents an end user goal or function4. These are not triggers for a value stream, but rather work items that flow through a value stream.

The workbook clearly outlines:

"Business Owners assign business value (BV) scores to PI Objectives from 1 (low) to 10 (high) after negotiation. These scores help teams understand what is most important to the business."

Source: SAFe Workbook, PI Planning Simulation Section

Launching more ARTs and Value Streams is the implementation step that follows Coach ART Execution on the SAFe Implementation Roadmap. The SAFe Implementation Roadmap is a guide that helps enterprises implement SAFe in a structured and reliable way. The roadmap consists of 12 critical moves that span from reaching the tipping point to extending to the portfolio and beyond. Coach ART Execution is the seventh move, where the first ART is launched and coached by a SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) or other expert. Launch more ARTs and Value Streams is the eighth move, where the enterprise expands the implementation of SAFe to other value streams and ARTs, based on the learnings and successes of the first ART. References: SAFe Implementation Roadmap, Coach ART Execution, Launch more ARTs and Value Streams

This is one way to describe a cross-functional Agile team. A cross-functional Agile team is a group of 5-11 individuals who have the skills and authority to define, build, test, and deploy some element of solution value—all within a short iteration timebox. A cross-functional Agile team is optimized for communication and delivery of value by having clear roles and responsibilities, shared goals and commitments, frequent feedback and collaboration, high trust and accountability, and continuous improvement. References: Cross-functional Agile Teams

SAFe describes Continuous Deployment as:

“An aspect of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline that enables faster delivery of new functionality to customers.”

By automating the pipeline and decoupling deployment from release, enterprises can release value more frequently and responsively.