The digital world is changing at an ever-increasing pace and Scaled Agile is committed to the evolution of SAFe to help organizations achieve business agility. Relentless improvement is central to this mission, this is going to help us improve the Framework based on experiences from our customers and partners.
Well known mentor of SAFe, Dean Leffingwell, talk about what inspired his agile journey and how the Agile Manifesto influence the most widely used scaling framework. About how Lean Agile & DevOps clubbing together to build a new flexible framework
The Lean-Agile mindset is the combination of beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and actions of leaders and practitioners who embrace the concepts of the Agile Manifesto and Lean thinking and apply it in their daily lives.
This mindset provides the foundation for adopting and applying Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) principles and practices, as well as an enhanced company culture that enables business agility. It offers leadership the tools needed to support a successful transformation, helping individuals and the entire enterprise achieve their goals.
Lets remove mind blocks & accept new flexible approach. For example, many beliefs are developed from the great business or project management school and on-the-job experience that are grounded in waterfall, phase-gated, and siloed ways of working. Approaching this situation with a fixed mindset says the organization is the way it is, and no matter what you do it will never change. A growth mindset says you can create change if you work hard, adapt to feedback, and implement strategies for personal development.
Put simply, Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t— you’re right.” Adopting a new mindset requires a belief that new abilities can be developed with time and effort. In this case, leaders must remain open to the possibility that existing mindsets based on traditional management practices need to evolve to guide the organizational change required to become a Lean enterprise.
Thinking Lean and embracing agility combine to make up a new management approach, one that improves workplace culture by providing the concepts and beliefs that leaders need to guide a successful business transformation. In turn, this helps individuals and enterprises achieve their goals.
The first phrase of the Agile manifesto deserves emphasis: “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.”
We interpret this as describing an ongoing journey of discovery to increasingly embrace Agile behaviors, a journey with no end. SAFe is not a fixed, frozen-in-time framework. As we uncover better ways of working, we adapt the framework, as evidenced by more than six major releases as of this writing.
Mindset drives people’s behavior and actions. Moving to a Lean-Agile development paradigm will typically require a change in mindset. Not only are the practices different, but the entire belief system—including core values, culture, and leadership philosophies—is different as well. To begin the Lean-Agile journey and instill new habits into the culture, everyone must adopt the values, mindset, and principles provided by SAFe, Lean thinking, and the Agile Manifesto. This new mindset creates the foundation needed for a successful Lean-Agile transformation.
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is based on a set of Lean-Agile principles—the core beliefs, fundamental truths, and economic values that drive effective roles and practices. It is based on principles because they are enduring. No matter the situation, they stand the test of time and can be applied universally. Principles inform SAFe practices—a specific activity, action, or way of accomplishing something.
But a practice that works in one situation may not necessarily apply or work in another. Therefore, before an enterprise can apply SAFe practices, it requires an understanding of its underlying principles. This chapter describes the following SAFe Lean-Agile principles:
1.Take an economic view.
2. Apply systems thinking.
3.Assume variability; preserve options.
4.Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles.
5.Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems.
6.Visualize and limit Work In Process (WIP), reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths.
7.Apply cadence; synchronize with cross-domain planning.
8.Unlock the motivation of knowledge workers.
9.Decentralize decision-making.
10.Organize around value.
Let’s try to understand one by one.
Economic View means Delivering the best value and quality for people and society in the shortest sustainable lead time requires a fundamental understanding of the economics of building systems. Everyday decisions must be made in a proper economic context. Two Lean-Agile practices are essential to this principle: to deliver incrementally, early, and often, and to apply a comprehensive economic framework.
SAFe’s economic framework contains these four primary elements
- · Understanding economic trade-offs
- · Sequencing jobs for the maximum benefit
- · Operating within Lean budgets and guardrails
- · Leveraging suppliers
Systems Thinking guides us on Deming observed that addressing the challenges in the workplace and the marketplace requires an understanding of the systems within which workers and users operate. Such systems are complex, and they consist of many interrelated components. But optimizing a component does not optimize the system. To improve, everyone must understand the larger aim of the system. In SAFe, systems thinking is applied to the solution being developed, and the organization that builds the system. Each value stream produces one or more solutions, which are the products, services, or systems delivered to internal or external customers.
1Introducing the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
2. Becoming a Lean-Agile Leader
3. Establishing Team and Technical Agility
4. Experiencing Program Increment (PI) Planning
5. Releasing on Demand with DevOps
6. Building Business Solutions and Lean Systems
7. Implementing Lean Portfolio Management
8. Leading the transformation
