The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a powerful framework that enables Lean-Agile and DevOps teams to increase efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and create organizational change at scale. By leveraging the core values of SAFe – which include delivering value to customers quickly, remaining agile in response to market changes, fostering collaboration between teams and departments, and adhering to a continuous delivery process – organizations can ensure their long-term success by creating a flexible ecosystem of work processes tailored for specific needs. In this blog post, we’ll dive into each of these core values and how they can empower your organization to implement SAFe successfully.

Four Scaled Agile Framework core values

The four core values of the Scaled Agile Framework are based on principles that help an organization realize the full potential of agile development.

Alignment

Alignment is one of the core values of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Alignment is a process in which stakeholders, teams and individuals come together to clarify goals, roles and responsibilities. It ensures that work across various departments is synchronized and aligned with an overarching goal. Alignment means understanding how each team’s efforts fit into the bigger picture and making sure they are focused on achieving common organizational goals.

It promotes collaboration between teams as it helps them understand what needs to be done, by whom, when, and why. It also clarifies individual roles so that everyone knows their part in achieving success for the organization. By creating alignment, organizations can ensure that no effort goes to waste and all resources are used efficiently.

Alignment also helps prevent silos from forming within an organization, as it brings all stakeholders together to work towards a common vision. It increases the likelihood of successful projects by minimizing the risk of missed deadlines or unexpected problems arising due to lack of clarity and coordination. Additionally, it ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards a shared goal.

Built-in Quality

Built-in Quality is a core value of SAFe. It encourages organizations to create, use and sustain high-quality products. By investing in quality from the beginning, organizations can reduce overall costs associated with producing poor-quality output.

SAFe’s Built in Quality ensures that all teams within an organization are held accountable for creating and maintaining high standards throughout the growth process. This includes product planning, development, testing, deployment and release into customer environments. Teams should be proactive about identifying potential issues and developing strategies to prevent them from occurring at scale.

This includes setting up processes such as automated tests to ensure initial outputs meet expectations correctly. By ensuring that the right tools are used to measure and assess quality at every stage of the process, organizations can ensure that their products meet customer needs and expectations.

Teams should strive to continuously improve quality levels during a project’s lifecycle. SAFe’s Built in Quality encourages teams to make sure they are working with the highest-quality tools available and to continuously evaluate performance against the best possible standards.

Transparency

Transparency promotes a culture of trust, accountability and collaboration throughout an organization. It enables stakeholders to maintain visibility into activities and make informed decisions based on current information.

Transparency also helps organizations foster a sense of shared understanding and collective ownership, which encourages participation and bolsters morale. To achieve transparency, organizations must first agree upon their goals and objectives. This agreement sets expectations around performance metrics and indicators, as well as any reporting requirements that need to be met in order to remain transparent.

Additionally, it creates a framework for how data is collected and disseminated across different functional areas within the organization. To facilitate transparency further, organizations should create processes that allow stakeholders to view and interact with data in meaningful ways.

Transparency is not only beneficial to the organization as a whole, but also to individual stakeholders. It can help them better understand their roles and responsibilities, and make decisions based on current information.

Program Execution

Program Execution, or PE, is a key tenet of SAFe framework that encourages organizations to think through every step of the process in order to ensure successful outcomes. Program Execution requires careful planning and consideration for each element that makes up an IT program – including objectives, scope, budget, staff resources, design and architecture choices, timelines etc., as well as roll-out strategy. It also encourages aligning organizational goals with customer needs while minimizing risks and resolving conflicts.

Organizations need to stay focused on the big picture throughout the execution phase and track progress against milestones established during planning. SAFe provides guidance on how to break down large-scale projects into smaller, achievable chunks. This helps teams to avoid getting bogged down in the details and stay motivated by seeing results quickly.

Program Execution also requires good communication strategies and frequent feedback loops with stakeholders at all levels. This ensures that everyone is on the same page when it comes to product requirements, progress tracking, and timeline expectations.

By embracing the core value of Program Execution, organizations can ensure the successful execution of their IT programs while staying focused on customer needs and organizational goals.

Best Courses to Learn the Scaled Agile Framework

The Scaled Agile Framework offers organizations looking to streamline their methods an effective and reliable model for increased agility. There are many online courses available that can give you an understanding of how it works. In particular, the SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) course offered by Scaled Agile Academy provides a comprehensive introduction to the framework, with industry experts providing guidance on its implementation and application.

Additionally, organizations can also benefit hugely from attending expert-led workshops on the topic or seeking advice from specialized consultants. With so many resources available to facilitate learning, organizations have plenty of options when it comes to getting up to speed on the Scaled Agile Framework. At AgileFever, we provide the following courses to learn Scaled agile framework.

  • Implementing SAFe® 5.1 (SPC Certification): It provides a comprehensive roadmap for scaling Agile and DevOps best practices enabling customers to deliver effective solutions and accelerate enterprise transformations.
  • SAFe® Release Train Engineer Training (RTE Certification): Obtaining a SAFe® Release Train Engineer (RTE) Certification helps professionals become accomplished in the full range of RTE responsibilities, including guiding Agile teams, helping manage an Agile Release Train, collaborating with key stakeholders, and delivering value.
  • SAFe Scrum Master 5.1 Training (SSM Certification): The SAFe Scrum Master 6.0 Certification program is an immersive learning experience, delivering a comprehensive overview of the most effective frameworks and techniques employed in Agile project management.
  • SAFe For Government 5.1 Certification Training: It combines theoretical instruction and learning materials with hands-on labs for an interactive learning experience that provides users with the agile project management skills necessary for success.
  • SAFe® DevOps 6.0 Certification Training: It is an essential course for professionals looking to decrease cycle time and maximize value creation. Participants will work in a small group environment enabling them to gain practical experience through simulations of real world situations.
  • SAFe Advanced Scrum Master 5.1 Certification Training: It is a comprehensive certification course designed to equip individuals with the advanced skills and understanding required to become an effective Safe Agile practitioner.
  • Lean Portfolio Management 5.1 Training (LPM Certification): LPM certification helps build a process that is flexible, responsive, and delivers value by enabling an enterprise to quickly adapt to changing market demands and customer expectations in real time.

Conclusion
We’ve looked at some of the best courses to learn Scaled Agile Framework. The important thing is that you find a course or program that fits your needs and helps you understand the principles behind this growing methodology. With so many benefits, it’s worth taking the time to learn and implement Scaled Agile Framework in your business.