SAFe® Release
Train Engineer
Facilitating Lean-Agile
Program Execution
SAFe® Course — Attending this course gives learners
access to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and
related preparation materials.
5.1.1
PROVIDED BY
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Table of Contents
Privacy Notice........................................................................ 11
Course Introduction................................................................ 12
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities........ 15
Lesson 2: Applying SAFe Principles....................................... 37
Lesson 3: Organizing the ART................................................ 48
Lesson 4: Planning a Program Increment.............................. 71
Lesson 5: Executing a Program Increment.......................... 117
Lesson 6: Fostering Relentless Improvement...................... 157
Lesson 7: Serving the ART................................................... 189
Lesson 8: Continuing Your Learning Journey....................... 215
Lesson 9: Practicing SAFe................................................... 231
SAFe Glossary..................................................................... 238
Workbook
10
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Workbook
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SAFe®
Release Train Engineer
Facilitating Lean-Agile Program
Execution
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access to the
SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related preparation
materials.
5.1.1
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Logistics
►
Course meeting times
►
Breaks
►
Facilities
►
Technology requirements
►
Working agreements
1-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
12
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Access the Class Page
►
Step 1: Navigate to the Class Page
on the SAFe Community Platform
►
Step 2: Select Learn, then My
Classes, then SAFe Release Train
Engineer
►
Step 3: Click on the link to Download
the SAFe Release Train Engineer
(5.1) workbook (PDF)
5
min
COMMUNITY
Visit the SAFe Release Train Engineer
Class Page to download the workbook
https://bit.ly/CP-RTE
1-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Discussion: Welcome and introductions
►
Step 1: Find someone you don’t know
►
Step 2: Introduce yourself and share with them:
►
–
One thing you already know about the Release Train Engineer (RTE) role
–
One thing you hope to learn about the RTE role during this course
Step 3: After five minutes, team up with another pair and take turns introducing
the person you just met
1-4
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
10
13
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Course outline
►
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities
►
Lesson 2: Applying SAFe Principles
►
Lesson 3: Organizing the ART
►
Lesson 4: Planning a Program Increment
►
Lesson 5: Executing a Program Increment
►
Lesson 6: Fostering Relentless Improvement
►
Lesson 7: Serving the ART
►
Lesson 8: Continuing Your Learning Journey
►
Lesson 9: Practicing SAFe
1-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Activity: RTE and SAFe experience
►
Step 1: Identify where you are on
the RTE and SAFe experience
matrix in terms of:
–
Experience as an RTE
–
Experience with SAFe, including
existing certifications or courses
taken
1-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
5
14
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 1
Exploring the RTE Role and
Responsibilities
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
1.1 Connect the RTE role
to SAFe
1.2 Examine the
responsibilities of the RTE
role
1.3 Identify effective RTE
behaviors
1.4 Outline the benefits of
being an RTE
1-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
15
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Define the RTE role in SAFe
►
Describe the responsibilities of the RTE role
►
Apply effective RTE behaviors in your role
►
Summarize the benefits of being an RTE
1-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
1.1 Connect the RTE role to SAFe
1-10
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
16
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Serve the Lean Enterprise with the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe)
1-11
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
The Seven Core Competencies of Business Agility
1-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
17
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team andTeam
Technical
and Agility
Technical Agility
►
High-performing, cross-functional Agile Teams
►
Teams of business and technical teams build Solutions
►
Quality business Solutions delight Customers
1-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team andAgile
Technical
Agility
Product
Delivery
►
The Customer is the center of your product strategy
►
Decouple the release of value from the development cadence
►
Continuously explore, integrate, deploy, and release
1-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
18
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team andEnterprise
Technical Agility
Solution Delivery
►
Apply Lean systems engineering practices to build really big systems
►
Coordinate and align the full supply chain
►
Continue to enhance value after release
1-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team andLean
Technical
AgilityManagement
Portfolio
►
Align strategy, funding, and execution
►
Optimize operations across the
portfolio
►
Lightweight governance empowers
decentralized decision-making
1-16
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
19
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team andOrganizational
Technical AgilityAgility
►
Create an enterprise-wide, Lean-Agile mindset
►
Map and continuously improve business processes
►
Respond quickly to opportunities and threats
1-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team andContinuous
Technical Agility
Learning Culture
►
Everyone in the organization learns and grows together
►
Exploration and creativity are part of the organization's DNA
►
Continuously improving Solutions, services, and processes is everyone's
responsibility
1-18
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
20
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team andLean-Agile
Technical Agility
Leadership
►
Inspire others by modeling desired behaviors
►
Align mindset, words, and actions to Lean-Agile values and principles
►
Actively lead the change and guide others to the new way of working
1-19
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Identify RTE connections
►
►
Share
7
5
7
Step 1: Working in your groups, use the
Framework graphic to create
connections from the RTE to other
Framework elements, based on:
–
Communication
–
Collaboration
–
Problem-solving
–
Inputs/outputs
–
Other ideas you have
Step 2: Be ready to present and
discuss the identified connections
1-20
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Workbook
Prepare
21
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1.2 Examine the responsibilities of the RTE role
1-21
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Activity: The RTE role and responsibilities
►
Step 1: Working in your groups,
read the articles, “Release Train
Engineer" and “Solution Train
Engineer”
►
Step 2: Review and discuss the
key responsibilities of the RTE role
►
Step 3: List the key responsibilities
you discuss
►
Step 4: Be ready to present your
findings to the class
Share
9
3
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/release-train-engineer/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/solution-train-engineer/
1-22
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
23
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
List the key responsibilities of the RTE role:
The RTE acts as the servant leader for the ART
Responsibilities of the RTE include:
►
Managing and optimizing the flow of value through the
ART
►
Fostering collaboration between teams and ART
stakeholders
►
Facilitating Program Increment (PI) Planning
readiness and the event itself
►
Tracking and communicating key ART execution
Metrics
►
Escalating and tracking ART impediments
►
Facilitating relentless improvement for the ART
1-23
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: A typical PI for an RTE
Prepare
Share
7
3
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, brainstorm the typical activities an RTE would
be involved in during a PI. List a minimum of 10 things.
►
Step 2: Estimate the percentage of time you would spend on each activity.
►
Step 3: What conclusions can you make? Discuss and document your findings.
1-24
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
25
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My conclusions about RTE activities in a PI:
1.3 Identify effective RTE behaviors
1-25
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Candidates for the RTE role
►
Scrum Masters
►
Lean-Agile coaches
►
Program and Project Managers
1-26
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
27
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Moving from a traditional mindset to a new one
From …
To …
coordinating team contributions
coaching the teams to collaborate
setting deadlines
setting objectives
driving toward specific outcomes
being invested in the program’s overall performance
knowing the answer
asking the teams for the answer
directing
letting the teams self-organize and hit their stride
From fixing problems…
…to helping others fix them!
1-27
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Activity: Identify effective RTE behaviors
►
13
Step 1: Working in your groups, answer the following question:
-
What behaviors does an RTE need to exhibit to be effective in the role?
►
Step 2: Capture your ideas.
►
Step 3: Form a pair with someone in your group. Using your ideas based on what you
have learned and captured about the RTE, discuss:
►
-
Role
-
Responsibilities
-
Behaviors
Step 4: Take turns teaching each other the most important things you have learned.
1-28
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
28
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
List behaviors an RTE needs to exhibit to be effective
in their role:
The RTE is a servant leader
►
Guides people in problem identification and
decision-making
►
Creates an environment of mutual influence
►
Empathizes with others
►
Encourages the personal development of teams
►
Persuades rather than uses authority
►
Applies systems thinking
►
Supports the commitments made by the teams
1-29
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
1.4 Outline the benefits of being an RTE
1-30
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
30
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: Identify the organizational benefits
to having an RTE
►
7
Step 1: As a class, answer the following question:
–
What are the benefits of being an RTE in the Lean Enterprise?
►
Step 2: Capture your ideas.
►
Step 3: Share experiences and ideas with the room.
1-31
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Duration
31
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
What are the benefits of being an RTE in the Lean Enterprise?
Duration
Lesson reviewRTE Action Plan
5
In this lesson you:
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
Defined the RTE role in SAFe
workbooks
►
►
►►
►
►
Described
theadding
responsibilities
of Action
the RTE
roleby
Step
2: Begin
tools to the
Plan
brainstorming the following:
Applied effective RTE behaviors in your role
– What is your current role? How does the RTE role
connect to your
role within
your organization?
Summarized
the benefits
of being
an RTE
–
►
What do you imagine the RTE doing during the PI?
Map out what a PI would look like for you as an
RTE.
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
1-32
1-33
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson review
In this lesson you:
►
Defined the RTE role in SAFe
►
Described the responsibilities of the RTE role
►
Applied effective RTE behaviors in your role
►
Summarized the benefits of being an RTE
1-33
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
33
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 1:
Exploring the RTE Role
and Responsibilities
What is your current role? How does the RTE role
connect to your role within your organization?
What do you imagine the RTE doing during the
PI? Map out what a PI would look like for you as
an RTE.
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“Release Train Engineer”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/release-train-engineer/
►
“Solution Train Engineer”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/solution-train-engineer/
►
“Business Agility”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/business-agility/
1-34
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Download “The Facilitators Guide to SAFe: PO Sync”
for support in preparing for this event that supports
visibility about the ART’s PI objectives, changes to
work, and surfacing problems early.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGPOSync
Download “The Facilitators Guide to SAFe: Scrum of
Scrums” for guidance in running this event which
brings together the RTE, Scrum Masters, and other
stakeholders to discuss milestones and
accomplishments related to PI Objectives.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGSoS
Download “The Facilitators Guide to SAFe: ART
Sync” for tips and tricks for preparing for this event
which combines PO Sync and Scrum of Scrums.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGARTSync
Download “The Facilitators Guide to SAFe: System
Demo” to learn more about facilitating this event
which highlights the work accomplished towards
Features in an Iteration.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGSystemDemo
1-35
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
35
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
36
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 2
Applying SAFe® Principles
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
2.1 Identify SAFe
Principles that are
important to the RTE
2-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
37
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Apply SAFe Principles that are important to the RTE
2-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
2.1 Identify SAFe Principles that are important
to the RTE
2-4
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
38
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
SAFe RTE Stories: Tamara Nation
2
https://bit.ly/Video-RTEStories
2-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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 WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths
#7 Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning
#8 Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers
#9 Decentralize decision-making
#10 Organize around value
2-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
39
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Developing the SAFe Principles
SAFe-recommended practices evolved from the 10
fundamental principles of SAFe. Those principles
have been developed from:
►
Agile principles and methods
►
Lean product development
►
Systems thinking
►
Observations from successful Enterprises
2-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Why do RTEs need the SAFe Principles?
►
RTEs must understand why the practices work;
it’s part of ‘knowing what it is they must do’
►
If a practice needs to change, understanding the
principles will assure the change moves the ART
in the right direction
►
Shared understanding of the principles will help
decentralize the decision-making by the teams
and roles on the ART
Principles
over
Practices
100 implementations
2-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
100 books
40
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: Building an RTE and SAFe
Principles poster
►
►
Prepare
Share
15
15
Step 1: Each group will build a SAFe Principles
poster. Posters should include:
–
The SAFe Principle (e.g., “Apply systems thinking”)
–
A storyline (with at least one picture) that
exemplifies the principle applied by the RTE at the
ART level
–
A clear statement about the principle, how
it is applied, and how it connects to the RTE
Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class.
2-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Without a shared understanding of principles...
►
There is no systematic way to adapt practices to
local context
►
Business outcomes do not significantly improve
►
Practices and measures that were once beneficial
become problematic
►
The Lean-Agile Mindset is unachievable
►
Conflict and disagreement on processes and
practices are difficult to resolve
2-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
41
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Thought Organizer:
The RTE and applying SAFe Principles
Applying all 10 SAFe Principles in the ART is a key responsibility of the RTE.
►
Reconnect to the principles when discussing existing practices or potential
improvements for the ART
►
Build a shared understanding with stakeholders and the ART on why the
principles-based practices work
►
Periodically ask the train to self-assess on how well the principles are applied
2-11
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
RTE Action Plan
5
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks
►
Step 2: Begin adding tools to the Action Plan by
brainstorming the following:
►
–
Why is it important to align on the principles?
–
How will you apply to the principles to your role of
RTE in your organization?
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
2-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
43
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 2:
Applying SAFe Principles
Why is it important to align on the principles?
How will you apply the principles to your role of
RTE in your organization?
Lesson review
In this lesson you:
►
Applied SAFe Principles that are important to the RTE
2-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“SAFe Lean-Agile Principles”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
safe-lean-agile-principles/
2-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
45
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Explore each principle in depth and learn about how
organizations have applied them in their own Agile
practices in the 40-minute e-learning “SAFe LeanAgile Principles.”
https://bit.ly/Community-GettingStarted
2-15
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
46
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
47
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 3
Organizing the ART
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
3.1 Identify the attributes
of an effective ART
organization
3.2 Examine key ART
roles and responsibilities
3.3 Identify the
responsibilities of the
System Team
3-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
48
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Define the attributes of an effective ART organization
►
Describe the key ART roles and responsibilities
►
Summarize the responsibilities of the System Team
3-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
3.1 Identify the attributes of an effective ART
organization
3-4
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
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Workbook
49
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Agile Release Trains (ARTs)
►
A virtual organization of 5 – 12 teams (50 – 125+ individuals)
►
Synchronized on a common cadence, a Program Increment (PI)
►
Aligned to a common mission via a single Program Backlog
3-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Dunbar’s number
Prepare
Share
5
3
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, draw a big circle and add three dots along the
edges. Draw all possible connections between the dots and write down the total
number of lines used so far.
►
Step 2: Continue adding dots along the edges and connect all the dots drawing
lines between them, noting the number of possible connections at each step in
a list.
►
Step 3: Add as many dots and connections as possible during the timebox.
►
Step 4: Be prepared to share with the class.
3-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
50
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
What conclusions can you make about group size
and communication?
Group collaboration and group size
Effective group collaboration is limited by neurobiological factors.
“…there is a cognitive limit to the number of
individuals with whom any one person can
maintain stable relationships, that this limit is
a direct function of relative neocortical size,
and that this in turn limits group size.”
–Robin Dunbar
Source: Wikipedia
3-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Dunbar’s number
Dunbar’s number explains the neurobiological
constraints for which we optimize the size of teams
on the train and the size of the ART.
►
5 – 11 people is average small troop size
throughout military history.
Multiple
ARTs
150+
►
125 – 150 is the limit for village sizes historically.
At this size, villages have split into two villages.
ART
50 - 125
►
In SAFe, we organize around these numbers to
optimize for effective communication and stable
social relationships. This creates strong
collaboration.
3-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Agile
Team
5-11
52
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Teams on the ART are organized for flow
Stream-aligned team – Organized around the flow of work and
can deliver value directly to the Customer or end user.
Complicated subsystem team – Organized around specific
subsystems that require deep specialty skills and expertise.
Platform team – Organized around the development and support
of platforms that provide services to other teams.
Enabling team – Organized to assist other teams with
specialized capabilities and help them become proficient in new
technologies.
More information in the Advanced Topic Article:
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/organizing-agile-teams-and-arts-team-topologies-at-scale/
3-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Your ART team organization
►
►
Share
5
4
Step 1: Form pairs in your groups to answer the following questions:
–
How are the teams on your ARTs organized today? Is it around the four team
types described previously?
–
From both the perspective of architectural robustness and a value delivery
perspective, what is positive and negative about the current way your teams
are organized?
Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class.
3-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
53
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Your ART team organization
How are your teams organized today?
Positives
Negatives
Moving to Continuous Deployment and Release on Demand
It is common for organizations to migrate from component teams to other team types, particularly
stream-aligned teams, as the ART matures, and even shorter lead times are needed to deploy
and release.
►
Build the cross-functional individuals required for stream-aligned teams through cross-training
and pair-programing
►
Carefully rotate team members between different component teams to spread knowledge
►
Create Enablers to architect for deploying and releasing more frequently
Component
Team 1
Component
Team 2
Component
Team 3
Platform
Team
Component
Team 4
Complicated
Sub-system
Team
Stream-aligned Stream-aligned
Team 1
Team 2
3-11
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Avoiding common ART organization anti-patterns
Conway’s Law says that
organizations that
design systems are
constrained to produce
designs that are copies
of the communication
structures of these
organizations.
3-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
55
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Apply the Inverse Conway Maneuver
Define organizational structures to promote the desired architecture.
Social Structure
Design Structure
Future-state Design
Org Structure
Inverse Conway Maneuver
3-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
3.2 Examine key ART roles and responsibilities
3-14
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
56
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Roles on the Agile Release Train
Release Train Engineer acts as the
chief Scrum Master for the train.
Product Management owns, defines,
and prioritizes the Program Backlog.
System Architect/Engineering
provides architectural guidance and
technical enablement to the teams on
the train.
System Team provides processes and
tools to integrate and evaluate assets
early and often.
Business Owners are key
stakeholders on the Agile Release
Train.
3-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Key ART roles
ART leadership is collaboratively handled by the
three key ART roles, each focusing on one area.
►
Program Execution: The RTE facilitates
optimizing the flow of value through the ART.
►
Content Management: Product Management is
the internal voice of the customer on the ART.
►
Technology: The System Architect/Engineer
defines the overall architecture for the system.
3-16
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
57
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Key ART collaboration
7
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, read the definitions of the three key ART roles.
►
Step 2: Together, write the answers to these questions:
–
How can an RTE facilitate connections between these three
principal roles on the train?
–
What possible anti-patterns can arise in this group?
–
How can an RTE mitigate these anti-patterns?
3-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Activity: Key ART collaboration teach back
8
►
Step 1: Form a pair with someone from your group.
►
Step 2: Use the notes that you made during the previous activity. Take turns
(four minutes per person) to teach each other what you have learned about the
collaboration between the key ART roles. Be sure to cover the answers to the
last two questions!
3-18
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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Definitions of the three key ART roles
Release Train Engineer
The Release Train Engineer acts as the ‘Chief Scrum Master’ for the ART. The RTE serves
as a leader to facilitate Lean-Agile value delivery at the program level.
Primary responsibilities of the RTE include:
• Managing and optimizing the flow of value through the ART
• Fostering collaboration between teams and system-level stakeholders
• Facilitating PI Planning readiness and the event itself
• Tracking and communicating key ART execution metrics
• Escalating and tracking of ART impediments
• Facilitate relentless improvement for the ART
Product Manager
The Product Manager owns the Program Backlog. This is important, as assumptions about
requirements need to be validated. Teams must quickly feed emerging knowledge back into
the Solution.
Primary responsibilities of the Product Manager include:
• Understanding the Customer needs; and validate Solutions
• Working with System Architect/Engineering to understand the value of Enablers
• Developing and communicating ART Vision and Roadmap
• Managing and prioritizing the flow of work to the ART
• Preparing for and participating in PI Planning
• Participating in demos and Inspect and Adapt
• Building an effective Product Manager/Product Owner team
System Architect
The System Architect has technical content authority. They align the teams to a common
technical direction toward the accomplishment of the mission, Vision, and Roadmap.
Primary responsibilities of the System Architect include:
• Working with teams on the ART to define subsystems and their interfaces
• Establishing critical NFRs at the Solution level; participate in the definition of others
• Defining, exploring, and supporting the implementation of Enablers
• Planning and developing the Architectural Runway
• Working with PM to determine capacity allocation
• Supervising and fostering Built-in Quality
Workbook
59
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Key ART Collaboration
How can an RTE facilitate connections between these three
principal roles on the train?
What possible anti-patterns can arise in this group?
How can an RTE mitigate these anti-patterns?
Business Owners
Primary responsibilities of Business Owners:
►
Ensure that business objectives are understood and
accepted by key stakeholders of the train
►
Play a primary role in PI Planning activities and assign
business value to objectives
►
Watch for external commitments and dependencies
►
Attend the System and/or Solution Demo to view progress
and provide feedback
►
Help drive investment in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline
►
Help align a DevOps culture of shared responsibilities
3-19
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Video: Business Owners in SAFe
3
https://bit.ly/Video-BusinessOwnersSAFe
3-20
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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61
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Where are the Business Owners?
5
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss and write the answers to the following
two questions:
►
- In your current context, who are the Business Owner(s) for the ART?
- If you are not working as part of an ART, who in your organization could
potentially fulfill the role, and why would they be the right person(s)?
3-21
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Identifying Business Owners
The Business Owners can be identified by answering
the following questions:
►
Who can steer this train in the right direction,
participate in planning and execution, and help
eliminate impediments?
►
Who can speak on behalf of development, the
business, and the Customer?
►
Who can approve and defend a set of PI plans,
knowing that they will never satisfy everyone?
3-22
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Where are the Business Owners?
In your current context, who are the Business Owner(s) for the ART?
If you are not working as part of an ART, who in your organization could
potentially fulfill the role and why would they be the right person(s)?
3.3 Identify the responsibilities of the System
Team
3-23
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
System Team
The teams on the ART are collectively responsible for
delivering larger system and solution value. To support
this work a System Team is often formed. The System
Team:
►
Creates and maintains infrastructure, including
Continuous Integration, automated builds, and
automated build verification testing
►
Performs end-to-end system integration and Solution
performance testing
►
Assists in staging System and Solution Demos
►
Supports DevOps and Continuous Delivery Pipeline
activities, including Release on Demand
3-24
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: The System Team
Prepare
Share
5
3
Step 1: Individually, write the answers to the following questions in your
workbook:
►
- What could possibly happen if you don’t have a dedicated System Team on
the train?
- In your context, do you have a dedicated System Team? If not, who performs
the System Team tasks today?
- When can the System Team turn into a bottleneck or impediment?
- What is the role of the RTE with the System Team?
►
Step 2: Discuss the answers as a class.
3-25
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Balancing Solution integration and testing effort
The System Team can never be the entire
solution to the integration challenge.
Maximizing ART velocity requires a sense
of balance between Agile Teams and the
System Team.
►
Shared non-functional requirement
(NFR) testing across teams and the
System Team
►
Shared understanding of
infrastructure and tooling across the
teams on the train
►
Optimum velocity is a result
of shared responsibility
Agile Team
responsibility
Overall, avoid turning the System
Team into a bottleneck
Optimum shared
responsibility
3-26
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
System Teams
responsibility
65
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The System Team
What could possibly happen if you don't have a dedicated System Team
on the Train?
In your context, do you have a dedicated System Team?
If not, who performs the System Team tasks today?
When can the System Team turn into a bottleneck/impediment?
What is the role of the RTE with the System Team?
Duration
RTE Action Plan
5
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks
►
Step 2: Begin adding tools to the Action Plan by
brainstorming the following:
►
–
How will you bridge connections between the three
roles on the train?
–
How will you support the Agile teams on the train
and mitigate challenges?
–
Identify your System team and their responsibilities
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
3-27
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Review
In this lesson you:
►
Defined the attributes of an effective ART organization
►
Described the key ART roles and responsibilities
►
Summarized the responsibilities of the System Team
3-28
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 3:
Organizing the ART
How will you bridge connections between the
three roles on the train?
How will you support the Agile Teams on the
train and mitigate challenges?
Identify your System team and their responsibilities
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“Organizing Agile Teams”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/organizing-agile-teams-and-artsteam-topologies-at-scale/
►
“Agile Release Train”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/agile-release-train/
►
“Business Owners”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/business-owners/
►
“System Team”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/system-team/
3-29
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Access the SAFe Collaborate template, “ART Team
Organization,” to evaluate the trade-offs that can
happen when organizing teams on the train.
https://bit.ly/Template-ARTTeamOrg
Access the SAFe Collaborate template “The RTE
and ART Events,” to develop strong practices on how
to effectively facilitate ART events.
https://bit.ly/Template-RTEandARTEvents
Access the “SAFe ART and Team Events” on the
SAFe Community to explore guidance and support
for SAFe events.
https://bit.ly/CommunitySAFeARTandTeamEvents
Download the “SAFe Remote ART Toolkit 5.1” for
guidance and tools to support the ART releasing
value while teams work remotely.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Watch this 45-minute video, Self-Selection: a SAFe
approach to forming ARTs, to hear about one
company’s experience organizing their art and to
learn about the benefits of allowing people to selfselect their teams.
https://bit.ly/Video-SelfSelection
3-30
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
69
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
70
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 4
Planning a Program
Increment
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
4.1 Identify preparation
activities for the PI
Planning event
4.2 Facilitate Day 1
activities for the PI
Planning event
4.3 Facilitate final PI
plan development and
commitment
4.4 Explore facilitation
of PI Planning across
multiple locations
4-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Define the preparation activities for the PI Planning event
►
Demonstrate how to facilitate Day 1 activities for the PI Planning event
►
Demonstrate how to facilitate the final PI plan development and commitment
►
Demonstrate how to facilitate PI Planning across multiple locations
4-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
4.1 Identify preparation activities for the PI
Planning event
4-4
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
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Agile,
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Preparing the Program Backlog for PI Planning
In the weeks before PI Planning, Product Management
does the final Program Backlog preparation with System
Architects and ART stakeholders.
►
As an RTE, you will be more active in coaching a new
ART when preparing the backlog
►
Over time, the Product Management and the System
Architect should be able to handle most of this
preparation work
►
The RTE will be one of the backlog stakeholders, often
focused on infrastructure Enablers and improvement
items.
4-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Using capacity allocation to create balance
Our focus is on robust
technology Solutions that
meet near and long-term
goals
Our focus is on the
Capabilities and Features
that our Customers need
?
Feature
Feature
Feature
Feature
Enabler
Enabler
Enabler
Product and
Solution
Management
System and
Solution
Architect/
Engineering
Enabler
4-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
?
Program or
Solution
Backlog
73
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Product integrity through capacity allocation
►
Determine how much capacity is to be allowed
to each type. Agree on the percentage of work
to be devoted at each boundary.
►
Establish policies to determine how work is
performed.
►
The Architect has design authority and
prioritizes architectural work.
►
Product Management prioritizes business
Features.
►
Agree to jointly prioritize work based on
economics.
►
Capacity Allocation for this PI
System and Solution
Architect/Engineer
(Design Authority)
Program
Backlog
Product and Solution
Management
(Content Authority)
Agree to collaborate to sequence work to
maximize Customer value.
New Features
Enablers
Tech Debt and Maintenance
4-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Discuss
Discussion: What can capacity allocation be
used for?
►
4
Step 1: Discuss the following:
- Other than allocating dedicated
Capacity Allocation
capacity for Enablers, what
other work types can leverage
capacity allocation when
preparing for PI Planning?
User stories
Refactors+
Maintenance
- What about during PI Planning?
4-8
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Socializing Features and Enablers
Making sure that the Features and Enablers are socialized solves many
problems later during PI Planning.
Product Management and
other stakeholders refine
the Program Backlog.
Features are socialized with the
teams on the train and each
team identifies big/initial stories.
Each team works to prepare a rough
backlog for the PI Planning looking
for feedback, big unknowns, etc.
4-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: How much preparation is
enough?
Step 1: Working in your groups, explore the positives
and negatives of doing more preparation and doing
less preparation before the PI Planning event.
Step 2: Fill out the diagram. List the positives and
negatives of each alternative in the quadrants.
►
Step 3: Be ready to present the findings.
5
5
More pre-planning
Negative
►
Share
Positive
►
Prepare
Less pre-planning
4-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
How much preparation is enough?
More pre-planning
Positive
Negative
Less pre-planning
How much preparation is enough?
Both too much and too little preparation can cause problems. The RTE helps the
teams and stakeholders find a good trade-off.
►
You might do more planning if you
create new architecture or
functionality.
►
Too much pre-planning can
minimize exploration, interaction,
and emergent designs/solutions.
►
Do enough preparation to
maximize the amount of interaction
in the event.
4-11
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
PI Planning content readiness – Day 1 presentations
Business context
8:00 – 9:00
• State of the business
Product/Solution Vision
9:00 – 10:30
• Vision and prioritized Features
Architecture Vision and development
practices
10:30 – 11:30
• Architecture, common frameworks, etc.
• Agile tooling, engineering practices, etc.
Planning context and lunch
11:30 – 1:00
• Facilitator explains the planning process
Team breakouts
1:00 – 4:00
• Teams develop draft plans and identify risks
and impediments
• Architects and Product Managers circulate
Draft plan review
4:00 – 5:00
• Teams present draft plans, risks, and
impediments
Management review and problem
solving
5:00 – 6:00
• Adjustments made based on challenges, risks,
and impediments
4-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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15 preparation questions for ART readiness
Area
Question
Planning scope and context
Is the scope (product, system, technology domains) of the planning process
understood? Have we identified our Value Stream(s) and ARTs?
Release Train Engineer (RTE)
Have we identified the Release Train Engineer? Does he/she understand the scope of
the role in preparing the organization and preparing for the PI Planning event?
Planning time frame, Iteration,
and PI cadence
Have we identified the PI Planning dates, the Iteration cadence, and the PI cadence?
Agile Teams
Does each team have an identified SM and PO?
Team makeup/commitment
Are there dedicated team members on every team?
Agile Team attendance
Are all team members present in person or are arrangements made to involve them
remotely?
Executive, Business Owner
participation
Do we know who will set the business context and present the Product/Solution
Vision?
Business alignment
Is there reasonable agreement on priorities among the Business Owners and Product
Management?
Vision and Program Backlog
Is there a clear Vision of what we are building, at least over the next few PIs? Have we
identified the top 10 or so Features that are the subject of the first PI?
4-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
15 preparation questions for ART readiness
Area
Question
System Team
Has the System Team been identified and formed?
Shared Services
Have the Shared Services (User Experience, Architecture, etc.) been identified?
Other attendees
Do we know what other key stakeholders (IT, infrastructure, etc.) should attend?
Agile Lifecycle
Management tooling
Do we know how and where iterations, PIs, Features, Stories, status, etc. will be
maintained?
Development
infrastructure
Do we understand the impact on and/or plans for environments (for example,
Continuous Integration and build environments)?
Quality practices
Is there a strategy for unit testing and test automation? Are there any other practice
guidelines?
4-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: ART readiness preparation
Prepare
Share
5
5
►
Step 1: Determine which items on the ART readiness checklist must be in
place in order to launch your ART
►
Step 2: In your workbook, mark each item with a Y, N, or D to determine if it is
necessity for launching the ART
– (Y) Yes, must be in place
– (N) No, doesn’t need to be in place
– (D) Depends on context
►
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class
4-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
4.2 Facilitate Day 1 activities for the PI
Planning event
4-16
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
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Agile,
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
ART Readiness Checklist
Instructions: Mark each item for Y, N, or D to determine its necessity for
launching the ART.
Area
Questions
Y
N
D
1
Planning
scope and context
Is the scope (product, system, technology domains) of the
planning process understood? Have we identified our Value
Stream(s) and Agile Release Trains?
  
2
Release Train
Engineer (RTE)
Have we identified the Release Train Engineer? Does he/she
understand the scope of the role in preparing the organization
and preparing for the Pl Planning meeting?
  
3
Planning time frame,
iteration, and Pl cadence
Have we identified the Pl Planning dates, the iteration cadence,
and the Pl cadence?
  
4
Agile Teams (SMs, POs)
Does each Feature/Component team have an identified Scrum
Master and Product Owner?
  
5
Team makeup/
commitment
Are there dedicated team members on every team?
  
6
Agile Team attendance
Are all team members present in person or are arrangements
made to involve them remotely?
  
7
Executive, Business
Owner participation
Do we know who will set the business context and present the
product/solution vision?
  
8
Business alignment
Is there reasonable agreement on priorities amount the Business
Owners and Product Management
  
9
Vision and
program backlog
Is there a clear vision of what we are building, at least over the
next few PIs? Have identified the top 10 or so feature that are the
subject of the first PI?
  
10 System Team
Has the System Team been identified and formed?
  
11 Shared Services
Have the Shared Services (User Experience, Architecture, etc.)
been identified?
  
12 Other attendees
Do we know what other key stakeholders (IT, infrastructure, etc.)
should attend.
  
13
Agile Lifecycle
Management tooling
Do we know how and where Iterations, PIs, Features, Stories,
status, etc. will be maintained?
  
14
Development
infrastructure
Do we understand the impact on and/or plans for environments
(for example, continuous integration and build environments)?
  
Is there a strategy for unit testing and test automation?
Are there any other practice guidelines?
  
15 Quality practices
Activity: RTE and PI Planning schedule, flow,
and the RTE role
►
Step 1: With your group, build a two-day PI Planning
schedule. Use the two PI Planning agendas as a guide.
►
Step 2: Mark each item with:
►
–
Who performs the activity?
–
What are the RTE responsibilities during the activity?
–
Who can assist the RTE during this activity if needed?
Prepare
Share
15
5
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class.
4-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
The RTE in the PI Planning event
The RTE is the key role, the heartbeat and facilitator of PI Planning.
►
The RTE is often very busy and needed during all
parts of PI Planning.
►
Be sure to use the whole room during the event.
Move around and be visible and available if you
are needed by someone.
►
Be careful not to become a bottleneck. Make sure
to get Product Management, the System Architect,
Product Owners, and Scrum Masters to help you.
4-18
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Workbook
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Thought Organizer:
Presentations at the start of Day 1
The day starts with the content presentations, creating a
shared understanding of the business context and the
boundaries inside which the teams are planning the PI.
►
Double- and triple-check that the audio/video
equipment works. Microphones will be needed in most
cases.
►
Have one slideshow deck and one computer for
presentations. Avoid having to switch to keep it flowing
smoothly.
►
Have room for a short Q&A after each presentation but
manage the timebox and push any discussions into
meet-afters if needed.
Alex Sun, CEO, Mitchell International Reprinted
by permission of Mitchell International
4-19
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team breakout #1
The teams create a draft PI plan for all Iterations, write draft PI Objectives, and identify
program risks and impediments.
►
Visual radiators for planning create transparency and collaboration in the room
►
Make sure all planning boards use the same layout and colors
►
Ask Scrum Masters to assist in preparing and setting up each team area
4-20
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team planning radiators in detail: Iterations
►
If a story has a dependency, put a red sticky
note on it describing the dependency. Put a
check mark through it once the dependency
has been addressed.
►
If a risk is broader in nature, put it on the risk
sheet.
►
If needed, allocate a percentage of capacity
for unplanned activities, such as maintenance
and production support.
Iteration 1.1
Capacity ___
Load ___
story
dependency
4-21
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team planning radiators in detail: PI Objectives
▸PI Objectives should be written so that they are
understandable by someone outside the team
▸Uncommitted objectives are in the team plan and
fits in the capacity, but the team is unsure if they
can deliver
PI Objectives
BV AV
Uncommitted Objectives
4-22
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team planning radiators in detail: IP Iteration
▸The last Iteration will be used for Innovation and
Planning (IP)
▸You should have a capacity but not a load on the
IP Iteration, since it should not contain any user
value stories
Iteration 1.5
Capacity ___
Load ___
IP Iteration
X
4-23
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team planning radiators in detail: Risks
▸Program risks are those that are outside of the
team’s control and need to be escalated. They will
be captured and “ROAMed” after the final plan
review.
Risks
▸Team risks are those under the team’s control.
They won’t be presented and are handled by the
team themselves.
4-24
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team breakout: Hourly Scrum of Scrums checkpoints
The Scrum of Scrums (SoS) checkpoints help keep teams on track and facilitate
early identification of risks.
Day 1
1:00 pm
Getting started
2:00 pm
Iteration Planning progress
3:00 pm
Team Objectives progress
3:45 pm
Draft plan readiness
Day 2
10:30 am
Progress check-in
11:30 am
Final plan readiness
Simple planning “radiators”
4-25
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Program Board: Feature delivery, dependencies, and Milestones
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Iteration 1.3
Iteration 1.4
Milestones/
Events
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
PI 2 >>>
A program Milestone or event is
happening in Iteration 1.3 (e.g., a trade
show, market release, etc.)
Unicorns
Dolphins
Bears
This Feature cannot be delivered
until multiple teams complete their
dependencies.
Eagles
Iguanas
Antelope
A Feature placed in a team’s swim lane
with no strings means that it can be
completed independent of other teams.
Tarantulas
Needs UX Help
Needs Sys
Arch Help
Blue
= Features
Red/ Pink
= Significant Dependency
Orange
Red String = A dependency requiring Stories
or other dependencies to be completed before
the Feature can be completed
4-26
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
= Milestone/Event
87
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: Reading the program board in PI
Planning
Prepare
Share
10
5
►
Step 1: With your group, look at the three different program board examples.
►
Step 2: Capture the answers to the following questions for each scenario:
►
–
What problems do you see?
–
How would you, the RTE, act if you could see these on the
program board at the end of Day 1 in PI Planning?
–
What could be a potential solution for the specific problems?
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class.
4-27
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Example program board #1
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Iteration 1.3
Milestones/
Events
PI 2 >>>
F1
D1
D2
F2
Bears
F6
Eagles
Iguanas
F3
F5
Antelope
Tarantulas
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
M1
Unicorns
Dolphins
Iteration 1.4
D3
D4
F4
Needs UX Help
Needs Sys
Arch Help
4-28
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Iteration 1.3
Milestones
& Events
PI 2 >>>
F1
D1
D2
Bears
F2
Eagles
F6
Iguanas
F3
Antelope
Tarantulas
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
M1
Unicorns
Dolphins
Iteration 1.4
F5
D3
D4
F4
Needs UX Help
Needs System
Team Help
What problems can you see?
How would you as an RTE act if you could see these on the program board at the
end of day 1 of PI Planning?
What could be the potential solution for the specific problems?
Example program board #2
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Iteration 1.3
Milestones/
Events
Unicorns
Iteration 1.4
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
PI 2 >>>
M1
F6
F1
F3
F5
Dolphins
D2
Bears
Eagles
F4
D1
D7
D4
Iguanas
F2
Antelope
D3
Tarantulas
D6
D5
F7
Needs UX Help
Needs Sys
Arch Help
4-29
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Example program board #3
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Milestones/
Events
Unicorns
D1
PI 2 >>>
E1
F5
F3
D7
D3
Iguanas
F6
F1
F7
D6
Antelope
D4
D2
F4
D8
Needs UX Help
Needs Sys
Arch Help
D9
4-30
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Workbook
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
F2
D5
Bears
Tarantulas
Iteration 1.4
M1
Dolphins
Eagles
Iteration 1.3
90
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Iteration 1.3
Milestones
& Events
Unicorns
Iteration 1.4
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
PI 2 >>>
M1
F6
F1
F3
F5
Dolphins
Bears
Eagles
D2
F4
D1
Iguanas
D4
Antelope
Tarantulas
D7
F2
D3
D6
D5
F7
Needs UX Help
Needs System
Team Help
What problems can you see?
How would you as an RTE act if you could see these on the program board at the
end of day 1 of PI Planning?
What could be the potential solution for the specific problems?
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Milestones
& Events
Unicorns
D1
Iteration 1.5 (IP)
PI 2 >>>
E1
F2
D5
F5
Bears
F3
D7
D3
Iguanas
F6
F1
Antelope
Tarantulas
Iteration 1.4
M1
Dolphins
Eagles
Iteration 1.3
F7
D6
D4
Needs UX Help
Needs System
Team Help
D2
F4
D8
F9
What problems can you see?
How would you as an RTE act if you could see these on the program board at the
end of day 1 of PI Planning?
What could be the potential solution for the specific problems?
Using the program board
The Program Board is a critical artifact
during and after PI Planning, as it visually
shows the sequence of inter-team
dependencies that lead to Feature
delivery.
►
Iteration 1.1
Iteration 1.2
Iteration 1.3
Iteration 1.4
Iteration 1.5
(IP)
PI 2 >>>
Milestones/
Events
Unicorns
Dolphins
The most important thing is to
visualize where Features are planned
to be delivered on the timeline
Bears
Eagles
Iguanas
Antelope
►
Each red sticky note is an agreedupon and planned action that will
resolve an inter-team dependency
that supports Feature delivery
Tarantulas
Needs UX
Help
Needs Sys
Arch Help
4-31
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Writing draft PI and uncommitted objectives
Draft objectives create transparency in PI
Planning and help engage the Business
Owners and stakeholders in the planning
process.
►
Get early/initial versions that are
presented at the end of Day 1
►
If the team objectives cannot fit on
one sheet, there are probably too
many of them, or they are too
granular
►
Objectives for PI 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Remind everyone to move team
objectives to uncommitted if it is
planned, but the team confidence is
not 100%
ABV
Show routing calculations between
the 5 most frequent destinations
Navigate autonomously from
distribution center the most frequent
destination
Parallel park for a delivery
Return to distribution center after
delivery
Include traffic data in route planning
Recall a delivery that is already in
progress
Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%
Uncommitted Objectives
8.
Demonstrate real-time rerouting to
avoid delays (e.g., accident,
construction)
4-32
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
BV
93
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Draft plan review
At the end of Day 1, the RTE facilitates the session
where each team presents their draft plan to the ART.
►
►
►
The main purpose is to get everyone in the room
thinking about dependencies, problems, and
opportunities for tomorrow
Make sure everyone follows the agenda when
presenting and make the agenda visible to
everyone
Draft plan review agenda:
1. Current capacity and load for
each Iteration
2. Draft PI Objectives
3. Identified program risks and
impediments
Ask the team to stand up and visually point to or
show their planning radiators to everyone when
presenting
4-33
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Management review and problem-solving
At the end of day 1, management meets to
adjust scope and objectives based on the
day’s planning.
►
Attendees are key ART roles and ART
stakeholders
►
Attendees discuss the ART and PI:
►
–
Risks
–
Opportunities and challenges
The outputs are the planning
adjustments that will be communicated
to the teams at the start of the following
day
4-34
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
94
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: Management review and problemsolving meeting
►
►
Prepare
Share
10
5
Step 1: With your group, create a suggestion for how, as an
RTE, you would facilitate the management review and
problem-solving meeting. Be sure to include:
–
How to select attendees
–
How to find and select the inputs
–
A story that tells how you would facilitate
the session with at least one picture
–
How to create the outputs
Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class.
4-35
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Facilitating the management review and problem-solving meeting
The RTE is the facilitator of the management review and
problem-solving meeting and is responsible for making sure that
the session produces an output.
►
The RTE needs to have a clear idea on how to facilitate the
meeting, so it is effective
►
Work with the key ART roles, teams, and stakeholders
throughout Day 1 to identify potential inputs for the meeting
►
Invite selected team members that can help clarify problems
and find solutions
►
Make sure to document inputs and outputs from the meeting
►
Over time, evolve how you facilitate the meeting
4-36
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
95
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
4.3 Facilitate final PI plan development
and commitment
4-37
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Planning adjustments
At the beginning of Day 2, the outcome of the previous
evening’s management review is communicated to the
teams.
►
Ensure that the changes are actionable for the teams
on the train
►
Relevant stakeholders should present the changes to
the teams, not the RTE
►
Host a short question & answer session after each
presented topic or outcome
►
The RTE should manage the timebox
4-38
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
96
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team breakout #2
Based on new knowledge (and a good night’s
sleep), teams now work to create their final
plans.
►
Focus on getting all Feature deliveries
and dependencies visualized on the
program board – the RTE should assist
the teams and Scrum Masters to get
items placed
►
Help the teams to write readable,
understandable, and S.M.A.R.T. PI
Objectives
►
Be available for facilitating discussions
that might happen when assigning
business value to objectives
4-39
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
PI Objectives should be S.M.A.R.T.
During the second team breakout, assist the teams in writing their PI Objectives
using the S.M.A.R.T. format.
S
Specific
State the intended outcome as simply, concisely, and explicitly as possible.
(Hint: Try starting with an action verb)
M
Measurable
It should be clear what a team needs to do to achieve the objective. The measures
may be descriptive, yes/no, quantitative, or provide a range.
A
Achievable
Achieving the objective should be within the team’s control and influence.
R
Realistic
Recognize factors that cannot be controlled. (Hint: Avoid making assumptions)
T
Time-bound
The time period for achievement must be within the PI. Therefore, all objectives
must be scoped appropriately.
4-40
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
97
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Assigning business value to PI Objectives
As the PI Objectives are finalized, each objective is
assigned business value by the ART Business Owners
on a scale of 1 ⎯ 10.
►
Walking the room, in face-to-face conversation, the
ART Business Owners assign business value to each
of the teams’ individual PI Objectives.
►
Business value is intended to communicate the
potential business impact of achieving an objective,
helping the teams on the train prioritize work.
►
At times, especially during the first PIs, the RTE might
need to be available in the room to facilitate this
conversation.
►
Objectives for PI 1
BV
1. Show routing calculations between
the 5 most frequent destinations
2. Navigate autonomously from
distribution center the most frequent
destination
3. Parallel park for a delivery
4. Return to distribution center after
delivery
5. Include traffic data in route planning
6. Recall a delivery that is already in
progress
7. Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%
Uncommitted Objectives
8. Demonstrate real-time rerouting to
avoid delays (e.g., accident,
construction)
10
8
7
10
7
7
2
5
4-41
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Prepare
Share
4
3
Activity: Conflicting views of value
►
Step 1: Consider the following scenario:
–
►
Business Owners have assigned a value of 2 to the PI
Objective “Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%” and they
have requested that the team move the objective to
uncommitted. The team believes this function provides a
critical architectural enablement to the entire program in
this PI. The team is clearly disappointed and concerned
that an important technical item is ranked so low. “We just
don’t see much business value in it now,” said the Vice
President of Product.
Step 2: Working in your group, discuss what your steps
should be for solving this problem.
Objectives for PI 1
1. Show routing calculations between
the 5 most frequent destinations
2. Navigate autonomously from
distribution center the most frequent
destination
3. Parallel park for a delivery
4. Return to distribution center after
delivery
5. Include traffic data in route planning
6. Recall a delivery that is already in
progress
7. Reduce GPS signal loss by 25%
BV
ABV
10
8
7
10
7
7
2
Uncommitted Objectives
8. Demonstrate real-time rerouting to
avoid delays (e.g., accident,
construction)
5
4-42
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
ABV
98
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Final plan review
The RTE facilitates the session where everyone in the
room participates in peer-reviewing the final plans for all
teams, and the Business Owners accept the plan.
►
Make sure everyone follows the agenda when
presenting. Make it visible in the room.
►
Validate that presented risks and impediments are
outside of the teams’ control before accepting them
as program risks.
►
Manage the timebox for the Q&A.
►
After each review, the RTE asks the Business Owners
in the room if they accept the plan.
Final plan review agenda:
1. Changes to capacity and
load for each Iteration
2. Final PI Objectives with
Business Values
3. Program risks and
impediments
4. Q&A
4-43
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Addressing program risks
After all plans have been presented, remaining program
risks and impediments are discussed and categorized.
ROAMing risks:
Resolved - Has been addressed. No longer a concern.
Owned - Someone has taken responsibility.
Accepted - Nothing more can be done. If risk occurs,
release may be compromised.
Mitigated - Team has plan to adjust as necessary.
4-44
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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99
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: ROAM and program risks
Prepare
Share
7
3
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, read through the six risks.
►
Step 2: Develop a clear plan for how you, the RTE, would facilitate ROAMing
the risks. Try to address as many as you can in the 7-minute timebox.
►
Step 3: Document the approach for each risk. Indicate what ROAM you would
suggest and why. Focus on how you would facilitate finding the solution in the
room during PI Planning, not what the solution would be.
►
Step 4: Be prepared to share with the class.
4-45
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
PI Planning program risks
Team member X is a bottleneck.
They are the only one who can
handle critical parts of the
implementation for an important
Feature that is scheduled for
delivery in the Iteration.
No System Team is available
yet. The integration
infrastructure is in bad shape
and could put the integration
and/or system demo at risk.
Two teams have a shared
Product Owner. This might
have a negative impact on
the team Iteration Planning
and demos.
The QA team is pointing out the
application performance might be
at risk during Iteration 3 when
there will be an influx of new
users. We are unsure how this
might impact us.
In Iteration 3 an important
supplier might be delayed with
their crucial delivery.
They have been late before,
and this time it might impact
several teams.
There is a holiday mid-PI,
and many people will be
on vacation.
4-46
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Workbook
100
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
ROAM and Program Risks
PI Planning - Program Risk
What is your strategy for handling this risk?
What ROAM would you suggest? Why?
Team member X is a bottleneck.
They are the only one who can
handle critical parts of the
implementation for an important
Feature that is scheduled for
delivery in the Iteration.
PI Planning - Program Risk
What is your strategy for handling this risk?
What ROAM would you suggest? Why?
In Iteration 3 an important
supplier might be delayed with
their crucial delivery.
They have been late before,
and this time it might impact
several teams.
PI Planning - Program Risk
No System Team is available yet.
The integration infrastructure is
in bad shape and could put the
integration and/or system demo
at risk.
What is your strategy for handling this risk?
What ROAM would you suggest? Why?
ROAM and Program Risks
PI Planning - Program Risk
What is your strategy for handling this risk?
What ROAM would you suggest? Why?
Two teams have a shared
Product Owner.
This might have a negative
impact on the team Iteration
Planning and demos.
PI Planning - Program Risk
What is your strategy for handling this risk?
What ROAM would you suggest? Why?
The QA team is pointing out the
application performance might
be at risk during Iteration 3
when there will be an influx of
new users.
We are unsure how this might
impact us.
PI Planning - Program Risk
There is a holiday mid-PI and
many people will be on vacation.
What is your strategy for handling this risk?
What ROAM would you suggest? Why?
The risk ROAMing session
The risk ROAMing session can be challenging if you are
new to the train as the RTE.
►
Make sure to continuously look at risks as they appear
in the planning session, so you can have a plan for
how to ROAM them.
►
Ask the Scrum Masters to be proactive and come to
you if their teams find big risks during planning.
►
Be the facilitator when ROAMing, avoid trying to find
the solution yourself, and ask the room for help.
►
The Product Management and System Architect
should be a very active part of the ROAMing process.
4-47
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Confidence Vote: Team and Program
After dependencies are resolved and risks are addressed, a confidence vote is taken by
each team on their own plan, as well as an overall vote on the combined program plan.
Ask a clearly defined question out loud to each team:
▸ “How confident are you in the plan created by your team?”
When all teams have completed the confidence vote, ask the entire room:
▸ “Given what you know now, how confident are you that we as a team of teams
can deliver on this plan together?”
No
confidence
Little
confidence
Good
confidence
Very high
confidence
4-48
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
High
confidence
103
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Prepare
Share
7
3
Activity: Confidence not high? Plan rework.
If necessary, teams may need to rework their plans until a high confidence level
can be reached. This is one occasion where alignment and commitment are valued
more highly than adhering to a timebox.
Step 1: In pairs, discuss a plan rework scenario. Answer the following
questions:
►
- How would you facilitate this?
- What agreements would you put in place?
►
Step 2: Be prepared to share your facilitation plan with the class.
4-49
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
PI Planning retrospective
PI Planning will evolve over time. Ending it with a
quick and focused retrospective will help it
continuously improve.
►
By this time, everyone in the room is exhausted
and wants to go home. Make it as focused and
quick as possible.
►
Keep the focus on collecting opinions, ideas, and
data; you can sort and prioritize later.
►
Make sure to change how you run the
retrospective over time to keep it fun and
energizing.
4-50
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
104
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Confidence not high? Plan rework.
How would you facilitate a plan rework?
What agreements would you put in place?
Activity: Facilitate a PI Planning
retrospective
►
Step 1: Working in your group, use
the retrospective template to
facilitate a retrospective of this class
so far.
►
Step 2: Discuss how to capture the
data for planning purposes.
►
Step 3: Share your experiences and
ideas with the class.
Prepare
Share
7
7
4-51
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
After the PI Planning event
►
Following PI Planning the RTE needs to take care of many key
outputs and artifacts:
- If appropriate, make sure the work is tracked in an Agile project
management tool
- Move the Program Board to a dedicated location
- Capture the decisions made during the risk ROAMing session
- Create a set of integrated Program PI Objectives
- Set up meetings for recurring ART events
►
The rest should be managed by the teams and Scrum Masters.
Be sure to articulate the next steps, such as when Iteration
Planning starts.
4-52
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
106
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Running the PI Planning retrospective
How would you facilitate a PI Planning retrospective?
Ideas from other tables on facilitating a PI Planning retrospective:
Integrated PI Objectives
Program PI Objectives are the synthesis of each team’s PI Objectives.
4-53
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
4.4 Explore facilitation of PI Planning across
multiple locations
4-54
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
108
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Distributed planning meetings
Distributed planning meetings are our new normal and require significantly more
preparation and facilitation.
►
Have a dedicated RTE-proxy and tech
support person at each location.
►
Test audio, video, and presentationsharing connectivity. Then test it again!
►
Have a common understanding of how
plans will be shared (video, intranet,
collaborative ALM tool, emailing PPT,
etc.).
►
Establish team-based audio/video
communication for breakout sessions.
4-55
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Tips for large time zone differences
►
►
►
For large time zone differences, hold the PI event
over 2.5 or even 3 days, allowing for overlapping
hours
Respect people and culture by avoiding asking
teams to stay up all night
SAFe Remote ARTs Toolkit
SAFe Remote ARTs Toolkit
Avoid asking teams to commit to their PI
Objectives in a sleep-deprived state
4-56
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
A sample agenda is included in the
109
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: Facilitating a distributed PI Planning
►
Step 1: In your group, create an agenda for a
distributed PI Planning event with large time zone
differences
►
Step 2: List ideas and tools for what you, the RTE,
would do to effectively prepare and facilitate this PI
Planning event
►
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class.
Share
15
5
4-57
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
110
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Thought Organizer:
Duration
Action Plan: RTE Action Plan
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks
►
Step 2: Begin adding tools to the Action Plan by
brainstorming the following:
–
►
Reflect on the PI planning and facilitation process
from the perspective of the RTE and how you will
run a successful PI Planning event.
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
4-58
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
5
112
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 4:
Planning a Program
Increment
Reflect on the PI Planning and facilitation process
from a perspective of the RTE and how you will
run a successful PI Planning event.
Lesson review
In this lesson you:
►
Defined the preparation activities for the PI Planning event
►
Demonstrated how to facilitate Day 1 activities for the PI Planning event
►
Demonstrated how to facilitate the final PI plan development and commitment
►
Demonstrated how to facilitate PI Planning across multiple locations
4-59
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“PI Planning”
►
“Distributed PI Planning”
►
“PI Objectives”
►
“Program and Solution
Backlogs”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/pi-planning/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/distributed-pi-planning/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/pi-objectives/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/program-and-solution-backlogs/
4-60
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
114
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Download the “SAFe PI Planning Toolkit 5.1” for
resources to support preparation, coordination, and
communication to guide an ART through its PI
Planning event.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Download the “SAFe Remote ART Toolkit 5.1” for
additional tools and guides for releasing value with
distribute or remote teams.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Use the “ART Readiness Workbook” from the “SAFe
PI Planning Toolkit 5.1” to create the implementation
plan. The team and ART rosters help document the
new organizational structure.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Watch this six-minute video, Preparation for PI
Planning, to learn about three areas an ART should
focus on when preparing for PI Planning.
https://bit.ly/Video-PIPlanningPrep
Use the SAFe Collaborate template, “Retrospective
Plus, Minus, Delta,” to run an effective retrospective
with your team.
https://bit.ly/Template-PlusMinusDelta
4-61
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
115
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
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Lesson 5
Executing a Program
Increment
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
5.1 Identify key team
Iteration events
5.2 Examine the events
and tools needed to
manage ART flow
5.3 Explore Metrics used
to measure PI execution
5.4 Prepare and facilitate
IP Iteration activities
5.5 Building a Continuous
Delivery Pipeline with
DevOps
5-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Identify key team Iteration events
►
Describe the events and tools needed to manage ART flow
►
Apply Metrics used to measure PI execution
►
Prepare and facilitate IP Iteration activities
►
Illustrate a Continuous Delivery Pipeline with DevOps
5-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
5.1 Identify key team Iteration events
5-4
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
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Agile,
Workbook
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Agile Team Iteration execution
Agile Teams plan, integrate, demo, deploy, release, and learn together
DSU
24h
Story
Story
Story
Story
Story
Story
Iteration
Planning
Team
Backlog
Iteration
Iteration
Review Retrospective
Value
5-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: The RTE and Iteration execution
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, review
the ScrumXP article and discuss the
team Iteration cycle from an RTE
perspective
►
Step 2: Using the Iteration cycle image
on the prior slide, identify the most
important inputs and outputs for each
team event and explain their
importance from an RTE perspective
►
Share
10
7
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/scrumxp/
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the
class
5-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
119
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
DSU
24h
STORY
Product
Owner
STORY
STORY
Scrum
Master
STORY
STORY
STORY
Team
Backlog
Iteration
Planning
Iteration
Review
Iteration
Retrospective
Value
What are the Most important inputs and outputs for each team
event? Why are they important from an RTE perspective?
Iteration Goals
Iteration Goals provide clarity, commitment, and management information. They
serve three purposes:
Align team members to a common purpose
Align teams to common Program Increment (PI)
Objectives and manage dependencies
Provide transparency and management information
5-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Iteration Goals: Examples
Business Example
Software Example
Iteration Goals
Iteration Goals
1.
Finalize and push last-name
search and first-name
morphology
1. Roll out the GDPR incident report
procedures
2.
Index 80% of remaining data
2. Prepare for external audit
3.
Other Stories:
3. Obtain approvals for financial
report
•
Establish search replication
validation protocol
•
Refactor artifact dictionary
schema
5-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Aggregating ART Metrics
►
Collect and aggregate the agreed-upon ART Metrics at the end of each
iteration to better understand PI progress and ART health
►
Ask Scrum Masters to summarize the Metrics for each team after Iteration
Review
►
Use the ART sync to follow up on the Metrics for PI progress and trends
RTE
5-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Escalation of team impediments
If a team needs program help to reach
the commitment, they will escalate to
the RTE.
►
Team impediments often surface in
the team daily stand-ups (DSU)
►
Scrum of Scrums (SoS) is the
built-in forum for impediment
escalation
►
The RTE facilitates the escalation
of impediments further if it cannot
be solved within the ART
Synchronize and keep
the train on the tracks.
RTE
Agile Teams
5-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
5.2 Examine the events and tools needed to
manage ART flow
5-11
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Program execution
Program events create a closed loop system to keep the train on the tracks.
Scrum of Scrums
Key PI execution events:
ART Sync
1. Scrum of Scrums
PO Sync
3. ART sync
PI Planning
4. System Demo
PI Planning
2. PO sync
Iteration
Planning
Iteration
Retro
Inspect &
Adapt
Iteration
Review
Backlog
Refinement
System Demo
I
P
ART events
Prepare for PI Planning
Team events
5-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Daily
Stand-up
123
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: The RTE and the ART events
►
Prepare
Share
15
15
Step 1: Working in your groups, prepare a three-minute presentation about an ART
event facilitated by the RTE. Use the event descriptions as a guide and draw from your
own experiences. Be sure to include:
–
A clear statement about the purpose of the event and why its important for the RTE role
–
A list of facilitators and attendees, plus a suggested agenda for the event with timing and
cadence
–
The key inputs and outputs of the event
–
Possible event anti-patterns, like a discussion of what would happen if this event is cancelled
–
Success criteria for the RTE
–
General tips
Step 2: Be prepared to share with the the class.
5-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Visualize the workflow using Kanban boards
Working with Kanban boards is lightweight and disciplined.
►
All work is visualized, and the progress of individual items is
continuously tracked
►
The Kanban board contains defined states that work moves
through
►
It has explicit policies detailing how work is managed in
each state
►
Stakeholders agree on work in process (WIP) limits for
selected states and adjust as necessary to improve flow
►
The flow through the Kanban board is measured, which
informs future improvements
5-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
124
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Scrum of Scrums
The RTE facilitates regular SoS meetings that are focused
on overall program execution and impediment escalation.
• Facilitate the SoS using a focused and visible
agenda and timebox
• Always bring up the most important questions for
PI Execution:
o “Will we meet our PI commitments?”
o “If not, what do we need to do to meet them?”
• Run the meeting in front of the Program Board,
discuss the visible Iteration dependencies
• Scrum Masters escalate impediments and risks
PO Sync
The PO Sync is used to create visibility into how well the
ART is progressing toward meeting the program PI
Objectives, discuss problems or opportunities with Feature
development, and to assess any scope adjustments.
• Visibility into progress, scope and priority
adjustments
• Facilitated by RTE or PM
• Participants: PMs, POs, other stakeholders and
SMEs as necessary
• Weekly or more frequently, 30-60 minutes
• Time-boxed and followed by “meet after”
Workbook
125
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
ART Sync
Sometimes the Scrum of Scrums and PO Sync are combined into one meeting, often
referred to as an ART Sync.
• Needs a clear agenda and RTE facilitation to be effective as this can be a big
group
• Focus should always primarily be on:
“Will we meet out PI commitments?”
System Demo
Demonstrate the full Solution increment to stakeholders
every Iteration.
• Features are functionally complete or “toggled” so
as note to disrupt demonstrable functionality
• New Features work together, and with existing
functionality
• Architectural Runway work in process is
scaffolded and toggled
• System is continually verified via Story and
Feature acceptance tests
• All practical NFR testing is done continuously
Workbook
126
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The Kanban board columns
The columns define the individual steps in the identified workflow that the
Kanban board visualizes.
►
Each column represents one state in the defined workflow
►
The columns can be split into a work area and a buffer if more granular
visualization is needed
Policy
Policy
Policy
3
Funnel
Analyzing
Policy
Policy
4
Backlog
5
Policy
6
Validating on
staging
Implementing
In
progress
Ready
4
Policy
3
Deploying to
production
In
progress
Policy
5
Releasing
Done
Ready
5-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
The Kanban board cards
The Kanban board visualizes the flow of items from left to right. Each item on the
board, represented as card is a unit of value that can be created and delivered,
on the board.
►
Each card can be individually created, validated, and delivered
►
Similarly-sized pieces of work enable smoother flow through the board
Policy
Policy
Policy
3
Funnel
Analyzing
Policy
Policy
4
Backlog
5
Validating on
staging
Implementing
In
progress
Ready
4
Policy
3
Deploying to
production
In
progress
Policy
5
Releasing
Done
Ready
5-16
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Policy
6
127
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The Kanban board explicit policies
The agreed-upon explicit policies for each step in the workflow are displayed above
each state in the board.
►
These are the things that need to be done for the card to move to the next column
►
The visualization of these policies encourages collaboration and removes uncertainty
Policy
Policy
Policy
3
Funnel
Analyzing
Policy
Policy
4
Backlog
5
Policy
6
Validating on
staging
Implementing
In
progress
Ready
4
Policy
3
Deploying to
production
In
progress
Policy
5
Releasing
Done
Ready
5-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
The Kanban board WIP limits
The agreed-upon WIP limits are displayed above each column. These are the limits for
how many cards each column can contain at any time.
►
WIP limits adjust demand to capacity at bottlenecks and help the flow through the
board.
►
WIP limits are initially a hypothesis. They will evolve over time as you learn.
Policy
Policy
Policy
3
Funnel
Analyzing
Policy
Policy
4
Backlog
5
Validating on
staging
Implementing
In
progress
Ready
4
Policy
3
Deploying to
production
In
progress
Policy
5
Releasing
Done
Ready
5-18
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Policy
6
128
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The Program Kanban board
A Program Kanban board is a powerful tool to
visualize the flow of Features and Enablers through
the ART.
►
Helps visualize PI Planning readiness and PI
execution progress
►
Useful tool for SoS, PO sync, ART sync, and problemsolving meetings
►
Accessible by RTE and stakeholders for program flow
measurements
►
Makes process policies and decisions visible to the
entire ART
5-19
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Build your own Program Kanban
Board
►
Step 1: In your group, select one
person’s context.
►
Step 2: Together, build a Program
Kanban Board using the tools described
in this lesson topic. Be sure to:
►
–
Understand the actual workflow for
Features
–
Decide how to map it to the board
(columns, policies, etc.)
–
Determine initial WIP limits
Share
15
5
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the
class
5-20
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
129
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
5.3 Explore Metrics used to measure PI
execution
5-21
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Program execution Metrics: PI burn-down chart
The PI burn-down chart shows the
progress being made toward the
Program Increment timebox.
►
►
The horizontal axis of the PI burndown chart shows the Iterations
within the PI
The vertical axis shows the
aggregated amount of work (Story
points) remaining across the ART
Actual
Story Burn-down
►
Today
500
300
Plan
200
# of story
points behind
100
The data the most meaning at
Iteration boundaries
1
2
3
4
5
Iterations in the PI
5-22
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
I
P
400
130
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Program execution Metrics – Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)
The CFD is made up of a series of lines or areas representing the amount of work
in the different Kanban states.
80
70
Features
60
50
Funnel
40
Analysis
30
Backlog
20
Implementing
10
0
PI1 — i1
Done
PI1 — i2
Done
PI1 — i3
PI1 — i4
Implementing
Backlog
PI1 — i5
Analysis
PI1 — IP
Funnel
5-23
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Program Cumulative Flow Diagram
5-24
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
131
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Typical program measures in a CFD
Typical program measures in a CFD
Flow time:
The time a backlog item spends in the system after it’s
been pulled from the backlog and before it is accepted.
Flow load:
The number of backlog items currently in progress (all
items between funnel and done).
Throughput:
The number of items that can be finished per unit of
time.
5-25
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Reading Cumulative Flow Diagrams
80
70
Feature
60
50
Funnel
40
30
20
Backlog
10
0
PI1 — i1
Implementing
Done
Throughput
PI1 — i2
Done
PI1 — i3
PI1 — i4
Implementing
Backlog
PI1 — i5
Analysis
PI1 — IP
Funnel
5-26
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Flow time
Analysis
Flow
load
132
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: Reading Cumulative Flow Diagrams
►
Prepare
Share
5
2
Step 1: Working in your groups, review the two CFD example charts
–
What problems do you see?
–
How do you know these are problems?
►
Step 2: Capture your ideas about the CFD charts
►
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class
5-27
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Cumulative Flow Diagram – Example 1
120
100
Feature
80
60
Analysis
Funnel
40
Backlog
Implementing
20
Done
0
PI1 — i1 PI1 — i2 PI1 — i3 PI1 — i4 PI1 — i5 PI2 — i1 PI2 — i2 PI2 — i3 PI2 — i4 PI2 — i5 PI3 — i1 PI3 — i2 PI3 — i3 PI3 — i4 PI3 — i5
Done
Implementing
Backlog
Funnel
5-28
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Analysis
133
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Reading Cumulative Flow Diagrams
What problems do you see?
What problems do you see?
How do you know they are problems?
How do you know they are problems?
Workbook
134
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Cumulative Flow Diagram – Example 2
80
70
60
Feature
50
Funnel
40
Analysis
30
Backlog
Implementing
20
Done
10
0
PI1 — i1
PI1 — i2
PI1 — i3
PI1 — i4
Done
PI1 — i5
PI2 — i1
PI2 — i2
PI2 — i3
Implementing
PI2 — i4
Backlog
PI2 — i5
PI3 — i1
PI3 — i2
Analysis
PI3 — i3
PI3 — i4
PI3 — i5
Funnel
5-29
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
5.4 Prepare and facilitate IP Iteration activities
5-30
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
135
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration
Definitions
Innovation: Opportunity for innovation spikes,
hackathons, and infrastructure improvements
“Provide sufficient capacity
margin to enable cadence.”
Planning: Provides for cadence-based planning
and is an estimating guard band for cadencebased delivery
— Don Reinertsen, Principles of
Product Development Flow
Common anti-patterns
Planning work for the IP Iteration in PI Planning
Leaving testing or bug fixing to the IP Iteration
Leaving integration of the whole system to the IP
Iteration
5-31
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Innovation culture
Leaders must create an environment that supports
creative thinking, curiosity, and challenging the status
quo. Keys to building an innovation culture are:
►
Innovative people
►
Time and space for innovation
►
Go see activities
►
Experimentation and feedback
►
Pivoting without mercy or guilt
►
Innovation riptides
5-32
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
136
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Sample IP Iteration calendar
Monday
Tuesday
1
Wednesday
Thursday
2
Friday
3
4
5
Buffer for leftover work
Final verification and validation, and documentation (if releasing)
Innovation
PI Planning readiness
8
9
10
11
12
PI Planning
Continuing education
Business context
Planning adjustments
Product/solution vision
Team breakouts
Architecture vision and
development practices
Innovation continues
Inspect and adapt
workshop
PI Planning
readiness
Final plan review and
lunch
Program risks
Planning requirements
and lunch
Team breakouts
Draft plan review
Management review and
problem-solving
Optional time for
distributed planning
PI confidence vote
Plan rework if necessary
Planning retrospective and
moving forward
5-33
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: The IP Iteration
7
3
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss and capture
answers to the following questions:
–
–
–
►
Share
Looking at the sample IP Iteration calendar, rank the
different activities in priority with 1 being most important
and 10 being least important
What preparation does the RTE need to do before the IP
Iteration?
Feature
Enabler
Story
IP Iteration
►
Prepare
Story
What could happen if there was no IP Iteration?
Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class
5-34
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
137
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Monday
Tuesday
1
Wednesday
Thursday
2
Friday
3
4
5
Buffer for left over work
The IP Iteration
Looking at the sample
Iteration calendar, rank
the different activities in
priority with 1 being most
important and 10 being
the least important.
Buffer for left over work
0
Buffer for left over work
Buffer for left over work
6
0
0
Innovation
continues
7
Continuing
Education
0
Inspect and
Adapt workshop
0
PI Planning
readiness
0
8
9
PI Planning
Business context
Planning
adjustments
Product/Solution
vision
Team breakouts
Architecture vision
and development
practices
Final plan review
and lunch
Planning
requirements
and lunch
Team breakouts
Program risks
PI confidence vote
Draft plan review
Plan rework if
necessary
Management
review and
problem-solving
Planning retrospective
and moving forward
What preparation does the RTE need to do before the IP Iteration?
What could potentionally happen if there were no IP Iteration?
10
Optional time
for distributed
planning
0
Without the IP Iteration
►
Lack of delivery capacity buffer impacts predictability
►
Little innovation, tyranny of the urgent
►
Technical debt grows uncontrollably
►
People burn out
►
No time for teams to plan, demo, or improve together
5-35
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
5.5 Building a Continuous Delivery Pipeline
with DevOps
5-36
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
139
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Video: What is DevOps?
2
https://bit.ly/Video-WhatisDevOps
5-37
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Maximize speed and stability
Operations
Compliance
Development
Dev
Ops
Architecture
Security
Business
Optimized for
development speed
Optimized for
stability
Working together for
speed and stability
5-38
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
140
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
A CALMR approach to DevOps
C
Culture
Establish a culture of shared
responsibility for development,
deployment, and operations.
A
Automation
Automate the Continuous
Delivery Pipeline.
L
Lean flow
Keep batch sizes small, limit
WIP, and provide extreme
visibility.
M
Measure the flow through the
Measurement pipeline. Implement full-stack
telemetry.
R
Architect and enable low-risk
releases. Establish fast
recovery, fast reversion, and
fast fix-forward.
Recovery
Culture
of shared
responsibility
Recovery
Automation
reduces risk &
preserves value
of continuous
delivery pipeline
Lean Flow
Measurement
accelerates
delivery
of flow, quality
& value
5-39
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Culture
►
Adopt a culture of shared
responsibility for development
and deployment
►
Tolerate failure and rapid
recovery
►
Share discoveries, practices,
tools, and learning across silos
Culture
of shared
responsibility
Recovery
reduces risk &
preserves value
Measurement
of flow, quality
& value
Lean Flow
accelerates
delivery
5-40
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Automation
of continuous
delivery pipeline
141
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Automation
►
►
Manual steps reduce quality
and slow delivery.
Continuous Delivery Pipeline
Continuous
Exploration
Continuous
Integration
Automate as much of the CDP
as possible with an integrated
toolchain.
Continuous
Deployment
Release
on Demand
Value Stream Management
Version Control
Infrastructure as Code
►
Automate healthy processes.
If the underlying process is
broken, fix it before
automating it.
Test Automation
Vulnerability Detection
CI/CD
Monitoring & Analytics
Automation
of continuous
delivery pipeline
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
5-41
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lean Flow
►
►
►
Identify bottlenecks to the
flow of value
Culture
of shared
responsibility
Decrease the batch sizes of
the work
Recovery
reduces risk &
preserves value
Manage and reduce queue
lengths
Measurement
of flow, quality
& value
Lean Flow
accelerates
delivery
5-42
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Automation
of continuous
delivery pipeline
142
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Video: Batch size affects delivery speed
1
https://bit.ly/Video-BatchandDeliverySpeed
5-43
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Measurement
►
►
Collect data on business,
application, infrastructure, and
client layers
Collect data about the deployment
pipeline
►
Maintain different telemetry for
different stakeholders
►
Broadcast measurements
►
Culture
of shared
responsibility
Recovery
reduces risk &
preserves value
Measurement
of flow, quality
& value
Continuously improve telemetry
during and after problem solving
Lean Flow
accelerates
delivery
5-44
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Automation
of continuous
delivery pipeline
143
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Architect for releasability and recovery
►
Adopt a stop-the-line mentality
Culture
►
Plan for failures and rehearse failures
►
Build the environment for roll-back
and fix-forward
of shared
responsibility
Recovery
reduces risk &
preserves value
Measurement
of flow, quality
& value
Automation
of continuous
delivery pipeline
Lean Flow
accelerates
delivery
5-45
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Building the Continuous Delivery Pipeline with DevOps
►
The Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) represents the workflows, activities, and automation
needed to deliver new functionality more frequently
►
Each Agile Release Train builds and maintains, or shares, a pipeline
►
Organizations map their current pipeline into this new structure and remove delays and
improve the efficiency of each step
Continuous Delivery Pipeline
AGILE RELEASE TRAIN
Continuous
Exploration
Continuous
Integration
Continuous
Deployment
Release on Demand
5-46
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
144
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continuous Exploration – Understand customer needs
Synthesize
PI Planning
Collaborate &
Research
Architect
Product
Management
Hypothesize
Continuous
Integration
Continuous Release on
Deployment
Demand
Continuous Exploration
5-47
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Continuous Integration – A critical technical practice of the ART
Develop
Build
Test
End-to-end
Stage
Live
Build
Idle
Deploy
Idle
Test
Continuous
Exploration
Live
Continuous
Deployment
Release on
Demand
Continuous Integration
5-48
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
145
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continuous Deployment – Getting to production early
Deploy
Continuous
Exploration
Verify
Monitor
Respond
Continuous
Integration
Release on
Demand
Continuous Deployment
5-49
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Release on Demand – Making value available when it’s needed
Release
Continuous
Exploration
Continuous
Integration
Stabilize
and Operate
Measure
Learn
Continuous
Deployment
Release
on Demand
5-50
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
146
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Prepare
Share
15
10
Activity: Create a three-minute pitch
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss how to facilitate each practice of the
Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CE/CI/CD/RoD).
–
Step 2: Create a three-minute pitch to the Business Owners and Product Management
about the need to build DevOps capabilities. Be sure to include the following:
►
–
A clear statement about what is likely to happen if the practice is not implemented
–
A statement about why this practice is important for the RTE
–
Metrics to support your pitch
Step 2: Be ready to deliver your pitch to the class.
5-51
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Scaled Definition of Done (DoD)
Continuous development of incremental system functionality requires a scaled DoD.
Team Increment
System Increment
Solution Increment
Release
• Stories satisfy acceptance
criteria
• Acceptance tests passed
(automated where practical)
• Unit and component tests
coded, passed and included in
the BVT
• Cumulative unit tests passed
• Assets are under version
control
• Engineering standards
followed
• NFRs met
• No must-fix defects
• Stories accepted by Product
Owner
• Stories completed by all teams
in the ART and integrated
• Completed Features meet
acceptance criteria
• NFRs met
• No must-fix defects
• Verification and validation of
key scenarios
• Included in build definition and
deployment process
• Increment demonstrated;
feedback achieved
• Accepted by Product
Management
• Capabilities completed by all
ARTs and meet acceptance
criteria
• Deployed/installed in the
staging environment
• NFRs met
• System end-to-end integration
verification and validation done
• No must-fix defects
• Included in build definition and
deployment/transition process
• Documentation updated
• Solution demonstrated;
feedback achieved
• Accepted by Solution
Management
• All capabilities done and meet
acceptance criteria
• End-to-end integration and
Solution V&V done
• Regression testing done
• NFRs met
• No must-fix defects
• Release documentation
complete
• All standards met
• Approved by Solution and
Release Management
5-52
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
147
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: System increment Definition of Done
7
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss and capture your answers to these
questions:
►
- What is the importance of the DoD?
- Should the DoD be the same for all teams on the ART?
- What is the role of the RTE in creating and maintaining the different levels of
DoD?
5-53
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Benefits of a Definition of Done
►
Aligns expectations among key ART roles, teams, and stakeholders regarding
what ‘done’ actually means
►
Helps to optimize quality
►
Helps maintain predictability
►
Avoids unfinished work that leads to technical debt
5-54
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
148
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
System Increment Definition of Done (DoD)
What is the importance of the DoD?
Should all levels of DoD be the same for all teams in the ART?
What is the role of the RTE in creating and maintaining the different levels of DoD?
ART Definition of Done
The Team
Increment
The System
Increment
The Solution
Increment
The Release
More homogenous
More context dependent
RTE, PM, and System Architect
Scrum Masters & POs
5-55
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: The Definition of Done is not done!
►
Prepare
Share
4
4
Step 1: Working in your groups, consider the following scenario:
- Development management requires all ART teams to comply with a specific
DoD. One team does not have the ability to perform some of those items:
acceptance test automation and deployment to staging. As a result, nobody
on that team cares about the definition of done anymore because it is not
achievable.
►
Step 2: As the RTE, you need to act. Brainstorm and capture your your next
steps.
►
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class.
5-56
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
150
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Brainstorm and capture your ideas:
Duration
Action Plan: RTE Action Plan
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks
►
Step 2: Add more tools and techniques to the Action Plan
by reflecting on the following:
►
–
How will you implement the Program Kanban in your
work context?
–
How will you prepare for the IP Iteration in your work
context?
–
How will you work with the Agile teams on the ART to
define and maintain levels of DoD?
7
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
5-57
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson review
In this lesson you:
►
Identified key team Iteration events
►
Described the events and tools needed to manage ART flow
►
Applied Metrics used to measure PI execution
►
Prepared and practiced facilitating IP Iteration activities
►
Illustrated a Continuous Delivery Pipeline with DevOps
5-58
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
152
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 5:
Executing a
Program Increment
How will you implement the Program Kanban in
your work context?
How will you prepare for the IP iteration in your
work context?
How will you work with the Agile Teams on the
ART to define and maintain levels of DoD?
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“ScrumXP”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/scrumxp/
►
“Team Kanban”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/team-kanban/
►
“Innovation and Planning Iteration”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/innovation-and-planning-iteration/
►
“Built-In Quality”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/built-in-quality/
5-59
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Download “The Facilitator’s Guide to SAFe: Daily
Stand-up” for support facilitating your DSU events
and ideas for overcoming potential issues you might
encounter.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGDailyStand-Up
Download “The Facilitator’s Guide to SAFe: Iteration
Planning” to learn more about the purpose of
Iteration Planning and for preparation checklists to
get ready to facilitate your Iteration Planning event.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGIterationPlanning
Download “The Facilitator’s Guide to SAFe: Iteration
Review and Demo” for guidance in preparing to
facilitate Iteration Review and Demo events.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGIterationReview
Download “The Facilitator’s Guide to SAFe: Iteration
Retrospectives” for guidance in preparing to facilitate
Iteration Retrospectives.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGRetrospective
Download “The Facilitator’s Guide to SAFe: Backlog
Refinement” for support with agenda setting,
preparation checklists, and tips and tricks for
facilitating great backlog refinement events.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGBacklogRefinement
Watch this nine-minute video, The Lost Art of the
Demo: Tips from the Field for Running Your Most
Important Meeting, to explore how to make your
System Demos really matter to the stakeholders who
attend it.
https://bit.ly/Video-LostArtofDemo
5-60
©©Scaled
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Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
154
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Watch this three-part video series, Kanban for
Teams, to walk through the processes of setting up,
implementing, and incrementally improving a team
Kanban.
https://bit.ly/Playlist-KanbanTeams
Access the Collaborate template “Customizing your
Kanban” to build a Kanban that will work for your
team.
https://bit.ly/Template-CustomizeKanban
5-61
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
155
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
156
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 6
Fostering Relentless
Improvement
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
6.1 Explore the three
components of an Inspect
and Adapt event
6.2 Measure and Grow
the ART
6.3 Examine systems
thinking and Value
Stream mapping
6.4 Examine the mindset
of relentless improvement
6-2
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Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Define the three components of an Inspect and Adapt event
►
Describe how to Measure and Grow the ART
►
Interpret the concepts of systems thinking and Value Stream mapping
►
Demonstrate the mindset of relentless improvement
6-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
6.1 Explore the three components of an Inspect
and Adapt event
6-4
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
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Agile,
Workbook
158
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Improving results with the Inspect and Adapt event
►
Three parts of Inspect and Adapt (I&A):
1.
The PI System Demo
2.
Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement
3.
Problem-Solving Workshop
►
Timebox: 3 – 4 hours per PI
►
Attendees: Teams and stakeholders
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
/inspect-and-adapt/
6-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
1. The PI System Demo
At the end of the PI, teams demonstrate the current state of the Solution to the
appropriate stakeholders.
►
Often led by Product Management,
Product Owners, and the System
Team
►
Attended by Business Owners,
program stakeholders, the RTE,
Scrum Masters, and Agile Teams
►
Suggested timebox: 45 – 60
minutes
6-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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159
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
2. Quantitative and qualitative measurements
►
The teams review metrics they
have agreed to collect
►
The RTE gathers and analyzes the
data
►
The RTE facilitates the
presentation
►
Suggested timebox: 45 – 60
minutes
6-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
2. Team performance assessment
During the IP Iteration, the PI Objectives for all teams are assigned a business value
from 1 to 10.
►
The RTE and Scrum Masters facilitate the business
value assignment events between the teams and the
Business Owners
►
Business Owners evaluate each PI Objective against
the stated objectives, including timeliness, content,
and quality against the planned value
►
The RTE aggregates and averages the scores across
all objectives for a program percent achievement
score
6-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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160
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2. Team PI performance report
Team performance is based on the actual business value assignments provided by the Business
Owners.
►
The planned total business value excludes uncommitted objectives.
►
The actual total business value includes uncommitted objectives.
►
The percent achievement equals actual total business value divided by
planned total business value.
►
A team can achieve greater than 100% (as a result of completing
uncommitted objectives).
►
The effort required to complete uncommitted objectives is included in
the load. Meaning that teams should be completing work during
regular hours to achieve those objectives – not on the weekends.
►
The individual team totals are rolled up into the program predictability
report.
6-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
2. Program performance metrics
►
RTEs capture and discuss any
other program Metrics that the
team has agreed to collect
Functionality
PI 1
PI 2
PI 3
Program velocity
Predictability measure
# Features planned
►
RTEs watch trends in the data that
could lead to issues in the future
# Features accepted
# Enablers planned
# Enablers accepted
# Stories planned
# Stories accepted
Quality
Unit test coverage %
Defects
Total tests
% automated
# NFR tests
6-10
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
2. ART performance metrics
During the I&A, RTEs present and discuss any program Metrics being used on the ART.
►
Focus on trends in the Metrics rather
than static data snapshots
►
Example Metrics:
–
Deployments and releases per PI
–
Efficiency of the Continuous
Delivery Pipeline (CDP)
–
Program cumulative flow diagram
(CFD) chart
–
Average cycle time
–
PI Feature throughput
6-11
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Preparing for the PI System Demo
and quantitative metrics
►
►
Share
7
3
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss and capture the answers to the
following questions:
–
What preparations does the RTE need to do before the I&A for the PI System
Demo?
–
What preparations does the RTE need to do before the I&A for the
quantitative Metrics assessment?
–
Who can assist the RTE with these preparations?
–
What can the RTE do to ensure that key ART stakeholders attend the I&A?
Step 2: Be prepared to share with the class.
6-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
162
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Preparing for PI System Demo
What preparations does the RTE need to do before the I&A for the PI
System Demo?
What preparations does the RTE need to do before the I&A for the
quantitative metrics?
Who can assist the RTE with the preparations?
What can the RTE do to ensure that key ART stakeholders attend the I&A?
3. The PI Retrospective and Problem-Solving Workshop
The roles and teams on the ART work together to systematically address the
larger impediments that are limiting program velocity. During this ART event the
goal is to use root cause analysis to identify improvement ideas.
6-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
The flow of the Problem-Solving Workshop
After a retrospective, teams use root cause analysis to address the larger
impediments that are limiting velocity.
Agree on the problem to solve
X
Identify the biggest root-cause
using Pareto analysis
Brainstorm solutions
Identify improvement backlog
items
Insufficiently
reliable release
commitments
Restate the new problem for the
biggest root-cause
X
Apply root-cause analysis and 5
whys
Insufficient
architectural
runway
6-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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164
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The root-cause analysis board
People
Tools
Process
Program
1. Original problem
statement
4. Restate problem
2. Root-cause analysis
5. Brainstorm solutions
3. Biggest root cause
6. Identify improvement
backlog items
Environment
6-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Agree on the problem to solve
Clearly stating the problem is key to problem identification
and correction.
►
You must define the problem or situation, so everyone
involved in the workshop understands
►
A clearly defined problem focuses your investigation
efforts and saves time
►
A problem that is not well-defined may result in failure
to reach the proper countermeasure
6-16
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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165
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Anatomy of a well-defined problem
Think about the What, When, Where, and Impact
What
When
We discovered three significant design problems in the October
deployment of the new EMV vehicles at the Thrills Amusement Park.
Impact
Where
The design flaws caused us to recall the vehicles and invest three months
in materials, redesign, and testing. We delivered late, paid substantial
penalties, and lost credibility with the customer.
Concept contributed by Beth Miller
6-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Activity: Agree on the problem
►
►
►
Step 1: Working in your
groups, build this
problem-solving board
People
Process
Step 2: Choose one
person’s context to define
the problem and create a
clear problem statement
Step 3: Capture the
statement is the Original
problem statement
section
Tools
Program
1. Original problem
statement
4. Restate problem
2. Root-cause
analysis
5. Brainstorm
solutions
3. Biggest root
cause
6. Identify
improvement
backlog items
Environment
6-18
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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166
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Finding the root cause: The Five Whys
“By repeating why five times, the nature of the problem, as well as its solution, becomes clear.”
—Taiichi Ohno, father of the Toyota Production System
►
►
►
The Five Whys is a proven problemsolving technique used to explore
cause-and-effect relationships
The problem: My car will not start.
Why?
The battery is dead.
Why?
The alternator is not functioning.
The key is to avoid assumptions and
logic traps
Why?
The alternator belt has broken.
Why?
The alternator belt was well beyond its
useful service life.
Instead, trace the chain of causality in
direct increments from the effect to a
root cause
Why?
I have not been maintaining my car
according to the recommended service
schedule (root cause)
6-19
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Root cause analysis diagram
People
Cause of
cause of
cause 1
Process
The main bones represent
typical sources of problems
in development
Cause of
cause 1
Cause 1
Tools
Program
X
Environment
The problem
to solve
6-20
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Insufficiently
reliable release
commitments
167
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Root cause analysis
►
►
Step 1: Working in your
groups, brainstorm potential
causes of the problem. Write
the causes down in the Rootcause analysis section of the
problem-solving board.
Step 2: For each cause
identified, use the 5 Whys
technique to get to a
potential root cause.
Cause of
cause of
cause 1
People
25
Process
Cause of
cause 1
Cause 1
Tools
Program
1. Original problem
statement
4. Restate problem
2. Root-cause
analysis
5. Brainstorm
solutions
3. Biggest root
cause
6. Identify
improvement
backlog items
Environment
6-21
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Dot vote on root causes
People
Cause of
cause of
cause 1
Process
Cause of
cause 1
Cause 1
Tools
X
Program
Environment
6-22
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Insufficiently
reliable release
commitments
168
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Use Pareto analysis to identify the biggest root cause
►
Pareto analysis is a statistical
decision technique that uses the
80/20 rule to narrow down the
number of actions that produce the
most significant overall effect
►
It uses the principle that 20% of
root causes can cause 80% of
problems
►
It is useful where many possible
sources and actions are competing
6-23
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Activity: Restate the new problem
►
►
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, dot vote to identify
the biggest root cause on your board.
Example:
Step 2: Use Pareto analysis to identify the biggest
root cause. Put it under the Biggest Root Cause
heading on the problem-solving board.
We did not have the ability to
measure or test the full
electrical load on vehicles in
real operating conditions.
Step 3: Restate the problem to address the identified
root cause. Be sure to Include the economic impact of
the problem. Place the restated problem the Restate
problem section on the problem-solving board.
We had to upgrade the
deployed power distribution
system beyond what was
specified. Major cost and
schedule overrun.
Impact:
6-24
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
10
169
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Brainstorm solutions
►
Step 1: Individually brainstorm and write ideas
on sticky notes and put them up on the board
►
Step 2: Working in your groups, discuss each
idea
►
Step 3: Organize ideas into affinity groups
►
Step 4: Dot vote to identify the top contenders
to put in the Identify improvement backlog
items section on the problem-solving board
8
6-25
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Discussion: Problem-solving workshop
readout
Duration
10
►
Step 1: Select a person from your group to do a readout
►
Step 2: Start the readout by stating the original problem and conclude with the
proposed improvement backlog items
People
Tools
Process
Program
4. Restate problem
2. Root-cause Analysis
5. Brainstorm solutions
3. Biggest root cause
6. Identify improvement
backlog items
Environment
6-26
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
1. Original problem
statement
170
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Evolving the workshop
Evolve how to facilitate the retrospective and problem-solving workshop to
surface new perspectives and to keep it fresh and engaging.
►
Use established retrospective
patterns to create variety and energy
►
Make sure to use root-cause analysis
tools to identify the most important
cause:
-
Ishikawa/fishbone diagrams
–
The 5 Whys
–
Pareto Analysis
6-27
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
6.2 Measure and Grow the ART
6-28
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
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Measure and Grow toward Business Agility
Measure and Grow is how portfolios evaluate their progress toward Business
Agility and determine their next improvement steps.
►
Measure is the process of applying
the SAFe assessments to measure
progress towards the goal of Business
Agility
►
Grow describes the actions we take
based on the insights from this data,
which will ultimately help us achieve
this goal
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/measure-andhttps://v5.scaledagileframework.com
grow/
/measure-and-grow/
6-29
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Video: Measure Your Progress Toward Business
Agility
Duration
2
https://bit.ly/Video-ProgressBusinessAgility
6-30
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
172
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Business Agility assessment
Set the improvement strategy with the Business Agility assessment
►
►
►
►
Business Agility Assessment
Assess across all seven core
competencies
Measure overall progress on the goal
of true Business Agility
Identify focus areas that would benefit
from improvement activities
Create a baseline for demonstrating
progress
CLC: Innovation Culture
TTA: Agile Teams
TTA: Built-in Quality
TTA: Team of Agile Teams
CLC: Learning Organization
CLC: Relentless Improvement
APD: Customer Centricity and Design Thinking
APD: Develop on Cadence; Release
on Demand
OA: Lean-Thinking People and
Agile Teams
APD: DevOps and Continuous
Delivery Pipeline
OA: Lean Business Operations
ESD: Solution and Systems Engineering
OA: Strategy Agility
ESD: Coordinating Trains and Suppliers
LAL: Leading by Example
LAL: Leading the Change
ESD: Continuously Evolve Live Systems
LPM: Strategy and Investment Funding
LAL: Mindset and Principles
LPM: Lean Governance
LPM: Agile Portfolio Operations
6-31
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Core competency assessments
►
Use one assessment for each one of
the seven core competencies
►
Assess at a greater level of detail to
generate deeper insights
►
Measure the progress being made
toward a specific core competency
►
Identify specific practices for potential
improvement
Lean Portfolio Management Self-Assessment
Strategy and Investment Funding
Lean Governance
6-32
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Agile Portfolio Operations
173
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Act on the insights and deliver improvements
►
Grows are actions designed to increase proficiency in a core
competency dimension.
►
Two sources of Grows:
– Create Grows from assessment statements
– Review the Grows provided
►
Create backlog items for the Grows chosen by the team or ART
►
Prioritize improvement opportunities
6-33
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Provides specific, actionable recommendations
6-34
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
174
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Using self assessments
►
Perform self-assessments to quantify the LeanAgile journey of the ART using the collective
intelligence on the train.
►
Get help from the Scrum Masters and the
teams to perform regular self assessments
►
Run regular self assessments with the key ART
roles
Team and
Technical
Agility
Agile
Product
Delivery
6-35
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: APD and TTA Assessment tools
►
Step 1: Form pairs in your groups.
►
Step 2: Select the Agile Product Delivery or
Team and Technical Agility assessments.
►
Step 3: Review the self-assessment
questions.
Prepare
Share
10
5
- Highlight some assessment areas you
might want to improve or change
- Discuss how often you would coach
periodic health checks for the team and
the ART
►
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/measure-andhttps://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
grow/
measure-and-grow/
Step 4: Be prepared to share with the class.
6-36
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
6.3 Examine systems thinking and Value Stream
mapping concepts
6-37
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Systems thinking and the RTE
►
Optimizing a component does not necessarily optimize the system
►
For the system to behave well as a system, a higher-level understanding of behavior and
architecture is required
►
The value of a system passes through its interconnections
►
A system can evolve no faster than its slowest integration point
The Solution itself
is a system.
The Enterprise building the
system is a system, too.
Optimize the full
Value Stream.
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
6-38
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The RTE optimizes the full Value Stream
►
Most problems with your process will surface as delays
►
Most of the time spent getting to market is a result of these delays
►
Reducing delays is the fastest way to reduce time-to-market
6-39
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Value stream mapping: Measure the steps
FEATURE
DEFINITION
PT: 4h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 80%
PM ACCEPTS
PT: 4h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 75%
DEPLOY TO
PROD
PT: 16h
LT: 480h
%C&A: 90%
DESIGN
CODE
PT: 24h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 70%
PT: 40h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 60%
DEPLOY TO
STAGING
PT: 8h
LT: 480h
%C&A: 90%
SMOKE TEST
PT: 4h
LT: 24h
%C&A: 80%
SMOKE TEST
QA + UAT
PT: 4h
LT: 24h
%C&A: 80%
PT: 40h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 95%
Production Weekend
PT: 8h
LT: 336h
%C&A: 50%
QA + TEST
PT: 8h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 95%
PRODUCTION
SIGN OFF
PT: 1h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 90%
6-40
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
TEST
177
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Value stream mapping: Calculate total metrics
FEATURE
DEFINITION
DESIGN
PM ACCEPTS
DEPLOY TO
STAGING
PT: 4h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 80%
PT: 4h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 75%
DEPLOY TO
PROD
PT: 16h
LT: 480h
%C&A: 90%
PT: 24h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 70%
PT: 8h
LT: 480h
%C&A: 90%
SMOKE TEST
PT: 4h
LT: 24h
%C&A: 80%
CODE
PT: 40h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 60%
SMOKE TEST
PT: 4h
LT: 24h
%C&A: 80%
QA + UAT
PT: 40h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 95%
TEST
PT: 8h
LT: 336h
%C&A: 50%
QA + TEST
PT: 8h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 95%
PRODUCTION
SIGN OFF
TOTAL PT = 161 Hours
TOTAL LT = 2160 Hours
ACTIVITY RATIO = 7%
ROLLED % C& A = 5%
PT: 1h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 90%
Activity Ratio: PT/LT
Rolled %C&A: (%C&A 1) * (%C&A 2) * (%C&A n) * 100
6-41
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Development Value Stream mapping
– current state
Prepare
Share
10
5
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, map a current development process from one
person’s real context. Use the SAFe Continuous Delivery Pipeline.
►
Step 2: Identify the delays between the steps.
►
Step 3: Be prepared to share your results.
6-42
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Value Stream mapping: Think about the future state
FEATURE
DEFINITION
Lean
PT: 4h
Startup
LT: 48h
%C&A: 80%
PM ACCEPTS
PT: 4h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 75%
DEPLOY TO
PROD
PT: 16h
LT: 480h
%C&A: 90%
DESIGN
CODE
for
PT: 24h testability
LT: 168h
%C&A: 70%
Architect
DEPLOY TO
STAGING
PT: 8h Automate
LT: 480h
%C&A: 90%
SMOKE TEST
PT: 40h TDD
LT: 168h
%C&A: 60%
SMOKE TEST
PT: 4h
LT: 24h
%C&A: 80%
QA + UAT
PT: 4h
LT: 24h
%C&A: 80%
PT: 40h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 95%
TEST
Test data
PT: 8h
mgmt
LT: 336h
%C&A: 50%
QA + TEST
PT: 8h
LT: 168h
%C&A: 95%
PRODUCTION
SIGN OFF
PT: 1h
LT: 48h
%C&A: 90%
Production Weekend
6-43
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Development Value Stream mapping
– future state
Prepare
Share
8
4
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, use the same work context as in the previous
activity.
►
Step 2: Map the desired future state of the development process. Use the
principles, practices, and tools found in SAFe.
►
Step 3: Be ready to describe how you identified bottlenecks and what you
would do to remove them.
6-44
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
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© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The RTE moves from bottleneck to bottleneck
►
The Value Stream mapping of your Continuous Delivery Pipeline is an Enabler that
helps the RTE identify and remove bottlenecks
►
Every system has only one or a few bottlenecks that significantly constrain
performance
►
Once you have identified and removed the current bottleneck, there will be another
bottleneck
I say an hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour out
of the entire system. I say an hour saved at a
non-bottleneck is worthless. Bottlenecks
govern both throughput and inventory.
— Eliyahu M. Goldratt, The Goal
6-45
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
6.4 Examine the mindset of
relentless improvement
6-46
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
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Agile,
Workbook
180
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Thinking Lean and embracing Agility
Thinking Lean
Embracing Agility
VALUE
The Values of the Agile Manifesto
Relentless
improvement
Innovation
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Flow
Respect for
people and culture
Over time, the ART is guided to become a learning organization through
continuous reflection and relentless improvement.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions of processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
LEADERSHIP
That is, while there is value in the items on the right,
we value the items on the left more.
6-47
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Coaching ART relentless improvement
Coaching the members of the ART to embrace learning and relentless
improvement is a key task for the RTE.
Relentless improvement
“Kaizen is about changing the way
things are. If you assume that
things are all right the way they are,
you can’t do Kaizen… so change
something!”
A constant sense of danger
Optimize the whole
A problem-solving culture
Reflect at key milestones
Fact-based improvement
Note:
A problem that is not well-defined might fail to
reach the proper countermeasure.
6-48
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
— Taiichi Ohno
181
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: The ART relentless improvement
mindset
►
►
What can the RTE do to help members of the ART
embrace a mindset of relentless improvement?
Step 2: Discuss and capture at least one suggestion
for each of the items on the right
Step 3: As a class, discuss and capture what
challenges the RTE might encounter when trying to
develop a mindset of relentless improvement in the
ART. Identify suggestions for overcoming those
challenges.
7
7
Relentless improvement
A constant sense of danger
Optimize the whole
A problem-solving culture
Reflect at key milestones
Fact-based improvement
6-49
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Share
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss the question:
–
►
Prepare
182
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The ART Relentless Improvement Mindset
A constant sense of danger:
What can the RTE do to help
members of the ART embrace a
Relentless Improvement mindset?
Optimize the whole:
A problem-solving culture:
Reflect at key milestones:
Fact-based improvement:
Duration
RTE Action Plan
5
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks
►
Step 2: Add more tools and techniques to the Action
Plan by reflecting on the following:
►
–
How will you prepare for the I&A event?
–
How will you prepare to for the problem-solving
workshop?
–
Identify areas to improve upon from an initial look
at the self-assessment tools
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
6-50
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
184
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 6:
Fostering Relentless
Improvement
How will you prepare for the I&A event?
How will you prepare for the problem-solving
workshop?
Identify areas to improve upon from an initial
look at the self-assessment tools
Lesson review
In this lesson, you:
►
Defined the three components of an Inspect and Adapt event
►
Described how to Measure and Grow the ART
►
Interpreted the concepts of systems thinking and Value Stream mapping
►
Demonstrated the mindset of relentless improvement
6-51
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“Inspect and Adapt”
►
“Metrics”
►
“Measure and Grow”
►
“Value Stream Coordination”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
inspect-and-adapt/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
metrics/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
measure-and-grow/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
value-stream-coordination/
6-52
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
186
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Download and use the resources found in the “SAFe
PI Execution Toolkit” to support an ART in successful
PI Execution.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Use the “Measure and Grow Workshop Toolkit (5.1)”
to run a workshop to identify growth opportunities for
your team as you work toward mastering SAFe and
Business Agility.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Download the “Facilitator’s Guide to SAFe: Inspect
and Adapt” for support with agenda setting,
preparation guidance, and tips and tricks for
facilitating Inspect and Adapt events.
https://bit.ly/Community-FGInspectandAdapt
Explore the tools and resources available in the
“SAFe Value Stream Mapping Workshop Toolkit 5.1”
to provide a structured method for visualizing,
measuring and improving Value Stream performance.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Watch this 60-minute webinar, Driving Relentless
Improvement: Applying the SAFe Assessments and
Identifying Growth Recommendation, to explore
different use cases for applying the SAFe
assessments and techniques for analyzing the data
to help identify the next steps to take.
https://bit.ly/Video-ApplyingSAFeAssessments
6-53
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
187
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
188
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 7
Serving the ART
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
7.1 Explore the
characteristics of a servant
leader
7.2 Identify facilitation
techniques that evolve group
dynamics
7.3 Examine coaching
techniques
7.4 Explore group facilitation
techniques
7.5 Identify the steps to
create an ART with a oneteam culture
7-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
189
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Define the characteristics of a servant leader
►
Practice facilitation techniques that evolve group dynamics
►
Describe coaching techniques
►
Apply group facilitation techniques
►
Define the steps to create an ART with a one-team culture
7-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
7.1 Explore the characteristics of a servant leader
7-4
©©
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Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
190
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Servant leadership
A servant leader knows that their
own growth comes from facilitating
the growth of others who deliver
the results.
“Good leaders must first
become good servants.”
— Robert Greenleaf, Father of
Servant Leadership
7-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
The RTE is a servant leader
The RTE focuses on optimizing the flow of value through growing and maturing
the teams and roles on the ART.
►
This is a challenging, large, and complex task
►
The RTE will need coaching support from an on-site SPC
RTE
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/safe-program-consultant/
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
191
7-6
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Activity: The servant leader characteristics
Prepare
Share
10
10
►
Step 1: Read the Eight Behaviors of Servant Leaders on the following slides.
►
Step 2: Working in your groups, select one characteristic that is challenging to
you.
►
Step 3: Brainstorm and capture specific activities, professional development,
and tools that you can obtain for coaching opportunities to improve upon that
characteristic.
►
Step 3: Be prepared to share with the class.
7-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Eight Behaviors of Servant Leaders (Part 1)
Behavior
In the context of SAFe
• Encourages everyone to express their opinions
Listens and
• Notices hesitant behavior and body language during SAFe events and
supports team
meetings
members in decision
• Helps the teams identify positive and negative changes during Inspect
identification
and Adapt (I&A) event
Creates an
environment of
mutual influence
• Facilitates PI Planning and shared team events for all ART members
and stakeholders
• Asks for opinions and input, and carefully considers the response
Understands and
empathizes with
others
• Shares in celebrating every successful System Demo and Solution
Demo; feels bad about impediments, failures, etc.
Persuades rather
than uses authority
• Asks questions to encourage teams to look at decisions from new
perspectives
• Articulates facts; helps the teams see things they may have
overlooked; helps rethink
7-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
192
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Eight Behaviors of Servant Leaders (Part 2)
Behavior
Encourages and
supports the
personal
development of
each individual
Thinks beyond
day-to-day
activities;
applies Systems
Thinking
In the context of SAFe
• Encourages team learning
• Fosters collaborative practices like teamwork, Continuous Integration,
collective code ownership, short design sessions, and specification
workshops
• Encourages rotation in technical areas of concern such as functionality,
components/layers, and role aspects
• Facilitates team decision-making rather than making decisions for the
teams
• Sets long-term operating goals for the team, such as Lean-Agile
practices to master, new skills to acquire, etc.
• Examines what is missing in order to make the environment better for
everyone; prioritizes improvement activities and makes them happen
7-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Eight Behaviors of Servant Leaders (Part 3)
Behavior
In the context of SAFe
Supports the
teams’
commitments
• Facilitates ad-hoc meetings if needed
• Helps the teams find access to external sources of information like
subject matter experts, shared resources (Architects, UX Designers,
Tech Writers)
• Helps clarify and articulate rationale behind priorities, Milestones and
commitments
• Helps teams prepare for System Demo
• Helps the teams find techniques to be more collaborative
Is open and
appreciates
openness
•
•
•
•
Shows appreciation for team members who raise serious issues
Encourages and facilitates open communication among team members
Encourages healthy conflict during team meetings
Gives open, honest opinions
7-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
193
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The 8 Behaviors of Servant Leaders
1
Listens and supports teams in problem
identification and decision-making
Persuades rather than use authority
5
2
Creates an environment of mutual influence
Thinks beyond day-to-day activities; Applies
Systems Thinking
6
3
Understands and empathizes with others
Supports the teams’ commitments
7
4
Encourages and supports the personal development
of each individual and the development of teams
Is open and appreciates openness in others
8
Most challenging characteristic:
Specific activities I can do to obtain coaching and improve upon that characteristic:
7.2 Identify facilitation techniques that evolve
group dynamics
7-11
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Stages of high-performing teams
In order to address challenges and deliver results, every team grows in four stages.
► Forming: Who’s on our team? What are we working
on? How do we do it?
► Storming: The team resolves initial conflicts and
difficulties in establishing a shared understanding;
makes attempts to coordinate work, roles, and
processes
► Norming: The team establishes internal agreements
about roles and responsibilities; it becomes a
community, and individuals adapt to it.
► Performing: The processes, roles, and responsibilities
become just a tool for the team in their new main game
— getting the job done!
7-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
195
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The growth of a team of teams
The growth of each individual team in the ART progresses through the Tuckman
stages and so does the ART.
7-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: The RTE and ART group dynamics
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, draw the Tuckman group
dynamics stages. Use the previous two slides as a guide.
►
Step 2: At each Tuckman stage, list the following:
►
–
What can you observe that would indicate that the ART is
at this stage?
–
What RTE behaviors or activities can help the ART grow
as a team of teams and progress to the next stage?
Share
10
5
Step 4: Be prepared to share with the class.
7-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
196
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The RTE facilitates and accelerates ART growth
PERFORMING
NORMING
▸Establishing the ART
STORMING
FORMING
▸Forming teams
▸Establishing ART
vision
▸Establishing ART
events
▸Fostering
▸Creating space for
spontaneous leadership
and self-organization
as a community
▸Surfacing and resolving
team and inter-team conflict
▸Dealing with individual and
team performance
▸Fostering relentless
improvement
▸Improving engineering
practices
▸Fostering effective
across the ART
▸Creating a flow of
inter-team
communication
knowledge across the
teams and the ART
collaboration
7-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
7.3 Examine coaching techniques
7-16
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
197
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Coaching sometimes requires a shift from old behaviors to new ones
From…
To …
coordinating individual contributions
coaching the whole team to collaborate
acting as a subject matter expert
being a facilitator
talking about deadlines and technical options
focusing on business value delivery
driving ‘the right’ (your) decisions
doing the right thing for the business right now
fixing problems rather than helping others fix
them…
facilitating team problem-solving
From fixing problems…
…to helping others fix them!
7-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Video: The Power of Empathy
4
http://bit.ly/The-power-of-empathy
7-18
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
198
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Why are questions powerful?
►
They are thought-provoking
►
They generate curiosity in the listener
►
They channel focus
►
They generate energy and forward movement
►
They stimulate reflective conversation
►
They surface underlying assumptions
►
They invite creativity and new possibilities
►
►
They inspire more questions
They help reach for deep meaning
7-19
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Powerful questions you can ask
Powerful questions like these can help connect ideas and generate deeper insights.
►
What new connections are you
making?
►
What had real meaning for you from
what you’ve heard?
►
What surprised you?
►
What challenged you?
►
What’s missing from this picture so
far?
►
What is it we’re not seeing?
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
199
►
What do we need more clarity about?
►
What has been your major learning,
insight, or discovery so far?
►
What is the next level of thinking we
need to do?
►
What hasn’t been said that would help
us reach a deeper level of
understanding and clarity?
►
What would you do if success were
guaranteed?
7-20
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Powerful questioning
15
►
Step 1: Form pairs in your groups.
►
Step 2: One person is will play the role of the team member. The other will play
the role of the coach.
►
Step 3: The team member shares an issue they are facing.
►
Step 4: The coach can only respond in one of two ways:
►
–
Reflective listening: “I hear you saying…”
–
Ask a powerful question: Refer to the questions presented in this lesson and your
own questions based on your experience.
Step 5: Switch roles after seven minutes.
7-21
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Some truth statements about teams
►
Teams are far more productive than the same number
of individuals
►
Face-to-face communication is extremely efficient
►
Teams work best when not interrupted
►
Products are more robust when a team has all the
cross-functional skills necessary
►
When teams themselves make a commitment, they
will probably figure out how to meet it
►
Changes in team composition can impact productivity
►
Peer pressure is a strong motivator
7-22
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
200
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Examples of Powerful Questions
What new connections are you making?
What had real meaning for you from what you’ve heard?
What surprised you?
What challenged you?
What’s missing from this picture so far?
What is it we’re not seeing?
What do we need more clarity about?
What has been your major learning, insight or discovery so far?
What is the next level of thinking we need to do?
What hasn’t been said that would help us reach a deeper level of understanding and clarity?
What would you do if success were guaranteed?
Workbook
201
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The five dysfunctions of a team
►
►
Teamwork is the ultimate
competitive advantage,
but many teams are
dysfunctional
Inattention
to results
Avoidance of
accountability
Absence of trust is the
key problem that leads to
the other four
dysfunctions
Lack of commitment
Fear of conflict
Absence of trust
Source: Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
7-23
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: The ART can’t run without trust
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, discuss which specific
SAFe activities can help establish trust among the members
of the ART and the ART stakeholders.
►
Step 2: Identify the activities on the Big Picture and
comment why these would help create trust.
►
Step 3: Choose one of the SAFe activities you identified.
Discuss and capture how the RTE can act to further
increase the amount of trust built in that activity.
►
Step 4: Be prepared to share your ideas with the class
Share
7
3
7-24
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
202
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
The ART can't run without trust
Choose one of the SAFe activities you circled, and discuss at your table how the
RTE can act to further increase the amount of trust built in the activity.
Note your answer here:
The RTE can mitigate the five dysfunctions using SAFe
Inattention
to results
Avoidance of
accountability
Lack of
commitment
Fear of
conflict
Absence
of trust
Results are empirically reviewed at every System Demo and PI Planning event.
The ART I&A event drives relentless improvement.
Stakeholders, peer pressure, and transparent review of results create
accountability.
Teams make shared commitments to each other and to the ART stakeholders.
The RTE creates a safe environment for conflict, encouraging discussion of
disagreements. Shared commitment avoids conflict that occurs when objectives are
not aligned.
The ART is a safe environment. The teams share commitments and goals, display
hyper-transparency, and engage in shared problem-solving.
7-25
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
7.4 Explore group facilitation techniques
7-26
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
204
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Facilitating large groups
Often during a PI, the RTE will be the
facilitator for meetings and events with
many people attending. Possible events
are:
►
Inspect and Adapt (I&A)
►
Management review and problemsolving
►
PI Planning
►
Program backlog refinement
►
ART sync
►
Scrum of Scrums (SoS)
7-27
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Large group facilitation preparation and techniques
►
Start by allowing the social
networks to form. You want the
brains to get in a place of safety,
and they do this through forming
their own social networks.
►
Provide clear instructions in writing
but offering no more than three
steps at a time. Handouts are
extremely helpful.
►
Design, test, and leverage your
audio visuals.
7-28
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
205
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Large group facilitation preparation and techniques (cont’d)
►
Optimize the room layout for
maximum participation. Round
tables and pods are best.
Leverage the wall space.
►
Timebox everything and use your
timebox tools! Music, bells, squirt
guns, hands up, whatever it takes.
►
Call upon your Scrum Masters and
SPCs to help. You’ll need all the
coaching power you can get!
►
Fun creates energy. Make it fun!
7-29
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Practice and start your toolbox
►
Step 1: Working in your groups, select one event from the
Big Picture where you will be facilitating a large group of
people.
►
Step 2: Discuss techniques you will use to facilitate that
event. Refer to the prior slides and the SAFe PI Execution
Toolkit for further event descriptions and templates.
►
Step 3: Be ready to present the technique.
►
Step 4: Share and capture methods to build your
facilitation toolbox.
Share
15
10
10
7-30
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
Prepare
206
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
7.5 Identify the steps to create an ART with a
one-team culture
7-31
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
The ART as a tribe
“A tribe is a group of people connected to
one another, connected to a leader and
connected to an idea.”
— Seth Godin, Tribes: We Need You to
Lead Us
Source: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us Seth
Godin
7-32
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
207
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Tribal unity: Steps to creating a one-team culture
1. Create great team
-
SAFe Agile Teams are five to eleven people
-
Formed via self-selection
-
That use Agile practices!
2. Connect the teams and create a tribe
-
With a shared identity
-
And shared experiences
-
That celebrates as a tribe!
7-33
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Tribal unity: Steps to creating a one-team culture (cont.)
3. Connect the tribe to its leader
-
By connecting at the Gemba
-
Creating an Agile Team of Agile leaders
-
That are vulnerable in front of the tribe!
4. Connect the tribe to an idea
-
By having a vision
-
Communicating the vision
-
And learning together!
7-34
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
208
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Tribal Unity: Steps to creating a One-Team Culture (cont.)
5. Sustaining tribal unity
-
Quantify culture with eNPS
-
Record and share tribal legends
-
Set up successors for success
6. Engaging management in tribal unity
-
Tap into your empathy
-
Shine a light on a bright spot
-
Invite them into Gemba!
7-35
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Video: Sustaining the Victory
2
https://bit.ly/Video-SustainingVictory
7-36
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
209
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Prepare
Share
10
10
Activity: Sustaining the victory
►
Step 1: As an RTE, consider how you will sustain the victory:
–
How are you connecting team victories to the Vision?
–
How are you creating connections between yourself and the teams?
►
Step 2: Working in your groups, select the context of someone in your group.
Discuss an upcoming PI event and how the RTE could sustain the victory. Build
on the facilitation skills to practice what you will say during the event.
►
Step 3: Be prepared to present in front of the class.
7-37
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
RTE Action Plan
5
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks
►
Step 2: Begin adding tools to the Action Plan by
brainstorming the following:
►
–
What behaviors will you shift away from and move
into as you develop your RTE coaching and
facilitation skills?
–
What facilitation techniques do you need to develop
as you grow into being an RTE?
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class
7-38
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
210
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 7:
Serving the ART
What behaviors will you shift away from and
move into as you develop your RTE coaching
and facilitation skills?
What facilitation techniques do you need to
develop as you grow into being an RTE?
Lesson review
In this lesson you:
►
Defined the characteristics of a servant leader
►
Practiced facilitation techniques that evolve group dynamics
►
Described coaching techniques
►
Applied group facilitation techniques
►
Defined the steps to create an ART with a one-team culture
7-39
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“Certified SAFe Program
Consultant”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
safe-program-consultant/
►
“Lean-Agile Leadership”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
lean-agile-leadership/
7-40
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
212
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Download and use the resources found in the “SAFe
PI Execution Toolkit” to support an ART in successful
PI Execution.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Download and share the “SAFe Events Meeting
Mapper” for help shift your current meeting schedule
to SAFe events.
https://bit.ly/Community-MeetingMapper
Download and review the “Facilitation Guidance
Brief” for a collection of content designed by the
Scrum Master Research Cohort to help improve your
facilitation skills.
https://bit.ly/CommunityFacilitationGuidanceBrief
Download the “Team Formation Toolkit 5.1” to help
your team clearly define their purpose,
responsibilities, and other elements.
https://bit.ly/Community-ToolkitsandTemplates
Access the Collaborate template, “SAFe Agile Team
Charter,” to support your team defining their purpose,
responsibilities, and other critical elements.
https://bit.ly/Template-SAFeAgileTeamCharter
7-41
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
213
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
214
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 8
Continuing Your Learning
Journey
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson Topics
8.1 Create a personal
RTE action plan
8.2 Create an ART
Improvement Roadmap
8.3 Commit to the plans
8-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
215
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
►
Create a personal RTE action plan
►
Create an ART Improvement Roadmap
►
Commit to the plans
8-3
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
8.1 Create a personal RTE action plan
8-4
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Workbook
216
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Find your personal challenges
3
►
Step 1: Individually, review the ideas in the Action Plan you wrote after each
lesson in your workbook. Select three things that challenge you.
►
Step 2: Capture these items in your personal challenges list.
8-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Define personal actions
Prepare
Share
5
3
►
Step 1: Form pairs in your groups. Take turns discussing your three personal
challenges.
►
Step 2: Identify one clearly defined action for each of your challenges that you
can implement in your work context.
►
Step 3: Capture your plans in your personal RTE actions list.
►
Step 4: Be prepared to share.
8-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
217
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Find your personal challenges
My personal challenges list:
Challenge #1
Challenge #2
Challenge #3
Define your personal actions
My personal actions list:
8.2 Create an ART Improvement Roadmap
8-7
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Improvement roadmap
An ART improvement roadmap guides ART evolution over time.
May
July
September
PI 1
PI 2
PI 3
▸ Create Program Kanban board
▸ Perform Value Stream Mapping
for ART Feature flow
▸ CI tooling in place
▸ PI Burndown Chart as an ART
metric
▸ Improve Test and Dev
environments to better match
production
▸ Send RTE to SAFe training
▸ Additional Story slicing
test, hire a BDD coach to help
▸ SAFe Advanced Scrum Master
workshops for all teams
▸ Start using CFD metrics for
Feature flow
Now
training for all Scrum Masters
Ideas
8-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
▸ Three teams will use BDD as a
220
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
Activity: Find ART improvement
opportunities
6
►
Step 1: Identify three action items in your organization where you believe you
can immediately improve your ART context.
►
Step 2: Select areas where you see the most opportunity for improvement.
►
Step 3: Write these items in your ART improvement list.
8-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Activity: Define your ART improvement
roadmap
Duration
6
►
Step 1: Form pairs in your groups. Discuss three ART improvement
opportunities for each person.
►
Step 2: Brainstorm and define two sequential actions for each item in your ART
improvement list that you can implement in your work context.
►
Step 3: Capture your improvement actions in your ART improvement roadmap
list.
8-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
221
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Find ART improvement opportunities
My ART improvement opportunities list:
Opportunity #1
Opportunity #2
Opportunity #3
Define your ART improvement roadmap
My ART action roadmap list:
My two actions for ART improvement opportunity #1
My two actions for ART improvement opportunity #2
My two actions for ART improvement opportunity #3
8.3 Commit to the plans
8-11
©©
Scaled
Agile.
Inc. Inc.
Scaled
Agile,
Duration
Activity: Commit to the plans
7
►
Step 1: Form pairs in your groups. Take turns reviewing the personal and the
ART improvement roadmap lists you created.
►
Step 2: Commit to each other that you will do your best to act on the items in
the list.
►
Step 3: Agree on an action to keep each other accountable. For example,
check in with each other in two to eight weeks to discuss the progress of your
plans.
8-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
224
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Commit to the plans
Check-in details for you and your partner. Be sure to include contact information.
Emphasize lifelong learning
“Lean-Agile Leaders are lifelong learners who help
teams build better systems through understanding
and exhibiting the values, principles and practices
of Lean, Systems Thinking, and Agile
development.”
— Dean Leffingwell
8-13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
RTE reading list
• SAFe 5.0 Distilled, Dean Leffingwell and
Richard Knaster
• Tribal Unity: Getting from Teams to Tribes
by Creating a One Team Culture,
Em Campbell-Pretty
• The Lean Machine: How Harley-Davidson
Drove Top-Line Growth and Profitability with
Revolutionary Lean Product Development,
Dantar Oosterwal
• The Goal, Eliyahu M. Goldratt
• Principles of Product Development Flow,
Donald G. Reinertsen
• Switch: How to Change Things When
Change Is Hard, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,
Patrick Lencioni
• Agile Software Requirements: Lean
Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs,
and the Enterprise, Dean Leffingwell
• Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams
Great, Diana Larsen and Esther Derby
• Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About
Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business,
Patrick Lencioni
• Lean Product and Process Development,
Allen C. Ward and Durward Sobek II
• That’s Not How We Do It Here! A Story about
How Organizations Rise and Fall--and Can Rise
Again, John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber
• Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work
and Align Leadership for Organizational
Transformation, Karen Martin and Mike Osterling
8-14
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
226
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Duration
RTE Action Plan
5
►
Step 1: Locate the RTE Action Plan section in your
workbooks.
►
Step 2: Begin adding tools to the Action Plan:
►
–
Organize the next action steps you can take in your
work context.
–
Identify at least one title in the reading list to read
that will support your action.
Step 3: Share one of your insights with the class.
8-15
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Lesson review
In this lesson you:
►
Created a personal RTE action plan
►
Created an ART Improvement Roadmap
►
Committed to the plans
8-16
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
227
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Action Plan
Lesson 8:
Continuing Your
Learning Journey
Organize the next actions that you will
implement in your work context.
Identify at least one title in the reading list to
read that will support your action.
Articles used in this lesson
Read these Framework articles to learn more about topics covered in this lesson
►
“Communities of Practice”
►
“Lean-Agile Leadership”
►
“Train Executives, Managers,
and Leaders”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
communities-of-practice/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
lean-agile-leadership/
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
train-executives-managers-andleaders/
►
“Continuous Learning Culture”
https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/
continuous-learning-culture/
8-17
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Continue your SAFe journey with the following resources:
Enroll in the “RTE Essentials” learning plan to gain
the confidence needed to perform the responsibilities
of the RTE role. The modules will take you through
the critical knowledge and provide tips, techniques,
and tools to improve your RTE skills.
https://bit.ly/Community-RTE-Essentials
8-18
©©Scaled
Scaled Agile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Workbook
229
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson notes
Enter your notes below. If using a digital workbook, save your PDF often so you don’t lose
any of your notes.
Workbook
230
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Lesson 9
Practicing SAFe
SAFe® Course - Attending this course gives learners access
to the SAFe Release Train Engineer exam and related
preparation materials.
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Duration
Video: SAFe Certification Benefits
3
https://bit.ly/Video-SAFeCertificationBenefits
9-2
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
231
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
A Path Towards Certification
Access exam study guides and practice tests
Download your certificate of course completion
Becoming a
Certified
SAFe
Professional
Take the Certification Exam
Showcase your Digital Badge and get recognized as
Certified SAFe Professional
Exam and certification details at:
https://bit.ly/BecomingSAFeAgilist
9-3
3
©©Scaled
ScaledAgile.
Agile, Inc.
Inc.
Duration
Video: Welcome to the SAFe Community Platform
3
https://bit.ly/Video-WelcomeSAFeCommunityPlatform
9-4
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
232
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team
Agility
SAFeand
ARTTechnical
and Team
Events
SAFe ART and Team Events: Tools to support RTEs and coaches in
scheduling, preparing for, and facilitating key SAFe events
9-5
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team
Technical Agility
SAFeand
Toolkits
Explore ready-to-use templates and job resources to help
execute SAFe events and workshops more effectively
SAFe® PI Planning Toolkit
Measure and Grow Workshop
Toolkit
SAFe Remote ARTs Toolkit
PI Execution Toolkit
9-6
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
233
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team
and Technical
E-learning
resourcesAgility
Discover and develop skills through self-paced, interactive
e-learning modules to achieve your goals
9-7
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team
and Technical
Agility
Community
Video Hub
Access videos to support your learning and grow your skills
9-8
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
234
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team
Technical Agility
SAFeand
Collaborate
Organize and run virtual SAFe events in real time
SAFe Collaborate SAFe Collaborate is a visual, cloud-based workspace tool
for organizations to orchestrate virtual SAFe events and activities.
9-9
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team
and and
Technical
Measure
Grow Agility
Evaluate progress towards business agility with the SAFe
assessments, Measure and Grow workshop and our
assessment partners
Business Agility Assessment
Team and Technical Agility (TTA)
Measure and Grow
Workshop Toolkit
5.00
4.00
Continuous
Learning Culture
(CLC)
3.00
Agile Product
Delivery
(APD)
2.00
1.00
Enterprise
Solution Delivery
(ESD)
Organizational
Agility (OA)
Lean-Agile
Leadership
(LAL)
Lean Portfolio
Management
(LPM)
8-10
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
235
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Team
Technical Agility
SAFeand
Forums
Join the SAFe Release Train Engineers Community Forum to
connect with a community of RTEs
9-11
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Team
Technical Agility
SAFeand
FAQs
When you need support, check the FAQ page for your
question or contact SAI support directly.
9-12
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
236
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
Join us on the
SAFe Community
Platform
We are here to help with
your SAFe role and
practice!
community.scaledagile.com
9-13
13
© Scaled Agile. Inc.
Workbook
237
© Scaled Agile, Inc.
SAFe Glossary
📖
SAFe Glossary: Visit the Scaled Agile Framework site (www.scaledagileframework.com/
glossary/) to download glossaries translated into other languages.
Workbook
168
© Scaled Agile, Inc.