Adaptive Advantage A Visual Guide to the Integrated Operating Model Are You Busy, or Are You Making Progress? Traditional operating models create a cycle of activity with little...
Become a High-Impact Product Owner: Lead with Vision, Deliver with Confidence Building the right products is more important for success in today’s fast-paced digital world than simply creating...
The function of a Scrum Master is more crucial than ever in the Agile-driven world of today. High-performing Agile teams are powered by this leadership role, which speeds up delivery, removes...
Rethinking the Minimum Viable Product for mature organizations “Minimum Viable Product? We’re not a startup. We can’t afford to release half a product.” That’s one of the most common pushbacks we hear...
Reframing delivery speed as a tool for learning, not risk “Isn’t it better to deliver the right thing slowly than the wrong thing quickly?” It’s a fair question. One that comes up often in boardrooms...
How Do We Measure, Quantify and Assess a Team’s Maturity? As we all know, having a strong team when working in an Agile way is paramount for successful product development and quality. Measuring...
If Agile Experts Say you Shouldn’t Scale Agile, Why does SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework exist? I have been asked many times, why we scale Agile, and we just can’t do it all with one small team of...
Deciding on what framework to use for your business is an important decision because it provides an organisation with a structured approach to problem solving and decision making. In addition, your...
Achieve Success with Value Glide: Your Guide to Safe Transformation Navigating the Waters: Aligning Your Mission In the journey of Safe transformation, alignment is your compass. It’s not just about...
Harnessing the Power of Program Increment (PI) Planning in SAFe One of the unique aspects of the SAFe framework is the concept of a Program Increment (PI), which is essentially a time-boxed planning...
Navigating the Agile Transformation Journey: Your Blueprint for Success Setting Sail: Aligning Your Transformation Mission Embarking on an Agile transformation journey is akin to navigating a complex...
Unlocking Success: A Five-Step Approach to Problem Solving Introduction: Setting the Stage for Success Embarking on a journey to solve customer problems requires a strategic approach. Let’s walk...
Key Attributes of a Strong SAFe System: A Pathway to Success Introduction Implementing the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) effectively requires understanding its core attributes and how they contribute...
Managing Dependencies and Coordinating Work Across Teams with SAFe Introduction Effective management of dependencies and coordination across multiple teams are crucial for achieving business success...
Unveiling the Power of Frameworks: Navigating Your Transformation Journey Introduction: The Role of Agile Frameworks Frameworks serve as guiding principles, offering a structured approach to...
Common Challenges in Starting a SAFe Journey: Insights and Solutions Introduction Embarking on a SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) journey can be transformative for organizations, but it comes with its...
Unlock the Power of Agile HR: Transforming the Future of Work with Scaled Agile Framework In today’s fast-paced business environment, traditional HR practices are often too rigid to keep up with the...
Why the Agile HR Course is Essential for HR Professionals In a world where change is the only constant, HR professionals are increasingly finding themselves at the heart of organizational...
Case Studies in Agile HR: How Leading Organizations Align HR with Agile Values As the business world continues to embrace Agile methodologies, many organizations are recognizing the transformative...
Embracing SAFe Core Values for Organisational Success The scaled Agile framework emphasises core values like alignment, built-in quality, transparency, and program execution. The Pillars of SAFe...
Elevating Value Stream Mapping Workshops: The Role of Leadership Discover how the presence and behaviour of the leadership team can significantly enhance the effectiveness of Value Stream Mapping...
Demystifying Value Stream Mapping Workshops: Beyond Wishes to Reality Tackling Challenges in Value Stream Mapping 🚀🔍 Value Stream Mapping Workshops in a SAFe environment are instrumental in...
Agile Product Delivery in SAFe 🚀📘 In the realm of SAFe, Agile Product Delivery transcends beyond just efficient execution; it’s about ensuring that what we build resonates accurately with customer...
Maximising Value from Value Stream Mapping Workshops Value Stream Mapping Workshops are pivotal in identifying and improving the flow of value through your processes in a SAFe environment. However...
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LEAN Agile Leadership: Core Competency of SAFE Positioning LEAN Agile Leadership 🚀 LEAN Agile Leadership is a foundational core competency within the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). Everything starts...
How Confident are You that Value Glide Can Help Grow Agile Capabilities within an Organisation and Why? In my opinion, confidence does not come with arrogance or naivety, confidence comes with...
3 Most Common Problems Part 3 One of the problems that organizations face surrounds the overburdening of staff. In these cases staff are overburdened and overworked to the point that they are working...
The Scaled Agile Framework is one of the most trusted frameworks for business agility. It is trusted by over twenty thousand polarisations around the globe and the reason why that trust is there and...
Key Roles in SAFe: Release Train Engineer (RTE) Overview So what is the Agile Release Train and why should you want to be in one? In this role, the Agile Release Train Engineer has influence...
Key Roles in SAFe: Product Owner Overview A Product Owner is a crucial role within Agile and Scrum software development methodologies, serving as the primary link between the development team and...
Implementing the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a transformative journey for organisations looking to achieve Agile at scale and provides a structured and adaptable framework that enables...
How SAFe Improves Business Efficiency One of the most important pillars of SAFe is the ‘flow.’ Flow is built within SAFe, at the Team Level and at the Portfolio Level. By focusing on flow and making...
Why Choose SAFe: Key Benefits If your time to market and employee satisfaction quality is an important factor for your organisation then you should be looking at the Scaled Agile Framework which is...
How Would You, as a SAFe Consultant, Handle Conflict between Teams in an Agile Release Train Within an Agile Release Train, it’s great to try and prevent conflict as much as possible but that doesn’t...
How Much of a Role Does a SAFe Consultant Play in PI Planning in the Initial Adoption of SAFe In the ever-evolving landscape of software development and project management, organizations are...
Who is the Most Inspiring Agile Leader for You? Answering who is the most inspiring Agile leader for me is a difficult question because I would say it is a combination of people. So when individuals...
What is the Hardest Agile Value to Live and Breathe? Among all the challenges that come with implementing Agile and the Agile Manifesto, I would say that the hardest value to live and breathe, is...
Who Should Champion a SAFe Adoption in a Large Organisation? When a staff is overburdened, there could be a wide range of reasons such as pressure surrounding time to market, issues with...
If you Adopted SAFe Without the Help of Others, but Everything is Falling Apart, is it too Late to Get Things Back on Track? Why? If you are in the position where you have started your SAFe...
Kanban Training Services via Value Glide in 60 seconds The Kanban Training Services is there to enable organizations to benefit from the Kanban method. This is a method that helps knowledgeable...
One of the most common problems that I have witnessed in SAFe, is the overburdening of staff. This is usually demonstrated in the fact that staff are burned out due to being overworked, overburdened...
The 4 Core Values of SAFe: Transparency Among the four core values of SAFe, transparency is all about the quality of being open and honest. In the business and Agile context, transparency is the way...
One of the most common problems that I have identified in SAFe, surrounds leadership. Effective leadership in the implementation of SAFe is paramount because good leaders support their...
Even though for the most part, I have experienced great success with SAFe both in my own organisation and the organisations I have helped along the way, there have been rare occurrences where I have...
When we don’t have alignment, we all know that there is a lot of energy that is spent but we don’t actually get to where we want to go. In SAFe, the purpose of alignment as a core value is to make...
A question that often comes up when talking about Scaling Agile, is why do we need to scale the organisation in the first place? Well the easiest and most straightforward explanation for this is...
The SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) training that is available on Value Glide provides a variety of courses that cover key components of SAFe and what is needed to maximize value within...
Connect with Value Glide! Are you looking to outcompete with agility? If so, we may help. Benefits of choosing Value Glide. Accelerated Delivery – Reduce time to market by up to 50%, enabling faster...
When working in Agile and utilising SAFe, we are always after improvement, and that means that we are never complacent. We are always trying to find a better way to do things and therefore need to...
When comparing SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) to traditional Agile frameworks, it is important to understand the similarities and differences between the two approaches. SAFe for example is one of the...
In Agile ways of working, a Team Swarm is a collaborative approach where team members with the necessary skills join forces to complete a task that is proving challenging for a single team member...
The Evolutionary Leap: Quickstart ART Launch and Unveiling 6.0 Let’s take a closer look at the transformative journey to version 6.0 and the essence behind every update the company embraces. 🚀 Why the...
Key Roles in SAFe: SAFe Scrum Master Overview A SAFe Scrum Master does everything a Scrum Master does, and in addition to that, they also understand how their team fits in within teams of teams, and...
One of the most common problems that I have identified in SAFe, surrounds leadership. Effective leadership in the implementation of SAFe is paramount because good leaders support their...
Even though for the most part, I have experienced great success with SAFe both in my own organisation and the organisations I have helped along the way, there have been rare occurrences where I have...
SAFe Practice Consultants (SPCs) work within and across organisations to provide new methods and practices that enable organisations to implement Business Agility. SPCs therefore play a critical role...
To address why I prefer SAFe 6 compared to SAFe 5, I will start off by saying that the framework SAFe has been evolving, and that this evolution is a result of learning and improving. So SAFe is not...
Something that is quite funny is when people ask what is the biggest mistake when adopting Agile. I always answer that the biggest mistake is in adopting Agile itself. Which is usually met with an...
In a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Workshop, we identify and map each step, from the moment of demand for a product or service, all the way to the delivery of that product or service. So what we are...
A question I often receive from people who are new to SAFe, or are considering whether it is the right move for them, is when does one know that SAFe is the best choice. My response is that an...
As organisations struggle to remain relevant and meet the fast-paced nature of market trends and the competitive business world, it is only natural that challenges will present themselves along the...
Any successful team has a successful coach, so why should this be different for Agile Teams. Even in a successful Agile Team, we need a coach that will identify which areas we need to improve on...
With every project management approach, project managers will face some challenges. As with other Agile approaches like Scrum or Lean, the Scaled Agile Framework has its own unique uphill battles you...
In order to ensure effective utilisation of SAFe, I think it is worthwhile to remember that SAFe is built on Lean and Agile ways of working, and the principles that govern SAFe surround relentless and...
Program Increment (PI) Planning is an Event that creates a shared vision among Agile teams, whereby Business Stakeholders, Project Owners, and Project Teams review their Program Backlog. We identify:...
Getting started with SAFe is a big step for someone to make and so the reason for change needs to be clear and strong enough. The desire to use SAFe should not be influenced by others or by force. It...
The purpose of a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Workshop is to identify and map each step, from the moment of demand for a product or service, all the way to the delivery of that product or service. So...
If businesses want to stay competitive and relevant, they will need to be able to adapt and respond at an enterprise scale. This will mean responding to customers’ changing needs, maintaining...
In any organisation, transformation involves a unique and evolving system of structures, intentions, values and beliefs that are formed by experiences over time. Such as the way in which a group of...
Agile transformation refers to the process of transitioning an organisation, team, or department from a traditional, hierarchical management and development approach to an Agile way of working. The...
Performance Management and Measurement is a tool that can be used to know whether an organisation’s programs, services or products are leading to desired results. By doing so, we can learn how...
Although Agile ways of working can bring in a host of strengths to a team but when practised ineffectively and without a vision, I found that many organisations fail when it comes down to Agile...
Leadership development involves enhancing a person’s capability to be effective in a leadership role. Furthermore, it can be defined as a process of targeted interventions that seek to enhance...
In SAFe, regulatory and compliance issues are handled the same way that we handle quality. This means that we handle quality the same way we build into a product. So when we are talking about...
How does SAFe Handle Governance? In SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), governance refers to the set of practices and processes that provide oversight and control over the implementation of Agile practices...
The Biggest Mistake in PI Planning What mistake many organisations make in PI Planning is that they start it without doing enough content preparation. In other words, they haven’t got alignment within...
Can 1 Person Be the Only Product Owner in a Multiple team, Multiple Value Streams Environment? A question that I often get asked in my courses with trainees, is whether there can be multiple Product...
How does SAFe Handle Stakeholder Management and Communication? Stakeholder Management and Communication play a crucial role in the successful implementation of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). In...
How Does SAFe Handle Budgeting and Financial Management? Budgeting and Financial Management in SAFe refers to the approach and practices used in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) for managing...
How Does SAFe Handle Capacity Planning and Resource Management? Resource Management and Capacity Planning go hand in hand because Resource Management involves managing the resource data at a resource...
How Does SAFe Handle Change Management? How Does SAFe Handle Change Management? In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Agile Leaders must be a catalyst for change within the organisation and ensure...
Top Tip For PI Planning Top Tip For PI Planning Program Increment Planning (PI) refers to regularly scheduled events that are held throughout the year whereby multiple teams within the same Agile...
How Does SAFe Handle Quality Management? Quality Management in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is an essential part of the SAFe methodology. This is because it ensures the delivery of certain...
How Does SAFe Handle Risk Management? The importance of managing risky projects is sometimes underestimated, because risks ultimately have the potential to completely derail your project. Furthermore...
The Most Neglected Element of PI Planning The Most Neglected Element of PI Planning In my professional experience thus far, I’d have to say the most neglected element of PI Planning is the Management...
How does SAFe Handle Release Planning and Execution? In SAFe, when we talk about Release Planning and Execution, we are referring to a calculated document that is used to capture and track the...
How does SAFe Handle Integration Testing and System Testing? How does SAFe Handle Integration Testing and System Testing? When using The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), testing takes place within each...
How Does SAFe Handle Continuous Integration and Deployment? How Does SAFe Handle Continuous Integration and Deployment? When talking about SAFe, Continuous Integration as the name suggests refers to...
How Does SAFe Handle Planning and Execution at the Team Level? In SAFe (The Scaled Agile Framework), the Team Level refers to the level of an organisation whereby Agile Teams are created, and work...
When dealing with large-scale organisations, the Scaled Agile Framework is typically used as a methodology to implement Agile practices. In doing so, the framework operates on three program levels;...
How does SAFe Handle Planning and Execution at the Portfolio Level? On a portfolio level, one of the primary roles of The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), is to ensure that there is alignment with...
What is the role of the Lean-Agile Center of Excellence in SAFe? The LEAN Agile center of excellence (LACE) in SAFe is the group of people who ensure that the agile transformation or transition to...
What is the role of the Lean Portfolio Management team in SAFe? LEAN Portfolio Management is a function with SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework. In SAFe, we have strategic teams who are responsible for...
What is the role of the business owner in SAFe? The business owners in SAFe, or Scaled Agile Framework, are a group of people who ensure that the Agile Release Train(s) are working on the most...
What is the role of the system architect in SAFe? The system architect is someone who has deep knowledge and experience with the solution that the Agile Release Train are developing. They are aligned...
What is the role of the enterprise architect in SAFe? The role of enterprise architects in SAFe embody people who have a broad knowledge and understanding of the portfolio of solutions that exist...
What is the role of the solution architect in SAFe? SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework has three (3) architect roles: Enterprise Architect Solution Architect System Architect These three (3) roles capture...
What is the role of the Scrum Master in SAFe? The role of a scrum master in Safe or Scaled Agile Framework is very similar to the role of a scrum master in a scrum environment. Agile Coach A scrum...
What is the role of the product owner in SAFe? A product owner tends to have an exclusive focus on the team environment within the SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework. The product owner is also part of the...
How does SAFe handle stakeholder communication and collaboration? SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework is built on the foundation of agile value and principles. A product development approach that is...
How does SAFe handle integration and testing? SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework handles integration and testing in the same way that any other agile process of agile framework would. It is baked into the...
How does SAFe handle changing priorities? Change is a fact of life, especially in a complex environment. SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework is built upon the agile values and principles, as defined in...
How does SAFe handle large, complex projects? It starts with defining epics, which are large initiatives that the organization have identified as important. A high-level overview of the initiative...
How does SAFe handle dependencies between agile teams? Dependencies, especially in complex, multi-team environments are a fact of life. People assume that once they make the transition...
What are the benefits of using SAFe? One of the primary benefits of SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework is that it offers an opportunity to align teams of agile teams with customer and organizational...
How does SAFe compare to other agile frameworks? SAFe, in my experience, is the only agile framework that focuses on business results. So, it starts with understanding what the specific business...
What is an agile release train? An agile release train (ART) are a team of agile teams that are designed to align their product development efforts directly with customer and organizational objectives...
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Welcome to this 4-part series where Nader Talai walks through each of the agile values articulated in the Agile Manifesto. This week, Nader...
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. In this short series, Nader Talai talks about some of the Agile Values articulated in the Agile Manifesto and explains why they matter. This week we...
Can you describe the assessment phase of an agile consulting engagement? At the start of the agile consulting engagement, we have two primary aims for the initial assessment because it’s a two-way...
What is the difference between leading SAFe and implementing SAFe courses? The Implementing SAFe course starts with the first 2 days of the Leading SAFe course. The Implementing SAFe course is very...
How much better are agile teams than traditional project management teams? A good agile team will include all the good, sound practices of a good project management team, however, there is a major...
What does a high-performing team look, sound and feel like? One of the traps people fall into is taking a copy and paste approach to team development. They see that google has bean bags, foozeball...
What is a no-go zone for agile consultants, and why? Value Glide agile consultants will not take on work that we cannot deliver. Our industry has a lot of agile consultants who overcommit and under...
Looking for Scaled Agile (SAFe) Transformation Consulting? You’ve come to the right place. We enable organisations to thrive in the digital age with Scaled Agile (SAFe) – the world’s leading approach...
Looking for Agile / Scrum Consulting? You’ve come to the right place. We enable organisations to thrive in the digital age with Agile & Scrum – the world’s leading approach to software...
Looking for an Agile Consultancy based in London? You’ve come to the right place. We’re London-based but serve clients globally. We enable organisations to thrive in the digital age with Agile – the...
How does a SAFe consultant gain buy-in from the agile team? The first agreement must be centric to the idea of change. There must be a good, strong reason to change, and that reason must be urgent and...
What is SAFe? SAFe is an acronym for Scaled Agile Framework. SAFe is a set of practices and principles that enable organizations to scale Agile and Lean practices across large and complex systems...
What would be a great course for an aspiring Agile leader to do? There are several courses available for aspiring agile leaders, and they come from different certification bodies and in alignment with...
How important is it for leaders to gain agile knowledge? It is crucial for leaders and leadership teams to gain agile knowledge first because they need to know how the system of work they have created...
Do you think leaders need to champion a SAFe adoption? If so, why and how? It is essential that leaders champion a SAFe adoption. How do they do that? Leaders have got a few challenges to start with...
What is a value stream in SAFe? SAFe identifies two value streams within the organization. The operational value stream Development value stream Operational Value Stream This focuses primarily on how...
How much of an impact can a great SAFe consultant have? How? A great SAFe consultant will invest time and effort to understand the context of the organization they are working with, and to identify...
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, it is essential for organizations to be agile and adaptive to remain competitive. Agile methodologies have emerged as the preferred approach for...
How is a SAFe Scrum Master course different to a Certified Scrum Master course? Scrum is a lightweight agile framework intended for small teams. You can cover the theory of scrum within a very short...
What is one of the most challenging elements of agile coaching, and why? One of the most challenging elements of agile coaching can be mastering the variety of different stances you need to adopt to...
What is the ‘implementing SAFe’ course and what does it teach? The Implementing SAFe course is our ‘train the trainer’ class. It is designed to train the people who are going to be training others in...
Would you be looking for every Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) certification on offer? You’re in the right place. 1) SAFe® for Teams (SP) Certified SAFe® Practitioner Intended for any member of an...
Which course is right for you? Leading SAFe (SAFe Agilist) and Implementing SAFe (SPC) are two of the most popular courses offered by Scaled Agile. Both courses are designed to help individuals and...
What would be a great outcome from a SAFe coaching engagement? One of the most valuable elements of an effective agile release train is their ability to set effective business goals and objectives...
How is Essential SAFe different from Portfolio SAFe? Essential SAFe Essential SAFe, as the name suggests, is the minimum number of components in the agile framework that you need to transition into...
What are the different basic entities in Large Solution SAFe? One of the clarifying questions worth asking is, what do we mean by entities? We can break it down into two elements: The Artefacts in...
What is the solution demo and why does it matter? One of the primary agile principles is the ability to measure progress through working software. That is, are we delivering a working piece of...
What could you realistically achieve in the first 12 weeks of an agile consulting engagement? We would start by identifying the purpose of change within the client environment. What is the problem...
How good is value glide’s agile coaching capability and why do you say that? The results that we achieve, in collaboration with our clients, is a great indicator of how good our agile coaching team...
Which course is right for you? SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) from Scaled Agile and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) from Scrum Alliance are two of the most popular agile...
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) continues to dominate the market when it comes to scaling scrum/agile. Enterprises favor it heavily & employers value it highly. There is no denying the...
What’s the difference between the two roles? When it comes to agile teams, specifically within the SAFe framework, two of the most important roles are the Release Train Engineer (RTE) and the Scrum...
Which course is right for you? Leading SAFe (SAFe Agilist) from Scaled Agile and Certified Scrum Master (CSM) from Scrum Alliance are two of the most popular agile courses offered globally. Both...
Do you have a quickstart launch program to help adopt agile without an agile framework? You can begin a transition to agility without an agile framework in mind. We call it a normative experience. We...
What is the most important aspect of agile coaching when working with a traditional organization? When we (Value Glide) work with any organization for the first time, but particularly with a...
How do agile coaches and consultants prepare for an agile transformation without an agile framework?
How do agile coaches and consultants prepare for an agile transformation without an agile framework? At Value Glide, we never enter a client engagement with a particular solution in mind. A process of...
What does architectural runway mean in SAFe? Architectural runway refers to the foundations and architecture of work to flow faster through the value stream, from the teams of agile teams directly to...
What is the final element of the continuous delivery pipeline? The continuous delivery pipeline in SAFe consists of: Continuous discovery Continuous integration Continuous deployment Releasing...
In SAFe, Program Increment (PI) objectives are an essential component of the PI Planning process. These objectives are used to align the work of all teams within the program and ensure that the...
Which course is right for you? The SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) and SAFe Scrum Master (SSM) courses are both designed to teach you the skills and knowledge needed to effectively implement and...
A value stream identification workshop is designed to help the team and organization identify and understand how the customer derives and captures value from the product, feature, or service. In other...
The yearly State of Agile report is back now in its 16th edition, and once again it provides some fascinating insights. The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) continues to dominate the market, growing in...
It’s important to keep up with the most recent developments and trends, whether you’re an Agile fan or work in an area where the Agile approach is becoming more common. Fortunately, there are many...
The SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program is a response to a number of SAFe implementations that Value Glide and several other SAFe specialist consultancies have been a part of. In the early days of SAFe...
What is the Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration in SAFe? For people to effectively innovate, you need to create time and space for them to do so. So, in every PI (program increment) – which is a...
How can DevOps help in scalability? It depends on how you or your organization view DevOps. In my opinion, DevOps is what Agile was from day one. A critical, integrated element of product development...
What are the five (5) dimensions of built-in quality? In the world of SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), there are officially five dimensions of built-in quality. They are known as: Flow Architecture and...
Is SAFe the most popular scaling framework and if so, why do you think that is? SAFe is acknowledged to be the most successful scaling framework, across the world, in almost every industry or...
When does an organization reach the tipping point and what does that mean? There are a few tipping points, in the context of SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). Making the decision to adopt SAFe Becoming...
Pick one of 4 options: A) A retrospective of the iterationB) Planning the next PIC) A demo of the integrated systemD) Refreshing the Program Backlog Scroll to the bottom to find out! But first, learn...
In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), the Scrum Master is a key role that is responsible for helping the Agile Team to follow the Scrum framework and improve their practices. In the context of PI...
In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), an Agile Release Train (ART) is a long-lived, self-organising team that is responsible for delivering value to the customer through the continuous delivery of a...
The four core values of the Scaled Agile (SAFe) framework are: Alignment Built-in-Quality Transparency Program Execution Alignment: This value emphasises the importance of aligning the goals and...
The seven core competencies of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) are: Organisational Agility Lean Portfolio Management Enterprise Solution Delivery Agile Product Delivery Team and Technical Agility...
Complicated environments and centralized decision-making In a traditional management and project management environment, the overall assumption made by the organization is that managers and leaders...
SAFe Principle 8: Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers. This is an important principle because ‘unlocking the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers’ is a very different process to...
Which course is right for you? Leading SAFe (SAFe Agilist) and SAFe Scrum Master (SSM) are two of the most popular courses offered by Scaled Agile. Both courses are designed to help individuals and...
SAFe Principle 7: Apply cadence, synchronize with cross domain planning. The 7th SAFe principle is about cadence, synchronization of efforts, and cross-domain planning. Cadence Cadence is about...
SAFe Principle 6: Visualise and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queued lengths. We can shorten principle 6 – visualise and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and managed queued lengths – to...
SAFe Principle 5: Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems. SAFe principle 5 – base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems – reminds us that we can’t measure the...
SAFe Principle 4: Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles Principle 4 – build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles – builds upon principle 3 – assume variability and...
SAFe Principle 3: Assume variability, preserve options. When we start a journey, we know the least about that journey, the variables that exist, and what kind of outcomes we can anticipate. So, at...
SAFe principle 2 – Apply systems thinking Systems thinking allows us to focus on the macro level rather than the micro level. In other words, we avoid local optimization and focus on optimizing for...
SAFe principle 1 – Take an economic view A great lens to view this principle through is a quote from Don Reinertsen, ‘whilst you may ignore economics, it won’t ignore you.’ A lot of the work done by...
SAFe core value 4 – Program execution Program execution is about identifying how well the team are achieving the business goals and objectives that were set at the start of the program. Measurement is...
SAFe core value: Built-in quality Built-in quality is a core SAFe value to ensure that we don’t first build products or features, and then inspect them for quality control standards at the end of the...
Alignment is a core value in SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) because if we have individuals or teams working on their own prioritized items, without business and customer objectives alignment, we have...
SAFe core value 3 – Transparency Transparency refers to: The words and terms that we use. The work that we are doing. The reasons behind what we are doing and how we are doing it. The words and terms...
RTE Roles and Responsibilities What are the roles and responsibilities of a SAFe Release Train engineer? The words ‘release’ in SAFe Release Train engineer sometimes mislead people into thinking that...
How is the solution train unique from the Agile release train? We can think of the solution train as a logical grouping of several agile release trains. The solution train coordinates the work of...
How can you define a system team in SAFe? When we explore agile teams, or teams of agile teams, there may be certain capabilities that the team don’t possess which are necessary to deliver a working...
Under what conditions would SAFe be a great solution for an organization? The following assumptions, or conditions, would need to be true for SAFe (Scaling Agile Framework) to be a great solution for...
SAFe Principle 10: Organise around value. SAFe principle 10 is about organizing agile teams, product stakeholders, and all touchpoints in the value stream around value. I would build on that and say...
What is the difference between SAFe and Scrum? Scrum is an agile framework designed to work at the team level, which consists of between 6 and 9 people at most. It is a cross-functional team that...
What is the difference between complicated and complex environments, and why does that matter? I’m going to use the definition for complexity as defined and articulated by Dave Snowden...
What is the difference between a capability and a feature in SAFe? The difference between a Feature and a Capability, in SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is that one work item (feature) can be...
Why is Agile a great option for product development in complex environments? In decades past, our thinking was predominantly ‘inside’ to ‘out’, in other words ‘if we build it, the customer will come’...
What are the primary SAFe values and why are they important? SAFe have distinctive values and principles, which I will cover independently in an exclusive video series, but for now we’ll focus on two...
How is product development different to project management? Products tend to have a very long shelf life, especially in the software industry where you are focused on continuous delivery and...
How does SAFe work? SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is an agile scaling framework that allows us to create alignment between organization and business strategy with delivery of products and services to...
Why did you choose SAFe over other agile scaling frameworks? I was reluctant to explore or study SAFe. I had a misunderstanding that SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) wasn’t the right solution for scaling...
What is your favourite SAFe success story? There are many SAFe success stories or case studies that I love, but most recently, the story of Porsche working with SAFe is a firm favourite. You can read...
What are the top 3 reasons that organizations adopt Agile? In my experience, organizations choose to adopt Agile for several reasons. I’ll walk you through some of those reasons. Achieving more with...
What is SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)? SAFe stands for Scaled Agile Framework, and one of the more important elements is to understand that the F means framework. Meaning that it is something that you...
How does a value stream mapping workshop inform rapid and effective decision-making? In agile, rapid decision-making is facilitated by pushing decisions and authority to make decisions down to the...
What is a value stream mapping workshop? A value stream mapping workshop is about getting key members of the team who actively work in the value stream, along with key leaders and managers in the...
How is a Value Stream Identification workshop different to a Value Stream Mapping workshop? Value streams exist everywhere, in every organization, whether they are implicit or explicit. The value...
How will a value stream identification workshop help your organization? A value stream identification workshop helps the organization map, visualize, and understand how customers interact and derive...
Why is it important for organisations to consider the transition to agile? Agile is a great answer to complexity, problem solving and product development, but it isn’t the answer to every question or...
Why was SAFe created when other agile frameworks existed? Many of the scaling agile frameworks you see today, such as LeSS (Large Scale Scrum), came out after SAFe was created so it’s one of the first...
Why, in your opinion, did so many of the early agile transformations fail? If you want any kind of transformation to succeed, agile or otherwise, you need to get a few things in order. A strong...
Why is an Agile transformation so daunting for large organizations? There are several reasons why change can be daunting for organizations, but in my experience, it often boils down to 5 primary...
Why do you recommend the SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program to clients? Embarking on an agile transformation or deciding to scale agile within a large organization can be incredibly difficult...
What are the specific outcomes organizations receive after the SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program? It depends on the context of the organization. Many organizations have a software element to their...
What do you love most about the SAFe Quickstart ART Launch Program and why? Nader Talai – CEO of Value Glide and SAFe expert – walks us through the SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program and why this is a...
Is the SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program a product in continuous development? The SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program is an onboarding system for the SAFe framework that empowers organizations to...
INTRODUCTION PI Planning is a significant event in Scaled Agile Framework®. It requires preparation and facilitation to align development with business goals and match the demand with capacity...
In this session, I will cover the problems with traditional management, including budgeting. The Beyond Budgeting principles and companies on the journey Equinor’s “Ambition to Action” model...
Organizations in every industry across the globe are intensely focused on increasing agility,adaptability, and innovation. The operating environment for incumbent market leaders is more turbulent than...
“Let’s explore the unintended consequences of expecting teams to be agile when we haven’t cultivated the right environment. Instead of buying “agility in a box,” what can we do to foster the growth of...
Agile Leadership is based on values. Transparency throughout all levels is crucial to get everyone aligned with your strategies and allow for constant feedback and learning. Atlassian Jira is a...
We hide behind comforting lies in so many aspects of our lives, fearful of facing the hard truths, not even trusting ourselves to do so, let alone others. Many businesses die because of self-inflicted...
Profit is, for businesses, like oxygen is for humans – we need it to exit, but it’s not the reason you exist. In this talk, Clarke will show you three ways tech leaders can make more money for their...
Welcome to the faster economy fueled by software and an interconnected world where organisations that have mastered software delivery at scale will thrive. The key enabler to thriving in the digital...
We can name it in different ways: servant leadership, facilitation, or coaching, eventually a scrum master, for the most part of her role, needs to deal with people. People are our greatest resources...
PI is a critical part of adopting Scaled Agile Framework®, SAFe® and thriving in the digital age. However, the following anti-patterns limit the benefits of PI. In this short post, we list...
FASTER SOFTWARE PRODUCT DELIVERY The following 3 key steps that will help you achieve faster delivery Goal Measures Method Goal This is a crucial first step to agree on a single goal. What is the...
If people optimize value or maximize value, it would be nice to understand what value is. The dictionary definition is open to interpretation. I’d like us to be a little clearer for agility. Let’s...
Working in cells – A pattern to limit work in progress in a software development environment Software development requires analysis, design, development and testing to verify that all is as we expect...
Continuous Customer Collaboration As a transformation coach/consultant, one of the questions that get most frequently when talking to the program and accounts is, Okay; even if we implement some of...
SAFe Quickstart You want to achieve business agility and have decided to use SAFe for Lean Enterprises, SAFe® to accelerate your journey to achieve business agility and benefit from Reduced time to...
The words “commit” and “commitment” feature prominently in the 2020 Scrum Guide, and it’s not just about the artifacts. “The Scrum Team commits to achieving its goals and to...
One of the questions when organisations start their business agility journey is when do we address the support functions like HR, Finance, Governance. The organisational agility journeys normally...
Sugar is not good for us, but have we stopped eating? And so are any other refined carbohydrates for that matter. Exercise is good for us, but have we started exercising regularly? Meditation is good...
You reached the subway station to board a train to the office. You are yet to have your breakfast. You see a restaurant nearby and go straight and order your food, say your favorite cheeseburger...
Holistic perspectives: Series 1 These series of articles might create some controversies among the agile fraternity. But I still attempt to express my views on this so that it might benefit the same...
Ever since we have faced the Covid-19 pandemic, it has impacted us in several ways and one of the positive impacts is that it forced everyone to stay home together. This helped us to increase the...
The Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe® 5.0) released at the beginning of the year goes beyond IT agility and addresses business agility, the key for organisations who want to thrive. The dual operating...
COVID 19 times has been very stressful; a worldwide pandemic or an act of God (as they say in usual insurance terms and conditions small print). The big question is How to stay afloat and How to stay...
George is a seasoned PMO who has managed £multi-million programmes for at least 15 years in various global organisations. He loves his job and takes great pride in his role. As a result, George has...
How many times you have been drowned by the burden of change? How many times an idea called agility led you to a cross roads. Few or many. Well if you have then welcome to the club!!! The agility...
Certified SAFe Product Owners/Product Managers have the skill set to guide the delivery of value in a lean enterprise and the activities, tools, and mechanics needed to manage backlogs and programs. ...
Scrum teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team. To become self-organized, a...
I often wonder about the Trustpilot reviews straight after a workshop. Did I entertain? Did I perform? Were attendees satisfied? Are attendees inspired? It matters. I just think it matters more if the...
The Flow framework from Flow Academy is a creation from Fin Goulding and Haydn Shaughnessy. There are two books on it (Shaughnessy and Goulding, 2019), (Shaughnessy and Goulding, 2018). Fin Goulding...
How to measure success? Is it even possible? Just to set the scene, I haven’t figured this out yet. I can tell you my story, in all its ugliness. It’s based on a real story, but it’s changed...
For those who use Scrum, here is a two-pager of Scrum hints and links. I hope you find the two-pager useful If you have more useful hints and links, please submit your ideas in the comments, thank...
Certified SAFe Program Consultant, SPC’s, are change agents with wide-ranging and deep expertise in software and systems development combined with detailed technical knowledge of Scaled Agile...
For executives and for change agents who deal with executives in large contexts A number of people inside and outside Scrum.org collaborated with me in 2018 and early 2019, to talk about 21st-century...
Background Some teams of knowledge workers (En.wikipedia.org, 2019) work primarily on complex problems. Scrum operates in the complex problem domain, so it can be a natural choice. Picture...
I wrote recently about why you think your organization wants agility. I also wrote about comparing the Kanbans (including Toyota Kanban), Kanbaning your Scrum, and I started a...
Professional scrum with Kanban came out in February 2018, and it can be found at https://www.scrum.org/resources/kanban-guide-scrum-teams. The Lean Kanban method is described in the Essential Kanban...
John Coleman does an opinion piece on thus use of scaling patterns or none – views are his own Consider this blog post as background for future posts. It has a lot of detail, and you might need to...
Why do you think your organization is growing agility? Is the direction of travel primarily to. We thought of 28 potential reasons, and we’re curious how your organization would star-rate them...
In the Certified LeSS Practitioner classes by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde, system modelling is introduced. I refer to system modelling in the sense of causal loop diagrams and stock & flow...
You might remember my posts on “Professional Scrum with Kanban – Don’t just limit WIP – optimise it! (posts 1 of 3 and 2 of 3)”. I used Mike Burrows’ Featureban...
You might remember https://www.valueglide.com/blog/kanbaning-your-scrum. We optimized the amount of work in progress for simple/obvious work. Now let’s make it a bit more complicated. You might...
Write your answer to this question before reading further, How do you show that a work item (story, customer request) is blocked? Have a look around your organisation and the electronic tools. If you...
Move from Centralised Control to Decentralised Control that will make your life better. Centralised Control Our organisations are structured like factories with centralised decision making and...
Gladwell Academy And Value Glide Sign Partnership Agreement Scaled Agile Framework® is the market leading scaling framework with more organisations opting to adopt it and realise the business benefits...
What does the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams (at https://www.scrum.org/resources/kanban-guide-scrum-teams) say about work in progress limits? “Kanban (n): a strategy for optimizing the flow of...
Resist jumping into delivery, before understanding the problem The presenting problem is rarely the real problem. We are conditioned to have solutions even when we don’t understand the problem and...
The Innovation and Planning Iteration The Innovation and Planning Iteration (IP) occurs every Planning Increment and is the last iteration within the Planning Increment (PI) and provide dedicated time...
The Kanban Method or Kanban for short, provides a lens through which leaders can ensure that the organisation is working on the most important work and know what to improve that leads to improved...
Scaled Agile Framework®, Program Increment (PI) Planning, is one of the key events within SAFe agile training. The purpose is to provide a shared understanding of the business context, the delivery...
“Medicine had been ‘successfully’ practised without the knowledge of germs. In a pre-germ theory paradigm, some patients got better, some got worse and some stayed the same; in each case, some...
Follow these five steps to improve your system of work 1) Understand the end-to-end system of the value flow to the customer Study how the flow of work and visualise your work and map the flow Run...
Developed by Dean Leffingwell, the Scaled Agile Framework is a structured and prescriptive framework that helps organisations on their agility journey. SAFe has helped many organisation achieve great...
Organisations that embark on the agility transformation need to get many things right, and Coherent Action is one of the critical elements that is often missing. Here are some of the recent examples...
“Let me introduce you to Portfolio Kanban.” Nader Talai guested the Lean-Agile Management Podcast right before Christmas to talk about scaling Kanban to the organizational or the project portfolio...
We talk a lot about self-organisation, autonomy and empowerment. While this is a good start it is not sufficient to achieve the organisational goals and deliver the agility that the organisation is...
I was helping a client last year after working with the departmental transformation leader who was sceptical about how the lean and agile approaches can help the department to improve. He set me a...
Stop project teams Projects have been the funding vehicle and still are for many organisations this model is based on taking people to work who come together and deliver the project and go back to the...
Visualise The Value Streams Connect with Value Glide! Are you looking to outcompete with agility? If so, we may help. Benefits of choosing Value Glide. Accelerated Delivery – Reduce time to market by...
Business agility requires the coordination and synchronisation across many teams aligned across the value stream. SAFe agile training provides a framework for enabling team of teams to align and...
Greetings from my trip from London to Cincinnati, where I’ll talk about scaling/descaling, growing good sustainable agility and so on. If you’re around the Cincinnati area, you’d be crazy to miss the...
Cumulative Flow Diagram Is one of the key diagrams to help you manage the work better. A question that we are asked frequently and need to answer is When can we deliver? The question that we should...
Work item arrival rate, work item departure rate, work item ageing are key factors to consider for faster service delivery or project delivery. When we start work as soon as it arrives irrespective of...
Diagram courtesy of Nader Talai If a journey was equivalent to a team of teams delivering good stuff together, yet dependent on back-end teams elsewhere, do you believe that leaders acting as coaches...
Organisations want to improve their business agility and deliver more, but most of the time we start at the wrong place and believe it is about starting more. “The more you start, the less you...
This post outlines our workshop format to make the work visible and visualised flow. In this workshop, we use the diverge and converge pattern. That is, we work individually to come up with a diverse...
Do you get the sense of silo thinking, fixed mindset, or “this is alway the way we’ve done things around here”. You might be blocked. Perhaps, you can try a Systems Thinking Workshop, with a little...
Most people have an idea what value an Agile/agility coach offers. We see loads of debate about mentoring versus coaching and let’s not add to that debate. I promote Leandro Herrero’s work because...
Updated post meetup. In this case report, Josh outlined the key reasons global digital products company Tigerspike decided to make the change from Scrum to Kanban mid-flight, what the client reaction...
One piece flow Imagine everyone who is required to ensure the work item is delivered to the customer is ready and waiting for the work and doesn’t work on anything else. So as soon as the work is...
1. How knowable are the steps? What is the mismatch between the conceptual model (plan) and the observed reality? The greater the impact of this mismatch the more appropriate it is to navigate the...
Flow efficiency measures how much of the overall lead time is due to waiting time: Lead Time = Value Work Time + Waiting Time. How to measure Flow Efficiency Most kanban systems separate the waiting...
Faster Organisation – How fast are you invalidating your hypothesis? The rate at which we invalidate your hypothesis and learn from our customers and the investment required to learn, and our ability...
I learnt about Perfection Game Feedback from Bob Marshall in the Emotioneering: Products that people want to buy session that he ran jointly with Chris Matts at the BCS. I like the perfection game...
Looking for the slides? See the post meetup notes at the bottom of this post! Knowledge and creative work are invisible which make managing it even harder. In this workshop, we walk through how to...
In many ways, the journey to Large Scale Scrum is as colossal as the scale of the Golden Gate Bridge. My 2017 goal is to become a certified trainer for Scrum, Nexus, Large Scale Scrum(LeSS), Scaled...
Kanban Method General Practices The practices involve Visualising The work items and policies that determine how the work is done Improving The ways of working and building evolutionary change as part...
IT Projects fail to deliver their goals! The success rate does not increase, but let’s keep going the same way. Single-stage funding, project teams and the thinking that the reason for previous...
This post is a supplement to my general post on Nexus and Nexus+. See also Nexus at a European bank. The Nexus format is essentially the same, with additions of Kanban or The Lean Startup in...
London Lean Kanban Day organized by BCS Agile SG took place on April 3 and 4 with great talks and workshops from some of the most respected figures in the Kanban and Agile world. The event kicked off...
Synchronized turtling – Benny Mazur This post is a supplement to my general post on Nexus and Nexus+. The Nexus format for these experience reports is essentially the same with additions of Kanban or...
Richard Grant Synchronized spinning Nexus images copyright of Scrum.org. Nexus+ images were made up by the blog post author. Note – blog post author modified his application of Nexus so it’s no longer...
“Try, fail, learn” – Sir James Dyson Fail well, avail of opportunities for learning. It’s a bit scary being so transparent, but hopefully rewarding in the long term. Value Glide sees “growing agility”...
Kanban is a method that enables you to transform your organisation through purposeful and insightful evolutionary change. Kanban method is designed for managing and improving knowledge and creative...
First question which comes to our mind when talking about Kanban is what is Kanban and whether Kanban training important? Kanban is a method that enables you to transform your organisation through...
Are you managing your people or managing the work? We have been trained and conditioned through our daily experiences to manage people as opposed to managing the work and the system of work. What we...
When is SAFe® safe? I refer to the Scaled Agile Framework® as per www.scaledagileframework.com. The Scale Agile Framework® website does a much better job of describing SAFe® than I ever could. This...
Readiness – that’s it! What it takes to be ready depends on your context How long has the team been working together? How well do they know the domain? Is the product owner (customer) embedded and...
During a recent engagement, at the IT head-office of a modern, large corporate organisation, agile was set as the ‘go-to approach’ for most of their new initiatives, this after experimenting with a...