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 Don Reinertsen is also built into the SAFe framework to ensure that we focus on the economic perspective as much as we do on product development and innovation.
Everything that we do, to be a successful organization, needs to have a sound economic foundation. We need to understand:
- What is the economic impact of the work we are doing?
That doesn’t mean that we only view things through an economic perspective, but it does mean that it is a powerful lens and key driver for what we commit ourselves to.
When does this principle apply?
Like almost all elements of SAFe, this isn’t something we do at the start of our journey and tick off a checklist, it is something we commit to continuously.
In a complex environment, the variables and market dynamics are constantly shifting, and so we need to keep this principle in mind as we move through discovery, product development, and delivery of value to customers.
- Are we doing the most valuable work for our customers?
- Is this still a viable, economic model that is sustainable?
- What are the returns on investment for future work we commit to?
- Are we creating economic value for the organization through the work we are doing?
- Is this product or feature a great return on investment for our customers?
And so forth.
We need to focus on creating an economic model where there is greater demand for the work we do, than our capacity to deliver it. If it were the other way around, we wouldn’t have a viable, successful business and wouldn’t be able to create and capture value for customers.
Because we often have a lot more great ideas than we have the capacity to deliver, taking an economic view allows us to be selective in what we explore and commit to.
It empowers teams and executives to compare, relative to one another, which of the ideas we commit to will deliver the greatest return on investment to customers and the organization.
- Which of the ideas on the table make the most economic sense?
- What are the costs of delay?
- How could that impact our organization?
- How does that impact our customers?
- How will this decision impact our competitive environment?
And so forth.
So, this is why ‘taking an economic view’ is such a critical principle in the SAFe framework.
About Value Glide
Value Glide are a SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) consultancy, coaching practice, and training specialist who work with organizations to align business objectives with customer needs and wants.
As deeply experienced agile coaches and practitioners, our team are invested in continuous learning through each client engagement and use the data and evidence we gather from each implementation to inform our training, coaching, and consulting services.
In a nutshell, empirical process control or empiricism.
If you are thinking of adopting agile within your organization and have identified SAFe as a great agile framework to adopt, implement and improve your business agility, visit our SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program page or view our SAFe Consulting Services page.
If you have identified a need for an agile coach and SAFe coach to help your organization adopt and implement SAFe, visit our SAFe Coaching Services page.
If you want to know more about SAFe and how to lead SAFe, visit our SAFE Training page for a host of options, from Leading SAFe to a SAFe Release Train Engineer course.
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