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 the whole system.
Often, when we neglect the bigger picture in favour of a local optimization, we don’t necessarily contribute value to the organization or our customers. If those actions or interventions aren’t aligned with strategic organizational and customer objectives, we are failing to move the needle on the metrics that truly matter.
Example of local optimization
Let’s say that the team optimize to increase the velocity at which they deliver working software, which is great, but the software isn’t reaching the customer any faster than before.
So, the local optimization has increased output, but because the whole system hasn’t been optimized, the software simply waits longer before it reaches the hands of the customer.
We can applaud the team for the improvement, but it hasn’t created or captured any real value for the organization or the customer.
The value of systems thinking
The beauty of systems thinking is that it should guide us to ask:
- Where is the system choked? Where are we experiencing bottle necks?
- Where are we experiencing the biggest delays?
- What can we do to alleviate those bottlenecks or remove those impediments?
- How can we best deploy the solution to improve the whole system?
- How should we prioritize our interventions?
It is a little bit like the butterfly effect where one small change in a dynamic system can yield disproportionately large outcomes. In short, change one thing and everything changes.
Optimizing for the whole system empowers us to create a backlog that will deliver significant improvements, in order of priority, that improves the effectiveness of the whole organization and allows us to create and deliver greater value for our customers.
It also allows us to respond with more agility to market disruption, change, and opportunities.
The SAFe context for systems thinking.
In the context of SAFe, systems thinking would extend edge-to-edge across the enterprise.
In other words, from the moment we interact with a customer to the point where we have delivered the product to the customer and are now invested in product development based on customer feedback and market research.
End-to-end systems thinking.
Now, for some organizations, those parameters might be too big. It may just be too much to consider and manage, given the number of moving parts and the dynamics at play.
That’s ok.
So, in SAFe, what we can do and should do, is apply systems thinking to each independent value stream. Doing so allows us to optimize for the whole value stream, in alignment with those specific customer and organizational objectives.
We can then rinse and repeat with another value stream, and so forth, until we have built the internal capabilities to extend systems thinking edge-to-edge across the enterprise.
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.
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