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 during the PI Planning (Program and Increment Planning) session, and actively achieve those goals and objectives by the end of the Program Increment.
In other words, we are achieving predictability because of effective planning and execution capabilities. That said, there is a balance that we need to strike.
If we go too far in our quest for predictability, we remove the agile capabilities in our organization because we aren’t allowing for flexibility, responsiveness and adaptation in the system. We are instead optimized for doing exactly what we said we would do in the planning phase.
That is waterfall project management, not agility.
We also can’t go too far into raw agility and responsiveness because if we aren’t planning effectively, we don’t know whether we are working on the most valuable items for customer nor do we know if we are even solving the most compelling problems.
We’re a ship without a rudder where everyone is rowing with all their might but nothing of value to either the customer or the organization is being achieved.
So, a great SAFe coaching engagement is going to help an Agile Release Train set effective business goals and objectives, and optimize the workflow to ensure that the Agile Release Train consistently achieve the majority of those goals and objectives whilst also leaving slack for discovery and experimentation.
As the team set out on the Program Increment, they may well believe that everything in the planning phase will be achieved within the sprint, but discover that some of those elements simply cannot be achieved within the Program Increment cycle.
A great SAFe coach will work through those elements with the team to help them understand that it is perfectly fine to come up against problems, and failing to deliver on the first attempt may be related to an organizational or systemic issue which simply needs to be addressed before the team of teams can deliver the solution.
Yes, we are aiming to deliver everything we have committed to, but we are also committed to learning and discovery. Agility reveals problems, it doesn’t necessarily fix them, it just gives us the opportunity to discover and resolve them. And that’s where a great coach can come into play.
So, the SAFe coach has an opportunity to help the team make these impediments visible to stakeholders and enlist their help in resolving any issues or problems that are beyond the scope and influence of the Agile Release Train.
An agile coaching engagement helps you optimize the flow of value to customers by:
- Helping the Agile Release Train identify bottlenecks in the system and resolve them.
- Helping the Agile Release Train identify impediments and resolve them.
- Helping the Agile Release Train identify system issues and resolve them.
- Helping the Agile Release Train plan more effectively at the start of the PI.
- Helping the Agile Release Train execute more effectively during the PI.
- Helping the Agile Release Train reflect on what has been achieved, what has prevented the team from achieving their objectives, and commit to a process of continuous improvement that ensures they overcome any obstacles or behaviours which impede progress.
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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