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 ‘manage flow’ because that is something incredibly important in SAFe. Managing the flow of work through the organization and ensuring that work flows, with the […]

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 effectiveness of what we are doing based on time elapsed, instead we need to measure the effectiveness of what we have built and how well it […]

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 preserve options – to help your organization use empirical process control to navigate uncertainty and complexity. You don’t want to build big, long-term batches of products and features. Instead, you want to […]

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 this point, we have the highest degree of risk that the decisions we have made, or are making, will not translate into […]

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 […]

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 incredibly important in SAFe because it empowers us to understand why there is a gap between what we anticipated achieving and what we achieved. […]

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 process. As Deming so eloquently stated, ‘you can’t inspect quality into a product, you need to build quality into the product from […]