For any organization, achieving business agility and enjoying the full benefits of Lean-Agile at scale requires significant effort. This means SAFe is not a tiny framework. Organizations must adopt a Lean-Agile mindset and clearly understand and apply the principles of Lean-Agile before they start reaping the benefits of SAFe. It requires identifying the value streams and Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and implementing a Lean-Agile portfolio, built-in quality, and creating mechanisms for continuous delivery of value and DevOps. In short, the whole culture must also grow. Here, the SAFe implementation roadmap is your guide to reaching your objective of successfully implementing SAFe in your organization.

What is the Scaled Agile implementation roadmap – An Overview

The SAFe implementation roadmap comprises an overview and 12 steps. These detail a strategy and a series of activities to be taken in a particular order that would effectively implement the SAFe framework. It indicates deliverables over a pre-set period. We all know that SAFe is a framework for adopting an iterative Agile method of working and scaling it to different levels of the organization with an application of a Lean manufacturing mindset. If you have decided to implement SAFe, you should do it properly because it is a significant decision for your organization. It means incurring a high cost and effort and requiring ample training. The SAFe implementation roadmap will make it easy for you to implement SAFe without much trouble. This roadmap has been created by very experienced methodologies helped by the expertise of several global companies that have implemented and reaped the benefits of SAFe.

Let us now look at the 12 steps of the SAFe implementation roadmap. These steps have been given in a sequence.

SAFe Implementation Roadmap Steps:

1. Getting to the tipping point:

For organizations running the business for a long where teams and employees have been following a set pattern and practices, changing the pattern or introducing new practices is very tough. But at some point, they come to a situation where the need for change becomes compelling, and they can no longer avoid or escape change. But again, if the need for change is not compelling enough, employees of the organization might still resist change. They can be motivated to embrace change only by making them understand the need for change and the proposed change itself. This is what is termed the tipping point. To bring the team to accept the need for change and make them adopt it. It is for the organization also to support the change. The need for change must be explicit for starting the process and should be followed by a clear plan to motivate and take everyone toward achieving a common objective.

2. Nurture Lean-Agile agents of change:

As described in the first step, the need for changing the old practices of business agility comes through a sense of urgency which may arise because of some problem that is too serious about being solved by the existing way of working. Even if this is not the reason, the rapid pace of technological advancements and market changes may compel organizations to adopt new practices. So, once this tipping point has been achieved and the need for change is visible, it is time to create a strategic group of people who can drive change. They would be the change agents who would facilitate change in the organization. These change agents will help align individuals and teams with the steps of the SAFe implementation roadmap. These change agents must be nurtured and equipped to manage this strategy successfully. This group will take on the primary responsibility of propelling the activities for implementing change and motivating others to adopt change.

3. Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders:

All participants in the SAFe implementation should be trained in the correct member. They must learn new skills so that they are equipped to get rid of any obstacles and manage deployment, which will help in executing the SAFe implementation roadmap strategy with the continuous and faster release of value. This will also ensure that the organization can get help from them as and when required. They must develop a Lean-Agile perspective that will demonstrate their respect for people, cultures, innovation, and continuous improvement. This will include developing Lean thinking and adopting agility. All these people must acquire the skills and knowledge, so they display the ability to lead the SAFe implementation rather than following it. With their activities, they will demonstrate continued upgrades. Therefore, training the executives, managers, and leaders assumes significance because their potential will increase and broaden the reach of solutions. Once these people get the required training and skills, it will help them achieve their goals.

4. Build a Lean-Agile center of excellence:

Also called LACE in its short form, the Lean-Agile center of excellence is a group of people or a team who help and are fully dedicated to implementing the SAFe Lean-Agile way of working. These are like-minded people who have already developed Lean thinking. The Scaled Agile Framework recommends that this group consist of people from various organization functions. Creating a LACE in the organization is generally the difference between an organization practicing Agile for namesake only and an organization fully committed to implementing the Lean-Agile ways of working. The challenge in building LACE comes in the shape of difficulty in finding the people qualified to take up a role in this group, as most of these people already have full-time responsibilities. But these people must take a small amount of time to implement the change. Communicating the vision and the severe need for change is one of the primary responsibilities of this group, along with developing and executing the implementation plan. They also provide training wherever it is deemed necessary.

5. Identify Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and Value Streams:

Now that a sense of urgency has been built in the organization and a powerful group formed in the shape of LACe to implement SAFe, it is time to start implementing SAFe. And this is the most crucial step in SAFe implementation because this is going to form the spine of the SAFe implementation roadmap in the organization. This step identifies ARTs and value streams. So, you must first identify the operational and development value streams. Development value streams are used for developing new products, while operational value streams are where your customers communicate with you. The objective is to find those needs of the customer that have value and can lead to the organization’s growth. After identifying value streams, create ARTs by identifying teams working with each other. Take care that ART consists of cross-functional teams. This also serves as a basic system of management that facilitates change by incrementally providing value to the customer.

6. Build the implementation plan:

Now that the whole concept of change is ready, you must build a plan for implementing the change. But implementing the change of this scale is certainly a big deal for any organization, and sometimes in their zeal, they complicate things. The key here is to keep the plan simple and not make it too complex. You can follow the Agile method of doing a little planning for iteration, executing the same, learning from it, and then repeating it. It begins with selecting one value stream and one ART that would take you through the journey. Once you have gone through with it, a more detailed strategy for implementation may start emerging as you learn. New data would be gathered, and new skills would be learned. Then more value streams and more Agile Release Trains. That would be the way forward. It is concerned with the Inspect and Adapt philosophy. This is a simple but powerful approach to implementing SAFe incrementally with solutions development.

7. Prepare for the launch of ART:

Up to this point, you have identified value streams, created ART, and have an implementation plan in place. You are now closer to implementing the plan. It is a critical stage in SAFe implementation. From the viewpoint of change management, the first ART is essential as its implications will go far. This will be the first change in how work is done, and it will bring the first results that will build momentum in the organization. The results achieved from this first activity will provide the necessary confidence to the people to move ahead. So, get set for executing the activities essential for launching ART successfully. Irrespective of who is leading, the activities for preparing for the ART launch are as under:

• Define the Agile Release Train
• Set the date of launch and cadence for the program calendar
• Provide training to the stakeholders and leaders of the ART
• Set up the Agile teams
• Train Product Owners and Project Managers
• Provide training to system architects/engineers
• Train Scrum Masters
• Evaluate and develop the readiness for launch
• Prepare the program backlog

Apart from this, the right kind of support can come from the LACE members and other ART stakeholders who have trained in SAFe.

8. Provide training to the teams and launch the ART:

At this juncture, the ART stakeholders have been trained and are ready, and the plans for the ART launch have been put in place. This is more like getting a stationary train out of the yard and making it ready to leave. The Agile Release Train team members should be appropriately trained and qualified in preparation for the ART. So, it’s time to focus on the newly identified Agile teams from which most train members will come. These people will build the required systems for the organization. Therefore, it is imperative that they fully understand what is going to take place. These members come from different organizational functions and know the business, operations, development, support, and other functions. So they can design, build, test, and deploy their solutions. But they need to understand their roles in the ART and acquire the necessary Lean and Agile skills to discharge their new roles successfully. Hence, the need to train the teams. This training is of about one-week duration and allows the teams to get ready for the initial Program Increment (PI) strategy.

9. Coach ART execution:

At this stage of the SAFe implementation roadmap, all the significant events have taken place, ART teams have been trained, the first ART has been launched, and the first PI planning event has taken place. So, now you have an empowered and aligned team of teams fully prepared to start developing solutions that deliver value. But before starting the crucial work of the ART, it is essential to understand that you can only make your new team and the ART Agile by training them and doing the planning. They are just the starting points of the journey to becoming Agile. It needs much more than that. Knowing and understanding are two different things. The Agile teams need to receive extra coaching from a certified SAFe program consultant (SPC) about the remaining activities to deliver value more effectively. It is important because getting to the Agile practices and behaviors at the team level takes time. It may take multiple PIs to achieve this. This is why much effort must go into coaching for ART execution.

10. Launch more and more ARTs and value streams:

By now, your organization must have built confidence to launch more ARTs to realize more value streams because the more ARTs you launch, the more Return On Investment (ROI) your business will get. So, the bigger business opportunity is before you. Launching more Agile Release Trains and value streams can consolidate your returns and create more change. Now is the time to start getting the full advantage of SAFe. You just have to repeat steps 7 to 9 to introduce more ARTs and value streams. The Lean-Agile leaders in the organization should constantly guide the teams in effectively implementing these steps. SAFe deployment would make your organization view its performance better because you can see all the ARTs and the stage they are at in this. Apart from this, you must handle any obstacles as soon as they arise by immediately bringing up the issue and working toward its resolution.

11. Extend to the portfolio:

so, till now, a lot of work has been done. The implementation of SAFe has taken place across many value streams. You have seen the benefits accrued in different aspects of your business, like time-to-market, quality, employee engagement, and productivity. You have achieved measurable results in all these areas. You are sure that multiple ARTs are working successfully. So, now it s time to extend it to the portfolio level. It means you can enhance the implementation to the organization’s Lean portfolio management capability. This can be done with additional guidance from the Lean portfolio management function. Start aligning the value streams with the strategy of the organization. Nurture a leaner approach to the relationship between the customer and the supplier. When enterprise leaders drive the implementation of SAFe and value streams to start succeeding, it creates a flutter in the organization about the new and better approach to work and the portfolio starts to feel the pressure. So, additional changes become easy.

12. Accelerate:

This is the last step in the SAFe implementation roadmap. But this is also the start of a new journey. It will ensure that the organization’s culture has changed and the executives continue to demonstrate the same level of passion and energy. This is relatively easy to achieve. Many essential tasks in SAFe can considerably improve the transformation to business agility and enable this. This involves creating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would help monitor the performance, implant the new working style into the organizational culture, encourage the quest for continuous improvement, and optimize the performance. Leaders would now be required to take a larger view of implementation to reinforce and accelerate the transformation to SAFe. So, start building on the benefits received so far, which will allow you to accelerate your journey toward achieving business agility.

The Scaled Agile Framework allows you to scale up with the help of Lean and Agile principles. The SAFe implementation roadmap starts with preparing your organization for this framework and organizing value. Then there are critical elements like Agile Release Trains and value streams with which you can execute this implementation as described above. Implementing SAFe in your organization will not only require time, but it will also need the commitment to change. And this commitment should come from all levels of the organization. This commitment can come by explaining the need for change to everyone and motivating them.