I've recently been at a large organisation adopting the SAFe framework and this is my take on SAFe

1. My take on SAFe
Alexandra Stokes
@StokesXandra
www.alexandrastokes.com

2. the “e” stands for
ENTERPRISE

3. many many people

4. hard to fathom org structures
accountability is a puzzle
probably your fault?

5. multiple initiatives
Digital transformation
Six sigma program
Estimation Kaizen
Cloud migration
Agile transformation
Outsourcing initiative
Leadership program
Career Development framework
Legacy replacement program
Security capability uplift
endless “off-site workshops”
re-structures
…and many many more….

6. death by meeting

7. top 7 tools hurting your
agility & innovation
1. Project
2. Word
3. Powerpoint
4. QTP
5. Quality Centre
6. SharePoint
7. Outlook
MANDATORY

8. failure to role out agile in the
context of the enterprise
• We haven’t done enough…
• We are hard to understand/don’t speak large
corporate language…
• We don’t like these “big org” things…
• We don’t want to fight to introduce agile…

10. Is SAFe the answer?

11. – me
“SAFe – it ain’t so bad, but it’s not the answer
either”

12. SAFe “wins”

13. Lining up iterations

14. all-in planning

15. sharing of work
I got this…

16. Let’s help each other!

17. visibility
learn from each other

18. SAFe “gotcha’s”

19. forgot to train
people in
agile?
!
!
!
awkward……

20. people everywhere
the horrors of scaling

21. too many on the train

22. doing SAFe?
or achieving agility?

24. what have we learned?
• SAFe is for the context of enterprise - things are
different there
• We aren’t moving fast enough to bring agility to the
enterprise
• There are a lot of great things to take from SAFe
• There are some gotcha’s to watch out for

25. SAFe
not a silver bullet

26. Alexandra Stokes
@StokesXandra
www.alexandrastokes.com