When people adopt SAFe they often believe that the way to do work with each other is by having everyone adopt SAFe’s roles and act accordingly. But this is a componentized view. That is, it looks at the organization as a collection of pieces and won’t result in a true system. A system is not the sum of it’s parts but rather the synergy that its parts create when working towards a common goal.
We have found that all roles need to agree to work with each other in order to achieve the following:
- Work on items that will realize the greatest amount of business value across the enterprise.
- Collaborate with each other in order to maximize the realization of business value across the enterprise.
- Ensure that all work will be made visible.
- Take the necessary steps to sustain or increase predictability. • Keep the work throughout the value stream within capacity.
- Encourage everyone to strive for continuous improvement.
When these agreements are followed, organizations are much more effective. SAFe should be used to help achieve these agreements, but the intention should not be so much to follow SAFe as it is to be using SAFe to create support these agreements and to create value for the organization and its clients.