Linear vs Circular SAFe introductions
I have struggled with the thinking behind the “SAFe implementation roadmap”. It all just looks so simple, just do these workshop, invite these people, and in a couple of weeks you will have about 100 people working in a new way. And if you are really good, like Dean Leffingwell good, you can do it in two weeks. And then move on to launch more trains. From my perspective this is a linear approach to agile introductions.
From what I have seen, this approach is a big push on the system, and the system tends to push back hard. Long workshops with a lot of executives, long training and a lot of new information and good practices. It can be difficult to really understand why certain practices are introduced, or how to change them and you might end up with a cargo cult.
What would it look like if a more circular mindset was applied.
- Don’t introduce everything at once
- Involve the people doing the work
- It’s a circular continuous learning process
Circular SAFe introductions
I have experimented with what I call circular SAFe introductions, introducing small bits of good practices over time and involving the people doing all the work.
In this way of working with SAFe, you would start of as you used to, by introducing some good practices that solves the problems that the organization is experiencing at the moment. With the current problem solved, the organization notices that it actually can change things. Over time more good practices from SAFe could be introduced to solve other problems.
Where to start?
Where it hurts the most.
A lot of organizations feel they have too much going on and no time to change. One good place to start is to get visibility of what is going on by organizing the work that is currently done in a Kanban. Then the goal becomes to lower the WIP so that the organisation gets the pressure of its shoulders and can start thinking about changing.
With the pressure of the people working in the organization energy can be devoted to start looking at the Operational and Development Value Streams. This should be a recurring event and gradually be updated as we learn more. Lets start out with a small group developing a draft Value Stream and then show it to the larger organization to get feedback. Let feedback flow in at any time but set a date in the near future where people who wants to join in can update the Value Stream and improve it.
The same thing goes for the organizational design. In contexts where people aren’t used to work in teams, the whole concept of teams can seem abstract. So let us start by recognizing that there is no such thing as a perfect team structure. The longer we think about it the more things change, new recruits, people retiring or getting new jobs. So just start by trying to get teams that are good enough for now and safe enough to try. Be sure to involve the people working in the teams, when designing the teams.
(Side note: Self organization, which I usually recommend, didn’t work out for me when working with groups that are just about to form teams. If the whole idea of working in teams is new to people, they have a hard time knowing what they say yes to when designing teams)
Scrum Masters and Product Owners have to feel comfortable in their roles, let people decide if they want to try the roles but make it OK to quit the role if it wasn’t a good fit.
When the teams are working and learning Scrum, but struggle to coordinate between them. Suggest to experiment with a big room planning.
When the people doing the work lacks alignment and support let senior leaders, help them to talk to the people doing the work about where the business is going.
When team haven’t met their customers, invite customers to give direct feedback at demos for example.
Make the snake bite its own tail
The SAFe implementation road-map looks like a linear sneak, where you go from workshop to workshop and then from train to train. Launching more trains and program execution can easily become goals in it self, but agile is about helping individuals and teams to continuously improve.
I would like to see the sneak bite its own tail, where you constantly revisit all the workshops with the new knowledge that you have acquired, making better Value Streams, teams and processes all the time.
People and organizations have a limited ability to learn new stuff, so don’t force it, think about your own agile journey, it took some time didn’t it.
By introducing good practices to solve actual problems as they occur reinforces learning because people know why we are doing it, and that they have the power to change it. I would think of this way of introducing SAFe with more respect for individuals rather than pushing a big bang solution.
After a while you might have implemented all of the good practices in SAFe, or you are doing something else. As long as you are learning and improving, that’s fine with me. Stay agile!