Applying Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to IT Service Management and IT Operations
As an IT Service Management (ITSM) leader with a strong preference to leveraging Agile, Scrum and Lean (including LeanIT) to
effectively and efficiently deliver IT operations, I became quite interested in
the concept of the Scaled Agile Framework by Dean Leffingwell and his
associates. The Scaled Agile Framework® (pronounced SAFe™) is “an interactive
knowledge base for implementing agile practices at enterprise scale”.
In the SAFe website, Leffingwell states that “this model of
agile adoption has been elaborated primarily in my books Agile Software
Requirements: Lean Requirements for Teams Programs and the Enterprise (2011) and Scaling Software
Agility: Best Practices for Large Enterprises, (2007) and my
scalingsoftwareagilityblog.com. It has been successfully applied in programs of
only 50-100 people, and in enterprises employing thousands of software
developers.”
SAFe has four (4) core values:
1. Code Quality (because you can’t scale crappy code);
2. Program Execution (self organising teams of agile teams
reliably & regularly delivering value);
3. Alignment (from portfolio to program to team); and
4. Transparency (transparency in work builds confidence,
alignment and trust).
Of the four core values, I became quite interested in
Alignment especially between the Portfolio, Programs and Teams. Previously I've been involved in projects structured as a hierarchy of agile scrums but I had
not seen a model that provided guidance to this extent upwards to the
Portfolio level.
In brief, SAFe describes three (3) key layers:
1. Portfolio which promotes a centralized strategy and decentralized execution. Business and architectural epic kanban systems provide
visibility and work-in-progress limits for product development flow. Objective
metrics support governance and kaizen and the value description is provided via
Business and Architectural Epics.
2. Program where self managing team-of-agile-teams are
committed to continuous value delivery. They are continuously aligned to a
common mission around enterprise value streams and have common sprint lengths
and normalized velocity. The value description is provided via Features and
Benefits.
3. Agile teams where teams are strong and proficient in
scrum as we intend to scale these practices across the department. Teams
operate under program vision, system, architecture and user experience guidance
and the value description is provided via user stories.
As Leffingwell and his associates emphasize that this is not
a new concept but an extension of known practices. As an example, in 2010 Cohen (p.352) stated
“fortunately, if large organisations use the techniques described regarding the
role of the product manager, working with a shared backlog, being mindful of
dependencies, coordinating work among teams, and cultivating communities of
practice, they can successfully scale a scrum project”.
The fundamentals of SAFe apply effectively for program
management of ITSM and IT Operations. I’m aware of an IT department, who are
responsible for the effective and efficient delivery of IT Service Management
and operational services supported by hundreds of staff across various
countries. They primarily do
not provide application development or support services. In order to provide
world class IT operational services and the highest value possible to their customers, they have adopted a governance model similar to SAFe in the Program
and Team levels. Pictured below is their Program Wall that contains the highest
priority initiatives for their department (as rows). These initiatives are then
managed as projects amongst various cross functional, scrum teams within the
department. The pictured cards are features, and these features also appear in
the respective scrum team wall(s) in the form of elaborated user stories. They run fortnightly iterations (sprints)
and twice a week, all initiative/project owners meet with the department
leadership team for stand-ups to discuss progress and blockers (just like a
scrum team stand-up).
 |
| Program Wall |
The greatest benefits of this Program Wall (and their agile
way of working) include:
- Better visibility & transparency of the department’s priorities for all staff;
- Clear alignment of the department’s work to the various teams;
- Better utilization of staff as they form cross-functional teams to tackle their highest priorities;
- Staff morale improves as they can see how their efforts directly contribute to their customer’s highest needs.
While the department did not originally make
a specific decision to adopt SAFe for its approach to program management, there
are clear synergies between SAFe and their way of working. This case study
demonstrates that the benefits of frameworks like SAFe and Agile can be applied
to teams other than application development or
support teams. Therefore, these frameworks can be effectively applied across entire IT organisations (both development and operations).
References:
Cohn, M. (2010). Succeeding with Agile, Boston : Addison Wesley
Leffingwell, D. (2013). Scaled Agile Framework. Retrieved
October 12, 2013 from http://scaledagileframework.com/
