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Summary
In his article for Forbes titled Understanding Fake Agile, Steve Denning refers to SAFe as “codified bureaucracy”. Jared Spool says it’s a “fast path to mediocrity”. But the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is currently in use by many enterprise organizations like NASA, Capital One, FedEx, and the Department of Defense. With so many companies attempting to become as agile as Silicon Valley startups, SAFe is being adopted as a way to scale up Agile software development processes, and many UX teams are having to support it, whether they like it or not.
Key Insights
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SAFe uses the Agile Release Train metaphor to synchronize multiple agile teams on a fixed schedule for incremental delivery.
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SAFe initially excluded UX/design but now incorporates Lean UX as a bolted-on practice, often via a lean UX Center of Excellence.
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There are typically not enough UX experts to embed one per agile team in large enterprises, necessitating a hybrid advisory model.
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Discovery work within SAFe is often under-supported compared to delivery, causing challenges in shaping what to build.
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UX work benefits from operating one or more iterations ahead of development, but this creates coordination and backlog challenges.
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Embedding UX Architects at the program level alongside engineering architects improves early hypothesis validation and research.
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There is confusion and overlap among roles like Product Owner, Product Manager, Business Analyst, and Requirements Analyst within SAFe.
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Story pointing and capacity planning should include UX efforts, not just development, to improve realistic planning and resource allocation.
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SAFe’s Dev-centric nature can marginalize UX work unless explicit efforts are made to integrate design activities visibly and measurably.
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Visualizing and managing dependencies at scale through SAFe’s PI planning is valuable, but the framework can risk bureaucratic rigidity and loss of customer focus.
Notable Quotes
"SAFe’s Agile Release Train is a long-lived team of agile teams that incrementally deliver solutions in sync like a train leaving the station."
"While there aren’t enough lean UX experts for each team, having a lean UX Center of Excellence for each value stream helps embed UX advisory properly."
"The discovery aspect within SAFe’s portfolio is the hardest part to get right; many product owners lack the skills to determine what to build."
"We embed UX selectively in a few value streams and try to train others to balance research and design activities on their own."
"Working one to three sprints ahead for UX research helps validate hypotheses early but can create mini-waterfalls and handoff issues."
"In some organizations, UX Architects at the program level work with product managers to validate hypotheses and set design direction before PI planning."
"There’s often a disconnect because the people doing the research and conceptualization aren’t the same as those doing the development work."
"In SAFe, Product Owner and Product Manager roles can be confusing and inverted compared to other models, adding to role ambiguity."
"Story points should apply to UX work as well as development, helping make UX time and effort visible and planned for."
"SAFe risks becoming codified bureaucracy that sidelines the customer, but it holds potential if adapted to foster real business agility."
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