SAFe® Coaches Handbook

SAFe® Coaches Handbook

by Darren Wilmshurst, Lindy Quick
Released July 2023
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781839210457

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Book description

Written by experienced Agile coaches, SPCTs, and a SAFe® Fellow, this guide is packed with real-world examples, use cases, and anecdotes, and offers valuable guidance to help you avoid common pitfalls and successfully implement SAFe®

Key Features

  • Understand how to tailor SAFe® practices to meet your organization’s needs
  • Avoid common mistakes encountered while adopting SAFe® at team, ART, and portfolio levels
  • Discover practical tips and best practices to plan teams, ARTs, events, and Lean Portfolio Management

Book Description

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) is widely recognized as an eff ective methodology for implementing Agile practices at the Enterprise level. However, the complexity of SAFe® can make it challenging for Teams and organizations to determine which practices can be safely adapted to their unique needs. Although SAFe® is a framework rather than a set of rules, promoting adaptation, it’s crucial to understand why SAFe® practices are designed the way they are along with the consequences of modifying them.

The SAFe® Coaches Handbook is a comprehensive resource that goes beyond a how-to guide, providing a deep understanding of SAFe® principles and practices. The chapters are designed in a way to teach you how to successfully implement SAFe® in your organization and eff ectively manage the Team’s Backlog while avoiding common pitfalls. You’ll discover optimal ways to create SAFe® Teams and run successful Events. You’ll also learn how to plan Agile Release Trains (ARTs), manage the ART Backlog, conduct PI Planning, and grasp the importance of Value Stream Identifi cation in driving value delivery.

By the end of this book, you’ll be armed with practical tips and advice to help you successfully customize the Scaled Agile Framework to your Enterprise’s needs while preserving the aspects that make it work successfully.

What you will learn

  • Discover how to set up Agile Teams to attain maximum effectiveness
  • Avoid common mistakes organizations make with SAFe®
  • Find out how to set up the Agile Release Train
  • Discover common mistakes enterprises make that affect the success of the ART
  • Understand the importance of Value Streams and learn how to work with them successfully
  • Start using the best ways to measure the progress of Teams and ARTs at an Enterprise level
  • Recognize the impact of successful SAFe® adoption on Enterprise strategy and organizational structure

Who this book is for

If you're a SAFe® Practice Consultant (SPCT), Scrum Master/Team Coach, or Release Train Engineer tasked with implementing SAFe® within an organization, you'll find this book indispensable. It offers valuable insights into aspects of SAFe® and helps ensure success in delivery and execution with practical uses you can adopt. Product owners and product managers will also benefit from this book by gaining a deeper understanding of how to function effectively within a SAFe® environment. A basic understanding of SAFe®, agile, and DevOps is recommended to get the most out of this book.

Table of contents

  1. SAFe® Coaches Handbook
  2. Foreword
  3. Building a community for change
  4. Why I love this book
  5. Contributors
  6. About the authors
  7. About the reviewers
  8. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. Are there any prerequisites?
    3. What this book covers
    4. Download the example code files
    5. Download the color images
    6. Conventions used
    7. Get in touch
    8. Share your thoughts
    9. Download a free PDF copy of this book
  9. Chapter 1: Thriving in the Digital Age
    1. The Five Technological Revolutions
    2. Casualties of the Digital Age
    3. The Dual Operating System
    4. Core Competencies of Business Agility
      1. Team and Technical Agility (TTA)
      2. Agile Product Delivery (APD)
      3. Enterprise Solution Delivery (ESD)
      4. Lean Portfolio Management (LPM)
      5. Organizational Agility (OA)
      6. Continuous Learning Culture (CLC)
      7. Lean-Agile Leadership (LAL)
    5. Values and Principles
      1. Lean
      2. Agile
      3. SAFe® Core Values
      4. SAFe® Lean-Agile Principles
    6. Summary
    7. Further reading
  10. Part 1: Agile Teams
  11. Chapter 2: Building the Team
    1. What is an Agile Team?
    2. Agile Team Roles and Responsibilities
      1. Product Owner (PO) and the Agile Team
      2. Scrum Master/Team Coach and the Agile Team
      3. The Agile Team Responsibilities
    3. Team Types
      1. System Team
      2. Shared Services
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  12. Chapter 3: Agile Team Iteration and PI Execution
    1. Day-To-Day within an Iteration
      1. Iteration Events and the Product Owner
      2. Iteration Events and the Scrum Master/Team Coach
      3. Iteration Activities and the Agile Team
    2. Day-To-Day within a PI
      1. ART Events and the Product Owner
      2. ART Events and the Scrum Master/Team Coach
      3. ART Events and the Agile Team
    3. Summary
    4. Further reading
  13. Chapter 4: Team Backlog Management
    1. The Team Backlog
    2. What is a User Story?
    3. Types of Stories
    4. Why do we have different types of Stories?
    5. Estimating User Stories
    6. Story Splitting
    7. User Story Prioritization
    8. Getting your Team Backlog to Flow
    9. Kanban Team Stories
    10. Team Backlog Preparation for PI Planning
    11. Summary
    12. Further reading
  14. Chapter 5: Team Iteration Events
    1. SAFe® Scrum Team Events
      1. Iteration Planning
      2. Team Sync
      3. Backlog Refinement
      4. Iteration Review
      5. Iteration Retrospective
      6. Iteration System Demos
    2. SAFe® Kanban Team Events
      1. Planning
      2. Team Sync
      3. Retrospective
    3. Team Artifacts
      1. Definition of Done
      2. Definition of Ready
      3. Working Agreements
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  15. Part 2: Agile Release Trains
  16. Chapter 6: Building the Agile Release Train
    1. Why Your Train isn’t Your Department
      1. How should we Build our ART?
    2. How Identifying the Correct Value Stream Impacts the ART
      1. How should we Identify our Value Streams and what happens if we don’t?
    3. Release Train Engineers, Product Management, and the System Architect – Senior Leaders
      1. The Troika
      2. The Release Train Engineer (RTE)
      3. Responsibilities of a Release Train Engineer
      4. Product Management
      5. The Responsibilities of Product Management
      6. System Architect
      7. The Responsibilities of the System Architect
    4. Do we need a System Team?
      1. What is a System Team?
    5. Summary
    6. Further reading
  17. Chapter 7: Release Trains Day-to-Day
    1. Synchronization and Cadence
    2. The Continuous Delivery Pipeline
      1. What is the CDP?
      2. Who is Responsible for the CDP?
      3. Why do we need a CDP?
      4. Integrate Often and Early
    3. Tooling
    4. Day-to-Day – Product Management
      1. ART Events and Product Management
      2. Product Management and ART Backlog Refinement
      3. Product Management and Preparing for PI Planning
      4. Ongoing Activities for Product Management
    5. Day-to-Day – System Architect
      1. ART Events and the System Architect
      2. Ongoing Activities for the System Architect
    6. Day-to-Day – the Release Train Engineer
      1. Keeping the Train (ART) on the Tracks
      2. Facilitating the Events
      3. General Responsibilities of the RTE
      4. The RTE and Agile Tools
      5. The RTE and preparing for PI Planning and I&A
      6. Get Help!
    7. The Innovation and Planning Iteration
      1. IP Iteration Schedule
      2. Measure and Grow Assessments
      3. Responsibilities in the IP Iteration
      4. We don’t need an IP Iteration
    8. Summary
    9. Further reading
  18. Chapter 8: ART Backlog Management
    1. The ART Backlog
    2. What is a Feature anyway?
      1. Enablers
      2. Capacity Allocation
    3. Feature Sizing
      1. What about Points?
      2. Feature Splitting and Combining
    4. Feature Prioritization
      1. Why WSJF?
      2. Applying WSJF
    5. Backlog Preparation for PI Planning
    6. Summary
    7. Further reading
  19. Chapter 9: Events for the Train
    1. The Syncs
      1. Coach Sync
      2. PO Sync
      3. ART Sync
      4. The Technical Sync
      5. The Troika Sync
      6. Release Management Sync
      7. Scheduling the Syncs
      8. Bonus Sync Recommendations
    2. Don’t Skip the ART Board
      1. What is the ART Board?
    3. Iteration System Demo
      1. How to execute an Iteration System Demo
      2. Considerations for the Iteration System Demo
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  20. Chapter 10: PI Events
    1. PI Planning
      1. The RTE and PI Planning
      2. Preparing for PI Planning
    2. Executing PI Planning
      1. Day 1 Kick-Off
      2. Presentations
      3. PI Objective Tips and Tricks
      4. Team Breakouts
      5. Draft Plan Reviews
      6. Management Review and Problem-Solving
      7. Day 2
      8. Remote/Distributed PI Planning
    3. The I&A Event
      1. The PI System Demo
      2. Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement
      3. The Retrospective and Problem-Solving Workshop
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  21. Part 3: Portfolio
  22. Chapter 11: Enterprise Strategy
    1. What is Enterprise Strategy?
    2. Strategy Agility
    3. How is Enterprise Strategy different from Portfolios?
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  23. Chapter 12: Building Your Portfolio
    1. Starting with Education for the Leaders
    2. Painting your Portfolio with Color
    3. Value Stream Identification (VSI)
      1. Pre-Work and Preparation
      2. Step 1 – Identifying the OVS
      3. Step 2 – Identifying the Solutions the OVS use or provide to Customers
      4. Step 3 – Identify the People who Develop and Support the Solutions
      5. Step 4 – Identify the DVS that Build the Solutions
      6. Step 5 – Realize DVS into ARTs
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  24. Chapter 13: Establishing Lean Budgets
    1. Seeing the Horizons
    2. We fund Value Streams, not Projects
    3. Participatory Budgeting (PB)
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  25. Chapter 14: Portfolio Backlog Management
    1. Portfolio Epics
    2. The Portfolio Kanban
      1. The Funnel
      2. Reviewing
      3. Analyzing
      4. The Portfolio Backlog
      5. Implementing
      6. Done
    3. Lean Portfolio Management Events and Governance
      1. The Portfolio Sync
      2. The Strategic Portfolio Review
      3. Participatory Budgeting (PB)
    4. Summary
    5. Further reading
  26. Chapter 15: Measuring Progress
    1. Leading and Lagging Indicators
      1. Domain 1 – Team Health
      2. Domain 2 – Quality
      3. Domain 3 – Productivity
      4. Domain 4 – Predictability
    2. Summary
    3. Further reading
  27. Chapter 16: Leadership Alignment
    1. Moving from a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset
    2. Leading by Example
      1. Insatiable Learning
      2. Authenticity
      3. Emotional Intelligence (EI)
      4. Courage
      5. Growing Others
      6. Decentralized Decision-Making
    3. Leading an Agile Organization
      1. Step 2 – Creating a Powerful Guiding Coalition
      2. Other Important Steps to Implement Organizational Change
      3. Steps 3 and 4 – Developing and Communicating the Vision and Strategy
      4. Step 6 – Generating Short-Term Wins
      5. Step 7 – Consolidating Gains and Producing More Wins
      6. Step 8 – Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture
    4. A Continuous Learning Culture (CLC)
    5. Summary
    6. Further reading
  28. Chapter 17: Embracing Agility and Nurturing Transformation
  29. Appendix A
  30. Appendix B
    1. Standard 2-day agenda
    2. Distributed 3-day agenda
      1. Day 1
      2. Day 2
      3. Day 3
    3. 4 Half-day agenda
  31. Glossary
  32. Index
    1. Why subscribe?
  33. Other Books You May Enjoy
    1. Packt is searching for authors like you
    2. Share your thoughts
    3. Download a free PDF copy of this book

Product information

  • Title: SAFe® Coaches Handbook
  • Author(s): Darren Wilmshurst, Lindy Quick
  • Release date: July 2023
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781839210457