(2018-07-02) Jeffries Issues With Safe

Ron Jeffries: Issues with SAFe

The structure and teaching of SAFe is relentlessly top down. All the important stuff is figured out up in Project Portfolio. All the features are figured out up in Program. Now you guys Build and Test that.

SAFe appeals to the simplistic thinking of large organizations to the effect that they need to standardize things, and that because they are large, they are different

Much of the work of an organization is already done by a single Product team. These teams do not need SAFe. Much more could be done by a single team. The best thing to do in such a case is probably to form that team

SAFe training spends a huge amount of time on the "Agile Release Train", which is a five-iteration period. The final iteration is HIP (Hardening, Innovation, Planning). The focus of the release train is to get everything in the plan done in those five iterations

Dependencies are not "normal mode". They are impediments. They should be removed. Eliminate them by eliminating component teams and going to Feature Teams

Much of the work of any company can be done by single cross-functional teams

SAFe's strength is that it appeals to large organizations who are not Agile

SAFe tells corporate dinosaurs that those little mammals downstairs are nothing to worry about. Agile, on the other hand, thinks mammals are the answer.