SAFe® — Despised, Yet Successful?

TL; DR: SAFe® — Despised, Yet Successful?

Many in the Agile community consider the Scaled Agile Framework designed by Dean Leffingwell and Drew Jemilo as unagile, violating the Agile Manifesto and the Scrum Guide. “True agilists” would never employ SAFe® to help transition corporations to agility. SAFe® is an abomination of all essential principles of “agility.” They despise it.

Nevertheless, SAFe® has proven not only to be resilient but thriving. SAFe® has a growing market share in the corporate world and is now the agile framework of choice for many large organizations.

How come? Learn more about nine reasons for this development.

PS: I have no affiliation with SAFe® whatsoever and consider it harmful. Yet there are lessons to learn.

SAFe® — Despised, Yet Successful? — Age-of-Product.com
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The Uncomfortable Truth of Scaling ‘Agile’

TL; DR: The Uncomfortable Truth of Scaling Agile

Agile transformations, scaling Agile from a team level to the whole organization, are more than implementing frameworks like SAFe®. They require a radical shift from rigid, top-down management to flexible, people-centric operations rooted in simplified structures, autonomous teams, and frequent, sustainable value delivery rather than promising quicker, cheaper results.

The Uncomfortable Truth of Scaling Agile — Age-of-Product.com
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FAST Scaling: An Innovative Way to Scale Agile with James Shore — Hands-on Agile #45

TL; DR: Hands-on Agile #45: FAST Scaling: An Innovative Way to Scale Agile with James Shore

In this energizing 45th Hands-on Agile session, James Shore shared his experiences with scaling “agile:” first with traditional approaches and, more recently, with FAST scaling. Learn in this deep-dive what works, what doesn’t, and how you can try FAST in your organization.

James Shore: FAST: An Innovative Way to Scale — Hands-on Agile #45 — Age-of-Product.com

📺 Watch the video now: James Shore: FAST: An Innovative Way to Scale — Hands-on Agile #45.

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SAFe ®’s NPS ® Score as a Scaling Framework Is -56 According to 505 Survey Participants

TL; DR: The SAFe ® NPS ® Score as a Scaling Framework Is -56

SAFe® has always been a controversial topic within the agile community. Therefore, back in 2017, I ran a first survey on the Net Promoter Score® of the Scaled Agile Framework SAFe®. The result back then was -52. Four and a half years later, I reran the poll: SAFe® has been through several iterations, and many more agile practitioners have experienced working with it. However, the question still is: Would you recommend SAFe ®?

Executive Summary: SAFe®’s NPS® score based on the 2022 sample equals -56. (For details, see the data below.)

SAFe ®’s NPS ® Score as a Scaling Framework Is -56 According to 505 Survey Participants — Age-of-Product.com
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Survey 2022: Would you recommend SAFe ®?

TL; DR: Survey: Would you recommend SAFe ®?

SAFe® has always been a controversial topic within the agile community. Therefore, back in 2017, I ran a survey on the Net Promoter Score® of the Scaled Agile Framework SAFe®. The result back then was -52. Four and a half years later, I believe it is time to rerun the poll: SAFe® has been through several iterations, and many more agile practitioners have experienced working with it. Moreover, the question still is: Would you recommend SAFe ®?

If you can spare five minutes of your time, please join the community effort and participate in the 2022 SAFe® survey.

Survey 2022: Would you recommend SAFe®? Age-of-Product.com
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How to Make Agile Work in Fast-Growing Startups

TL; DR: How to Make Agile Work in Fast-Growing Startups

For years, I worked in several Berlin-based, fast-growing startups in my capacity as Scrum Master, agile coach, and Product Owner. These are my lessons learned on making ‘agile’ — including Scrum as a framework — work in a fast-growing startup. Also, let me introduce you to the anti-patterns agile startups shall avoid at all costs.

How to Make Agile Work in Fast-Growing Startups — Age-of-Product.com
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