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Scaled agile process framework.

• User (Business) Value: How important or critical is this item for your users (business)?
• Time Criticality: How urgent do you need this item for your users (business)?
• RROE = Risk Reduction or Opportunity Enablement: How important is this item for you to eliminate a risk ahead you or create an opportunity in the business?

Contains all atributes of https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/story/

• Volume – How much is there?
• Complexity – How hard is it?
• Knowledge – What’s known?
• Uncertainty – What’s unknown?

C - Culture A - Automation L - Lean M - Measurement R - Recovery

The five principles of Lean manufacturing were defined by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones in their book “The Machine That Changed the World”¹. The term “Lean” itself was coined by John Krafcik in 1988, and the principles were further popularized by Womack, Jones, and Daniel Roos⁵. These principles have played a significant role in improving workplace efficiency and are widely adopted in various industries..

1. Define Value

To better understand the first principle of defining customer value, it is important to understand what value is. Value is what the customer is willing to pay for. It is paramount to discover the actual or latent needs of the customer. Sometimes customers may not know what they want or are unable to articulate it. This is especially common when it comes to novel products or technologies. There are many techniques such as interviews, surveys, demographic information, and web analytics that can help you decipher and discover what customers find valuable. By using these qualitative and quantitative techniques you can uncover what customers want, how they want the product or service to be delivered, and the price that they afford.

2. Map the Value Stream

The second Lean principle is identifying and mapping the value stream. In this step, the goal is to use the customer’s value as a reference point and identify all the activities that contribute to these values. Activities that do not add value to the end customer are considered waste. The waste can be broken into two categories: non-valued added but necessary and non-value & unnecessary. The later is pure waste and should be eliminated while the former should be reduced as much as possible. By reducing and eliminating unnecessary processes or steps, you can ensure that customers are getting exactly what they want while at the same time reducing the cost of producing that product or service.

3. Create Flow

After removing the wastes from the value stream, the following action is to ensure that the flow of the remaining steps run smoothly without interruptions or delays. Some strategies for ensuring that value-adding activities flow smoothly include: breaking down steps, reconfiguring the production steps, leveling out the workload, creating cross-functional departments, and training employees to be multi-skilled and adaptive.

4. Establish Pull

Inventory is considered one of the biggest wastes in any production system. The goal of a pull-based system is to limit inventory and work in process (WIP) items while ensuring that the requisite materials and information are available for a smooth flow of work. In other words, a pull-based system allows for Just-in-time delivery and manufacturing where products are created at the time that they are needed and in just the quantities needed. Pull-based systems are always created from the needs of the end customers. By following the value stream and working backwards through the production system, you can ensure that the products produced will be able to satisfy the needs of customers.

5. Pursue Perfection

Wastes are prevented through the achievement of the first four steps:

1. 1) identifying value,
2. 2) mapping value stream,
3. 3) creating flow, and
4. 4) adopting a pull system. However,
5. 5) the fifth step of pursuing perfection is the most important among them all.

It makes Lean thinking and continuous process improvement a part of the organizational culture. Every employee should strive towards perfection while delivering products based on the customer needs. The company should be a learning organization and always find ways to get a little better each and every day.

The Kotter 8-Step Change Model was first introduced in 1996 by John Kotter in his book, “Leading Change”. While the core concepts remain relevant, Kotter has since expanded on his ideas with a focus on accelerating change adoption.

Step 1. Establish a sense of urgency Before any change can take place, it's important to create a sense of urgency around the need for change. This might involve highlighting the risks and challenges that the organization is facing, and explaining why change is necessary to address those issues.

Step 2. Form a powerful coalition Once the need for change has been established, it's important to bring together a group of influential people who can help to drive the change forward. This coalition should include people from a range of different departments and levels within the organization.

Step 3. Create a vision for change With the coalition in place, the next step is to create a clear and compelling vision for what the organization will look like after the change has been implemented. This vision should be inspiring and should help to motivate people to get behind the change effort.

Step 4. Communicate the vision Once the vision has been developed, it's important to communicate it widely and frequently throughout the organization. This will help to build support for the change effort and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Step 5. Empower others to act on the vision In order for the change to be successful, everyone within the organization needs to be empowered to act on the vision. This might involve providing training and resources, as well as removing any obstacles or barriers that might be preventing people from taking action.

Step 6. Create short-term wins To build momentum and keep people motivated, create short-term wins that demonstrate the value of the change effort. These wins can help to:

Build confidence and team buy-in. Create a sense of momentum that can carry the change effort forward.

Step 7. Consolidate gains and produce more change Once some initial wins have been achieved, it's important to consolidate those gains and build on them. This might involve:

Expanding the change effort to other parts of the organization. Taking on new initiatives that build on the success of the initial change effort.

Step 8. Anchor new approaches in the organization's culture Finally, it's important to anchor the new approaches and behaviors that have been developed as part of the change effort in the organization's culture. This will help to ensure that the changes are sustained over the long term and become part of the way the organization operates daily.

https://t2informatik.de/wissen-kompakt/agile-manifest/

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• Individuen und Interaktionen sind wichtiger als Prozesse und Werkzeuge.

• Working software over comprehensive documentation.
• Funktionierende Software ist wichtiger als eine umfassende Dokumentation.

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
• Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kunden ist wichtiger als die Vertragsverhandlung.

• Responding to change over following a plan.
• Reagieren auf Veränderung ist wichtiger als das Befolgen eines Plans.

https://www.productplan.com/glossary/agile-principles/#:~:text=%E2%80%9COur%20highest%20priority%20is%20to,listen%20to%20your%20market%20continually.

What Are the 12 Agile Principles?

The agile principles are statements that define the agile methodology and also act as best practices for agile teams. The agile principles and core values are documented in the agile manifesto, a brief document that defines agile. Agile principles also apply to other project management methodologies derived from agile, such as kanban or scrum.

The writers of the agile manifesto agreed on 12 principles that define how to run an agile workflow. Let’s look at each of these 12 principles to learn what they are and how they can help you manage your projects.

1. Satisfy the Customer Through Early and Continuous Delivery of Valuable Software By shortening the time between documenting the project, reporting to your customer and then getting feedback, you can focus on the real goal of the project, which is delivering what the customer wants, not what you planned.

2. Welcome Changing Requirements, Even Late in Development Embrace change. Even when the customer requests a change late in the project phase, implement it. Why wait for another project to explore another iteration when you can do it now and get the results immediately? Agile wants you to stay nimble and on your feet so you can pivot without having to constantly reinvent the wheel.

3. Deliver Working Software Frequently If you’re going to embrace change, then you’re going to have to give up on your etched-in-stone schedule, or at least create a shorter range to run your tasks. One way agile does this is by cutting out a lot of the documentation that is required with traditional project management when planning your schedule before you ever start a task. The trouble is a lot of that paperwork isn’t necessary. It only slows things down.

You need to reach an agreement with your team and stakeholders to come up with an agile release planning that satisfies both parties.

4. Business People and Developers Must Work Together It’s like they’re talking two different languages, and in a sense, they are, but both the business and developer sides of the project are crucial to its success. You must build a bridge between the stakeholders so they can understand each other and, as important, work together. Use the same tools you would manage remote teams to facilitate an exchange of ideas that both sides understand and are on board with.

5. Build Projects Around Motivated Individuals In other words, don’t micromanage. It doesn’t work. It takes you away from what you should be focusing on. It erodes morale and sends talent packing. You assembled the best, now let them do what they’re good at. If you did the due diligence beforehand, then you can trust them to do the work. Of course, you’ll monitor that work, and step in as needed, but stay out of their way.

6. Promote Face-to-Face Conversations Documenting conversations, creating email narrative streams and even using collaboration software like Slack, are all well and good. But when you’re trying to move swiftly, you don’t have time to wait for a reply. You need immediate answers, and the only way to achieve that speed of response is by talking to your team member or team in person. You can do this by working in the same physical space or having distributed teams. But if it’s the latter, you want to try and keep the schedules to the same hours, so you can at least video conference. That creates a more collaborative environment.

7. Working Software Is the Primary Measure of Progress That means, is the software (or whatever product or process you’re working on in the project) working correctly? You’re not measuring progress by checking off tasks and moving across your scheduled timeline, but by the success of the software (or whatever) is the subject of your project. Basically, it’s staying focused on what’s important. The process is what gets you to achieve the goal of the project, but the goal of the project isn’t the process.

8. Agile Processes Promote Sustainable Development One reason for short sprints of activity is not only that they lend themselves to accepting change more readily, but they also help to keep your teams motivated. If you’re working on a project for an extended period, there’s going to be burnout. It’s unavoidable. Don’t overtax your team with too much overtime. It’s going to impact the quality of your project. So, get the right team for the job, one that will work hard but not overextend themselves and put the project quality in jeopardy.

9. Continuous Attention to Technical Excellence and Good Design Enhances Agility Whether you’re working on code or something more concrete, you want to make sure that after each iteration it’s improving. You don’t want to have to come back and fix things later. Fix them now. Better still, make sure they’re getting better. Use scrum, an agile framework for completing complex projects, to help review and keep the project evolving.

10. Simplicity—the Art of Maximizing the Amount of Work Not Being Done—is Essential If you’re looking to move quickly through a project, then you’re going to want to cut out unnecessary complexities. Keeping things as simple as possible is a great ethic to streamline your process. You can do this many ways, including the use of agile tools that cut out the busy work and give you more control over every aspect of the project.

11. The Best Architectures, Requirements and Designs Emerge from Self-organizing Teams When you have a strong team, you want to give that team the autonomy to act independently. This means they can adapt to change quicker. In fact, they can do everything with greater agility because you’ve given them the trust to act without second-guessing them. If you’ve done your job in collecting the right people, then they’ll do their job addressing issues and resolving them before they become problems.

12. Have Regular Intervals Another benefit of creating a well-rounded team is that they will stop, reflect and tweak the way they do things throughout the course of the project. They don’t act by rote or just blindly follow protocol, but think through their relationship to the project and adjust when necessary. The last thing you want is a complacent team, one that stands on their laurels. What you need is an ever-evolving group that is constantly engaged and looking for ways to improve productivity.

https://scaledagileframework.com/safe-core-values/

Core Values of

1. alignment:
   1. Communicate vision, strategy, connect strategy to execution, speak with a common language, understand customer
2. transparency:
   1. Things go wrong. Nobody can fix a secret.
3. respect for people
   1. respect basic human need
4. relentless improvement
   1. build a problem solving culture, sence of urgency

https://scaledagileframework.com/safe-lean-agile-principles/

1. Take an economic view

Delivering the ‘best value and quality for people and society in the shortest sustainable lead time’ requires a fundamental understanding of the economics of building systems. Everyday decisions must be made in a proper economic context. This includes the strategy for incremental value delivery and the broader economic framework for each value stream. This framework highlights the trade-offs between risk, Cost of Delay (CoD), manufacturing, operational, and development costs. In addition, every development value stream must operate within the context of an approved budget and be compliant with the guardrails which support decentralized decision-making.

2. Apply systems thinking

Deming observed that addressing the challenges in the workplace and the marketplace requires an understanding of the systems within which workers and users operate

Such systems are complex, and they consist of many interrelated components.

But optimizing a component does not optimize the system. To improve, everyone must understand the larger aim of the system. In SAFe, systems thinking is applied to the system under development, as well as to the organization that builds the system.

The Solution is a System: https://scaledagileframework.com/apply-systems-thinking/

• Understanding System Boundaries: Team members must clearly understand where a system starts and stops, how it interacts with its environment, and how it connects with other systems.
• Suboptimization: Optimizing a single component can be detrimental to the overall system's performance. Components can consume excessive resources, hindering other elements.
• Holistic Understanding: For a system to function effectively, teams need to grasp the intended behavior and architecture, including how components collaborate to achieve the system's objective. Intentional design is crucial in systems thinking.
• Value in Interconnections: A system's value stems from its interconnectedness. Interfaces, along with the dependencies they create, are essential for delivering ultimate value. Continuous focus on these interfaces and interactions is paramount.
• Integration Speed Limits System Evolution: The speed of system development is constrained by its slowest integration point. Faster integration and evaluation cycles accelerate system knowledge growth.

The Enterprise is a System: https://scaledagileframework.com/apply-systems-thinking/

• Building complex systems is a social endeavor. Leaders must cultivate an environment where people collaborate on the best way to build better systems. Suppliers and customers are integral to the development value stream and must be treated as partners based on a long-term foundation of trust.
• Optimizing a component does not optimize the system. Optimizing local teams or functional departments does not enhance the flow of value through the enterprise. As with physical systems, the value of the system passes through its interfaces.
• Accelerating flow requires eliminating functional silos and creating cross-functional organizations, such as Agile Teams, Agile Release Trains (ARTs), and Solution Trains.

3. Assume variability; preserve options

Traditional design and life cycle practices encourage choosing a single design-and-requirements option early in the development process. Unfortunately, if that starting point proves to be the wrong choice, then future adjustments take too long and can lead to a suboptimal design. A better approach is to maintain multiple requirements and design options for a longer period in the development cycle. Empirical data is then used to narrow the focus, resulting in a design that creates optimum economic outcomes.

4. Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles

Developing solutions incrementally in a series of short iterations allows for faster customer feedback and mitigates risk. Subsequent increments build on the previous ones. Since the ‘system always runs,’ some increments may serve as prototypes for market testing and validation; others become minimum viable products (MVPs). Still others extend the system with new and valuable functionality. In addition, these early, fast feedback points help determine when to ‘pivot’ where necessary to an alternate course of action.

5. Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems

Business owners, developers, and customers have a shared responsibility to ensure that investment in new solutions will deliver economic benefits. The sequential, phase-gate development model was designed to meet this challenge, but experience shows that it does not mitigate risk as intended. In Lean-Agile development, integration points provide objective milestones at which to evaluate the solution throughout the development life cycle. This regular evaluation provides the financial, technical, and fitness-for-purpose governance needed to ensure that a continuing investment will produce a commensurate return.

6. Make value flow without interruptions

The third principle in Lean Thinking is to ‘make value flow without interruptions.’ Doing so requires an understanding of what flow is, what the various properties of a flow system are, and how these properties can accelerate or impede the flow of value through any particular system. Principle #6 highlights the eight common properties of a flow-based system and provides specific recommendations for eliminating impediments to flow.

7. Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning

Cadence creates predictability and provides a rhythm for development. Synchronization causes multiple perspectives to be understood, resolved and integrated at the same time. Applying development cadence and synchronization, coupled with periodic cross-domain planning, provides the mechanisms needed to operate effectively in the presence of inherent development uncertainty.

8. Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers

Lean-Agile leaders understand that ideation, innovation, and employee engagement are not generally motivated by individual incentive compensation. Such individual incentives can create internal competition and destroy the cooperation necessary to achieve the larger aim of the system. Providing autonomy and purpose, minimizing constraints, creating an environment of mutual influence, and better understanding the role of compensation are keys to higher levels of employee engagement. This approach yields better outcomes for individuals, customers, and the enterprise.

9. Decentralize decision-making

Achieving fast value delivery requires decentralized decision-making. This reduces delays, improves product development flow, enables faster feedback, and creates more innovative solutions designed by those closest to the local knowledge. However, some decisions are strategic and global and have economies of scale that justify centralized decision-making. Since both types of decisions occur, creating a reliable decision-making framework is a critical step in empowering employees and ensuring a fast flow of value.

10. Organize around value

Many enterprises today are organized around principles developed during the last century. In the name of intended efficiency, most are organized around functional expertise. But in the digital age, the only sustainable competitive advantage is the speed with which an organization can respond to the needs of its customers with new and innovative solutions. These solutions require cooperation amongst all the functional areas, with their incumbent dependencies, handoffs, waste, and delays. Instead, Business Agility demands that enterprises organize around value to deliver more quickly. And when market and customer demands change,

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) has seven core competencies that are essential for achieving Business Agility:

LEADING SAFE relevant

• 1. Lean-Agile Leadership: Inspiring and leading an enterprise with Lean-Agile principles and practices.
• 5. Lean Portfolio Management: Aligning strategy and execution by applying Lean and systems thinking approaches to strategy and investment funding, Agile portfolio operations, and governance.
• 6. Organizational Agility: Adapting quickly to changing market conditions, customer needs, and emerging technologies.
• 3. Agile Product Delivery: Delivering customer value through high-quality, fast, and predictable program increments.

NOT LEADING SAFE relevant

• 2. Team and Technical Agility: Building high-performing teams with technical excellence at the team and program levels.
• 4. Enterprise Solution Delivery: Building and delivering large-scale, complex solutions.
• 7. Continuous Learning Culture: Continuously improving, innovating, and learning to better achieve the enterprise's mission¹⁵.

These competencies are central to the framework and guide enterprises in their journey towards agility at scale.

The portfolio canvas acts as a visual snapshot of your portfolio, outlining key elements like:

• Value Streams: The building blocks representing the flow of work for specific products or services.
• Customer Focus: Identifying the target customers for each value stream.
• Solutions: The features, products, or services delivered by each value stream.
• Budget and Funding: Resources allocated to develop and deliver solutions within each value stream.
• Key Activities and Events: Critical activities and milestones within the development lifecycle for each value stream.
• Partners and Resources: Any external dependencies or resources needed to support the value streams.
• Cost Structure: Breakdown of cost elements associated with each value stream.
• Revenue Streams (Optional): Potential revenue streams, particularly for value streams delivering commercial products or services.
• KPIs (Key Performance Indicators): Measurable metrics to track the performance of each value stream.

Here are the key elements feeding into the portfolio canvas:

Strategic Themes:

These high-level goals or focus areas guide the portfolio's direction and align with the organization's overall strategy.

SWOT/TOWS Analysis:

This strategic planning tool helps identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) or Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses, and Strengths (TOWS) relevant to the portfolio. It informs strategic decision-making for the value streams.

Portfolio Vision:

This shared vision outlines the desired future state of the portfolio, considering the strategic themes and how the value streams contribute to achieving that vision.

Value Streams:

These are the core building blocks of the portfolio canvas, representing the flow of work from concept to delivery for a specific product or service.

Customer Focus:

The canvas identifies the target customers for each value stream, ensuring solutions directly address their needs and expectations.

Solutions:

Each value stream defines the solutions it delivers, which could be features, products, or services that provide value to the target customers.

Budget and Funding:

The canvas allocates budgets for each value stream, reflecting the resources needed to develop and deliver their solutions.

Key Activities and Events:

This section outlines the critical activities required to execute the value streams and any key events within the development lifecycle, such as planning sessions or reviews. Partners and Resources:

The canvas identifies any key partners or external resources needed to support the value streams and their success.

Cost Structure:

This section details the cost elements associated with each value stream, providing transparency into resource allocation and potential areas for optimization. Revenue Streams:

While not always applicable, the canvas may consider potential revenue streams for each value stream, particularly if it involves commercial products or services.

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators):

Measurable metrics are defined to track the performance of each value stream and ensure they are aligned with the overall portfolio vision and strategic themes.

See https://scaledagileframework.com/implementation-roadmap/

1. Reaching the Tipping Point: Build initial momentum by identifying early adopters and showcasing success stories.
2. Train Lean-Agile Change Agents: Equip a dedicated group with the knowledge and skills to guide the transformation.
3. Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (CoE): Establish a central body to champion SAFe adoption and provide ongoing support.
4. Train Executives, Leaders, and Managers: Ensure leadership understands SAFe principles and can effectively guide teams.
5. Organize Around Value: Identify value streams and Agile Release Trains (ARTs) to optimize workflow.
6. Create the Implementation Plan: Develop a detailed roadmap outlining the implementation timeline and activities.
7. Prepare for ART Launch: Set the stage for a successful launch of the first ART.
8. Train Teams and Launch ART: Provide team members with SAFe training and officially launch the ART.
9. Coach ART Execution: Offer ongoing coaching and support to ensure the ART functions effectively.
10. Launch More ARTs and Value Streams: Gradually expand the use of SAFe across the organization.
11. Enhance the Portfolio: Focus on optimizing the portfolio management process to maximize value delivery.
12. Accelerate: Continuously improve and refine SAFe implementation through ongoing learning and adaptation.

• Shift Learning Left
• Pairing and Peer Review
• Collective Ownership and T-shaped skills
• Artifact Standards and definition of done
• Workflow Automation
• Business Quality Standards
• Agile Software Development Quality Practices
• Test-first Practices
• Refactoring
• Continuous Delivery
• Agile Architecture

Agile quality practices:

Shift left

https://scaledagileframework.com/built-in-quality/

https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/guardrails/

https://v5.scaledagileframework.com/lean-budgets/

1. Guiding investments by horizon (Evaluate, Emerge, Invest/Extract, Retire)
2. Applying capacity allocation, to optimize value and solution integrity
3. Approving significant initiatives
4. Continuous Business Owner engagement

Guding by Horizons:

The 3 Dimensions of lean-agile leadership:

1. Mindset, Values, and Principles – By embedding the Lean-Agile way of working in their beliefs, decisions, responses, and actions, leaders model the expected norm throughout the organization.
2. Leading by Example – Leaders gain earned authority by modeling the desired behaviors for others to follow, inspiring them to incorporate the leader’s example into their development journey.
3. Leading Change – Leaders lead (rather than support) the transformation by creating the environment, preparing the people, and providing the necessary resources to realize the desired outcomes.

The Five Essential Leadership Qualities

Insatiable Learning

Insatiable learning depicts how leaders engage in the ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge and growth and encourage and support the same in others.

Authenticity

Authenticity requires leaders to model desired professional and ethical behaviors. Acting with honesty, integrity, and transparency, they are true to themselves and their beliefs.

Emotional Competence

Emotional competence describes how leaders identify and manage their emotions and those of others through self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Courage

Courage is essential for leaders to guide their organizations through the rapidly changing dynamics of the digital age. It requires leaders to embrace vulnerability, take appropriate risks, and engage in difficult but necessary conversations to challenge the status quo.

Growing Others

Growing others encourages leaders to provide each employee's personal, professional, and technical guidance and resources to assume increasing levels of responsibility and decision-making.