Business Agility Flashcards

Question

What are the Scrum Master's responsibilities?

Answer 1

Servant leader and coach for the team, instilling the agreed-to Agile process, removing impediments, and fostering an environment for high performance, continuous flow, and relentless improvement.

Answer 2

Stream-aligned, Enabling, Platform, Complicated subsystem

Answer 3

flow of work and has the ability to deliver value directly to the customer or end user.

Answer 4

Specific subsystems that require deep specialty skills and expertise.

Answer 5

Assist other teams with specialized capabilities and help them become proficient in new technologies.

Answer 6

The development and support of platforms that provide services to other teams.

Answer 7

Work in short iterations, typically two-week, Break work into small user stories managed in team backlogs, Plan the work together for the upcoming iteration, Have Daily Stand-Up (DSU) events to communicate and assess progress towards iteration goals, Demonstrate working solutions continuously, or at the end of each iteration, Discuss how to improve the process before starting the iteration cycle

Answer 8

A long-lived team-of-Agile-teams, which—along with other stakeholders—incrementally develops, delivers, and where applicable operates, one or more solutions

Answer 9

Around enterprise’s value streams

Answer 10

Broad skills, including operations, supply chain, security, compliance, product marketing, distribution, training, support, legal, finance, licensing, product management, R&D, procurement, contracts, suppliers, manufacturing, and engineering

Answer 11

Fast execution and value delivery

Answer 12

The ART aligns to the portfolio vision, and through it, to the Enterprise strategy.

Answer 13

Constant engagement with the portfolio stakeholders responsible for the direction of the train. Business Owners are involved in ART events and continuously provide guidance

Answer 14

Built-in Quality

Answer 15

Delivering value in the shortest sustainable lead time

Answer 16

All Agile teams—software, hardware, business, or other—must create quality solutions and define their own built-in quality practices

Answer 17

Quality must be ‘built into’ value creation, not ‘inspected in’ later. In addition, by working in small batches, different individuals in cross-functional teams will be able to update work artifacts frequently. To support their ‘collective ownership’ of artifacts, code, and other content, Agile teams adhere to standards and processes, and continually improve their product quality through refactoring and by reducing technical debt.

Answer 18

Teams visualize and limit work in process (WIP), reduce the batch sizes of work items, and manage queue lengths (SAFe Principle #6). They also base milestones and measures on objective evaluation of working systems (SAFe Principle #5). Build a Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP). Quickly release small, Minimum Marketable Features (MMF) to learn and adapt.

Answer 19

Peer review and pairing create built-in quality during development. Both create and maintain quality because the work will contain knowledge, perspectives, and best practices from multiple members.

Answer 20

Collective ownership means that anyone can change an artifact to improve its quality.

Answer 21

Standards are required to assure consistency, enabling everyone to understand and maintain the quality of each work product. Standards also provide lightweight governance to help assure that individuals don’t make a local change that has an unintended, system-level consequence.

Answer 22

They automate the PROCESSES that build, deploy, and release the solution. This process takes the teams’ raw artifacts (code, models, images, content, etc.), generates production versions as necessary, integrates them across teams and ARTs, and makes them available in a production environment. They automate the QUALITY CHECKS along this path to ensure standards are followed, artifacts meet quality levels (e.g., broken link and spelling checkers), etc.

Answer 23

Establish Flow, Peer Review and Pairing, Automation, Collective Ownership and Standards, and Definition of Done.

Answer 24

Agile Architecture, Agile Testing, Behavior-Driven Development, Test-Driven Development, Refactoring, Spikes

Answer 25

Built-in Quality. “Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility”

Answer 26

All teams including software, hardware, operations, product marketing, legal, security, compliance, etc. share the goals and principles of built-in quality. However, the practices will vary by discipline because their work products vary.

Answer 27

Higher customer satisfaction, Improved velocity and delivery predictability, Better system performance, Improved ability to innovate, scale, and meet compliance requirements

Answer 28

Flow Quality, Architecture and Design Quality, Code Quality, System Quality, Release Quality

Answer 29

Test first and Continuous Delivery

Answer 30

Features, stories, and code

Answer 31

Test-first applies to both functional requirements (Feature and Stories) as well as non-functional requirements (NFRs) for performance, reliability, etc.

Answer 32

A test-first approach collapses the traditional “V-Model” by creating tests earlier in the development cycle

Answer 33

Continuous Delivery Pipeline

Answer 34

Reduced test suites and test data (a ‘smoke test’) to ensure the most important functionality before moving through other pipeline stages. Accelerated feedback.

Answer 35

Knowledge gained through experimentation, modeling, simulation, prototyping, and other learning activities. It also requires a Set-Based Design approach that evaluates multiple alternatives to arrive at the best decision.

Answer 36

good coupling/cohesion and appropriate abstraction/encapsulation make implementations easier to understand and modify. SOLID principles [5] make systems flexible so they can more easily support new requirements.

Answer 37

Using a set-based design explores multiple solutions to arrive at the best design choice, not the first choice

Answer 38

Architecture and design also determine a system’s testability. Modular components that communicate through well-defined interfaces create seams [7] that allow testers and developers to substitute expensive or slow components with test doubles.

Answer 39

yes. For example, integrated circuit (IC) design technologies (VHDL, Verilog) are software-like and share the same benefits from these design characteristics and SOLID principles [8]. Hardware designs also apply the notion of test doubles through simulations and models or they provide a wood prototype before cutting metal.

Answer 40

Unit testing and TDD, Pair work, and collective ownership and coding standards. Also applies to cyber-physical systems.

Answer 41

system quality confirms that the systems operate as expected and that everyone is aligned on what changes to make.

Answer 42

Create alignment to enable fast flow and continuously integrate the end-to-end solution

Answer 43

. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) defines a collaborative practice where the Product Owner and team members agree on the precise behavior for a story or feature. Applying BDD helps developers build the right behavior the first time and reduces rework and errors. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) scales this alignment to the whole system.

Answer 44

Fast feedback.

Answer 45

Component teams become responsible for supporting both their part of the final solution as well as maturing the incremental, end-to-end testing platform.

Answer 46

Lean Quality Management System (QMS) defines approved practices, policies, and procedures that support a Lean-Agile, flow-based, continuous integrate-deploy-release process.

Answer 47

Definition of Done is an important way of ensuring increment of value can be considered complete. The continuous development of incremental system functionality requires a scaled definition of done to ensure the right work is done at the right time, some early and some only for release.

Answer 48

Organize around value, both agile.

Answer 49

Network: Product research, delivery and maintenance. Hierarchy: Revenue & cost, Finance and accounting, Sales and marketing, Legal and governance, People and careers, Production of goods and services. Shared: Strategy, Customer engagement, Support, and Learning culture.

Answer 50

The Network is optimized for speed and adaptability; the Hierarchy is optimized for efficiency and stability.

Answer 51

SAFe implements the Network as a set of development value streams (DVSs) and provides the necessary interfaces to the Hierarchy to restore the system’s balance.

Answer 52

Reducing handoffs and delays between functional areas, reducing time to market Bringing together all the research, development, deployment, and service personnel needed to offer whole product solutions Providing intense customer focus across all disciplines for each product and service type Measuring success via meaningful, outcome-based key performance indicators And perhaps most importantly, the Network can rapidly reorganize as necessary to support emerging opportunities and competitive threats

Answer 53

Build technology portfolios of development value streams Realize value streams with product-focused Agile Release Trains (ARTs) Form Agile teams that can directly deliver value

Answer 54

Precisely specify value by specific product Identify the value stream for each product Make value flow without interruptions Let the customer pull value from the producer Pursue perfection

Answer 55

operational and development

Answer 56

A collection of development value streams, aligned as necessary to deliver the products and services customers need

Answer 57

Helps assure customer and product focus across the entire portfolio Aligns strategy to execution by bringing visibility to all the work Provides the basis for Lean Budgets, which eliminates the friction and cost accounting overhead of traditional project-based work Supports measuring success via outcome-based key performance indicators (KPIs) Improves workflow with smaller batch sizes

Answer 58

ARTs are cross-functional, cross-discipline teams-of-teams of up to 150 people. To minimize handoffs and delays—and to foster continuous knowledge growth—ARTs have all the business and technical capabilities needed to define, implement, validate, deploy, release and support solutions for their customers.

Answer 59

Stream aligned, complicated subsystem, and platform

Answer 60

Organized around one of four types of value: stream-aligned, complicated subsystem, platform, and enabling teams

Answer 61

Customer Centricity / Design Thinking Develop on Cadence / Release on Demand Devops and continuous delivery pipeline

Answer 62

Customer Centricity: mindset and way of doing business that focuses on creating positive engagements as customers experience the products and services the enterprise offers. Customer-centric businesses create greater profits, increase employee engagement, and more thoroughly satisfy customer needs. Design Thinking: Understanding the problem, which provides insight into the requirements and benefits of a desirable solution Designing the right solution, which ensures the solution is technically feasible Ensuring the solution is viable and sustainable by understanding and managing solution economics

Answer 63

continuous flow of value to its customers. The timing of these releases are determined by market and customer needs

Answer 64

Develop on Cadence, a coordinated set of practices that support Agile Teams by providing a reliable series of events and activities that occur on a regular, predictable schedule

Answer 65

Focus on the customer Understand the customers 's needs Think and feel like the customer Build whole product solutions Create lifetime customer value

Answer 66

Iterations and PIs

Answer 67

End of every iteration

Answer 68

Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events are held at the end of each Program Increment (PI). It provides the entire ART with an opportunity to identify process improvement via a structured, problem-solving workshop. Innovation and Planning iterations offer an opportunity in every PI for teams to work on innovation activities that are difficult to fit into a continuous, incremental value delivery pattern.

Answer 69

the mechanisms and processes by which new functionality is deployed into production and released immediately or incrementally to customers based on demand.

Answer 70

Agile Product Management

Answer 71

Regulatory deadlines Responding to product defects and security updates Responding to competitive market pressures

Answer 72

DevOps is the adoption of a mindset, a culture, and a set of technical practices that provides solution elements to the customer without handoffs or excessive external production or operations support.

Answer 73

: Culture, Automation, Lean Flow, Measurement, and Recovery (CALMR)

Answer 74

Culture represents the philosophy of shared responsibility for fast value delivery across the entire Value Stream. It consists of everyone who helps create value, including Product Management, development, testing, security, compliance, operations, etc.

Answer 75

Automation represents the need to remove human intervention from as much of the pipeline as possible to decrease errors and reduce the overall cycle time of the release process.

Answer 76

Lean flow identifies the practices of limiting work in process (WIP), reducing batch size, and managing queue lengths. These hasten value flow to the customer and enable faster feedback.

Answer 77

Measurement fosters learning and continuous improvement by understanding and quantifying the flow of value through the pipeline

Answer 78

Recovery builds systems that allow fast fixes of production issues through automatic rollback and ‘fix forward’ capabilities (i.e., fix in production).

Answer 79

the workflows, activities, and automation needed to shepherd a new piece of functionality from ideation to an on-demand release of value to the end-user. The pipeline is the most significant element of the agile product delivery competency

Answer 80

Continuous Exploration fosters innovation and builds alignment on what should be built. Continuous integration builds quality into the development process by continuously integrating the ongoing work of many Agile Teams. Continuous deployment captures the processes associated with moving solutions through staging into production environments.

Answer 81

Design Thinking

Answer 82

Develop describes the practices necessary to implement stories and commit the code and components to version control Build describes the practices needed to create deployable binaries and merge development branches into the trunk Test end-to-end describes the practices necessary to validate the solution Stage describes the practices necessary to host and validate the solution in a staging environment before production

Answer 83

Break features into stories – Splitting features into stories enables continuous delivery via small batches and smooth integration. This may include creating user story maps to ensure that workflows are designed to meet customer needs. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) –BDD is a process Product Owners and teams use to more thoroughly understand requirements and improve quality by creating acceptance criteria and acceptance tests, and often automating them, before the code is even written. BDD works with TDD . Test-Driven Development (TDD) – TDD involves writing the unit test first, then building the minimal code needed to pass the test. This leads to better design, higher quality, and increased productivity. TDD works with BDD. Version control – Effective version control allows teams to recover quickly from problems and to improve quality by making sure the right components are integrated together. Aggregating assets under version control is a leading indicator of continuous integration maturity. Built-in quality – Built-In Quality prescribes practices around flow, architecture & design quality, code quality, system quality, and release quality. Application telemetry – Application telemetry is the primary mechanism that acquires and then uses application data to help determine the results of relevant hypotheses. Threat modeling – In addition to the threat modeling done in the Architect activity of continuous exploration, attention should be given during system design to possible vulnerabilities that may be introduced into the system.

Answer 84

Continuous code integration – Code commit should automatically trigger compilation and testing of changes. Ideally, this happens on each commit but should happen at least several times a day. Build and test automation – The compilation process should be automated and include unit- and story-level tests to verify the change. These tests often use test doubles to replicate other parts of the systems and enable fast builds. Trunk-based development – Long-lived branches must be avoided. Teams should merge back as quickly as they can, at least once per day, and all teams should work off a single trunk. Gated commit – Committing to a single trunk is risky, as broken changes can impact many teams. This is why only the changes that have been validated through the build and test process are merged into the trunk. Application security – Code analysis tools inspect the code and third-party packages for known vulnerabilities.

Answer 85

Test and production environment congruity – Environment congruity assures that testing exercises the solution as it would behave in front of live users and decreases the probability that defects will escape into production. Test automation – Many types of tests need to be run: functional testing, integration testing, regression testing, etc. The Agile Testing article details a testing matrix of what can and should be automated. Test data management – To create stability, tests must be consistent and realistic, replicating production as much as possible, and under source control. Service virtualization – Different kinds of testing require different environments. Service virtualizations allow teams to simulate a production environment without the costs and effort associated with creating and managing real environments. Testing nonfunctional requirements (NFRs) – system attributes such as security, reliability, performance, maintainability, scalability, and usability must also be thoroughly tested. Continuous integration with suppliers – Suppliers bring unique contributions that can have a significant impact on lead-time and value delivery. Their work must be continuously integrated as well. It helps to adopt a shared integration cadence and establish objective evaluation milestones.

Answer 86

Maintain a staging environment –A staging environment, which matches production provides the place for such validation. Blue/Green deployment – The blue/green pattern involves two environments–live (production) and idle (staging). Changes flow continuously to the idle environment where they are staged until ready to deploy to production. At that point, a switch is flipped (a load balancer is updated for example), and the idle environment becomes the live environment, while the previous live environment becomes the new idle environment. This enables continuous delivery, zero-downtime deployment, and fast recovery from failures. System demo – This is the event where stakeholders evaluate a solution’s readiness to be deployed to production.

Answer 87

Integrate often Make integration results visible Establish a common cadence Develop and maintain a proper infrastructure Apply supportive engineering practices (e.g., Test-first)

Answer 88

market and user research that creates actionable insights into the problems customers face, the solution requirements, and the solution context. Market research tends to drive strategy; user research tends to drive design,

Answer 89

Focuses on the who and the what Evaluates what larger samples say Asks people about concepts, opinions, and values Asks a market what they will buy Focuses on marketing and selling the product

Answer 90

Focuses on the how and the why Evaluates what smaller samples do Observes what people do Determines how a market will use Focuses on the product requirements

Answer 91

our ability to put aside our preconceived ideas and develop solutions from the perspective of our customers

Answer 92

motivates teams to understand and experience the world from the customer’s perspective, learning and appreciating the difficulties they face, their roles, and their work context. It emphasizes user research, including activities such as Gemba walks

Answer 93

Gemba builds empathy by helping agile teams to gain a deeper understanding of the user’s emotional and physical needs—the way they see, understand and interact with the world around them.

Answer 94

Empathic design guides the development of solutions that move beyond functional needs, also addressing: Aesthetic and emotional needs Ergonomic needs, such as the placement of physical features Product attributes that may not be explicitly requested by users, such as performance, security and compliance, but which are essential for viability An understanding of how the solution may impact the solution context The impact of the solution on related or affected groups That the architecture of the solution ensures that operations, maintenance, and support account for the needs of the customer

Answer 95

General solution – intended to be used by a significant number of customers Custom-built solution – built and designed for an individual customer

Answer 96

customer interaction is typically based on requirements workshops, focus groups, usability testing, and limited beta releases. To validate various hypotheses, the solution evolves through feedback from user behavior analysis, metrics, and business intelligence.

Answer 97

external customers collaborate with Product and Solution Management in joint design efforts

Answer 98

focus on cadence-based development directly supports the collaborations that create the best outcomes in custom-built solutions. For example, PI Planning provides the time and space to align all stakeholders around the next set of deliverables.

Answer 99

In the zone between general solutions and custom solutions are deep and narrow solutions. A deep and narrow solution has a small number of customers that will often pay a significant amount of money for these products and services.

Answer 100

Some solutions serve disparate market segments in which each segment uses the solution in slightly different ways. In this situation, customer centricity means understanding the unique needs of each segment even if the solution serves multiple segments. © Sc

Answer 101

The GENERIC product is often considered the “minimal offering” of a product. For a dishwasher, that would be the ability to wash dishes and nothing more. For a hotel, it might be a clean room and little else. The EXPECTED product represents the customer’s minimal purchase conditions as informed by alternative or competing products. For example, a dishwasher without different cycles or a timed delay start may not meet current market expectations. The AUGMENTED product goes beyond what is expected and enables competitors to differentiate their offerings. A dishwasher that provides a mobile phone app to signal when the washing cycle has completed may qualify. The POTENTIAL product represents everything that might be done to attract and keep customers. Informed by research, it fuels longer-term strategic planning and creates opportunities for sustainable product advantages

Answer 102

A market rhythm is a set of events that occur repeatedly on a predictable cadence. For example, retailers routinely prepare for the holiday shopping season by upgrading their systems to gain a competitive edge to support significantly higher transaction volumes. A market event is a one-time future event, which has a high probability of materially affecting one or more solutions. They can be external, such as the launch of government regulations, or they can be internally created, such as a company’s annual user conference.

Answer 103

Market rhythms help companies recognize and capitalize on opportunities that are predictable and require longer-term planning.

Answer 104

Armed with the understanding of market rhythms, customer-centric road-mapping activities typically focus on the impact of market events. Market events are typically represented as milestones, and they strongly impact the timing for releasing solutions. They may also inform the content and timing of features or solution development activities identified during Program Increment (PI) planning.

Answer 105

Insights gained from the Gemba walks and other research activities define the functional and operational requirements of the solution’s operating environment. In SAFe, this is known as the Solution Context, which captures environmental, installation, operation, and support requirements.

Answer 106

Understanding Solution Context is crucial to value delivery. It identifies constraints outside the organization’s control. Solution Context also describes the negotiated constraints, such as when the organization uses principles of set-based design and collaborates with one or more Suppliers to optimize the total system’s space, power requirements, and weight.

Answer 107

Cost reduction Revenue enhancement

Answer 108

Desirable – Do customers and users want the solution? Feasible – Can we deliver the right solution through a combination of build, buy, partner, or acquire endeavors/activities? Viable – Is the way we build and offer the solution creating more value than cost? For example, in a for-profit enterprise, are we profitable? Sustainable – Are we proactively managing our solution to account for its expected product-market lifecycle?

Answer 109

Discover; understand the problem by engaging in market and user research to identify unmet needs. Define: focuses on the information gathered during the discover phase, using convergent techniques to generate insights into the specific problems and/or unmet needs

Answer 110

Understand the problem: Divergent thinking Design the right solution: Convergent thinking

Answer 111

Develop Deliver

Answer 112

Persona Empathy Maps Journey Maps

Answer 113

Benefit-Feature Matrix

Answer 114

Story Maps

Answer 115

Story maps also clarify the relationships between quality and value: Quality – Each Story in the backlog must be completed with quality Value – All the selected Stories in the Story Map must be completed to create value, because if a Story is missed, the user cannot complete their workflow

Answer 116

Fast feedback. By definition, a prototype is cheaper and faster to produce than a full solution. This enables faster feedback from users and customers, increased understanding of solution requirements, and greater confidence in the final designs. Risk reduction. Prototypes can reduce technical risk by enabling Agile teams to focus initial efforts on the aspects of the solution associated with the highest risk. Intellectual property / patent filing. Prototypes can be used to satisfy strategic requirements for managing intellectual property as early as possible in the development process. Models for requirements. Prototypes can provide more clarity in the requirements of the desired feature or solution than pages of documentation.

Answer 117

Paper prototypes are typically hand-drawn sketches of the intended solution. They can be automated to illustrate workflows as complements to user story maps. Mid-Fi prototypes are visually-complete representations of software-centric solutions but are not typically functionally integrated. Hi-Fi prototypes are visually-complete and interactive models which users and customers can directly explore. Hardware prototypes provide critical feedback to the Agile team on such things as form factors, sizes, and operational requirements.

Answer 118

Provide a common language for communicating with business and technology stakeholders Creates the near-term focus and vision Enables the ART to assess its performance and the business value achieved via the Program Predictability Measure Communicates and highlights each team’s contribution to business value Exposes dependencies that require coordination

Answer 119

Enable planning and avoid too much work in process (WIP) in the system. PI objectives are built largely bottom-up as the teams identify them during PI planning.

Answer 120

estimating and planning, knowledge of the team’s capacity, analysis of upcoming features, defining stories for the Team Backlog, summarizing the information into simple business terms that can be understood by everyone.

Answer 121

Committing to, and delivering, a series of short-term objectives helps to build trust. Uncommitted objectives are used to identify work that can be variable within the scope of a PI. The work is planned, but the outcome is simply not certain.

Answer 122

Dependencies with another team or supplier that cannot be guaranteed. The team has little to no experience with functionality of this type. In this case the teams may plan ‘Spikes’ early in the PI to reduce uncertainty. There are a large number of fairly critical objectives that the business is depending on and the team is already loaded close to full capacity.

Answer 123

Improved economics – Without uncommitted objectives, a team is committing to a 100 percent scope in a fixed timebox. This forces teams to trade off quality or build other buffers into the system. The other buffers can accumulate, and convert ‘uncertain earliness to certain lateness’, resulting in less overall throughput. Increased reliability – Uncommitted objectives represent variable scope, allowing confidence in the delivery of the main priorities. In turn, delivering on the stated commitments is the most important factor in building trust between the teams and the stakeholders. Adaptability to change – To reliably deliver on a cadence, uncommitted objectives provide the capacity margin needed to meet commitments, yet alter priorities if necessary, when fact patterns change

Answer 124

Business Owners use a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) to rate each objective.

Answer 125

Teams agree to do everything reasonably in their power to meet the committed objectives During the course of the PI, if it’s discovered that some objectives are not achievable, then the teams agree to escalate immediately so that stakeholders are informed and corrective action can be taken

Answer 126

collection of approved team PI objectives sheets; one per team.

Answer 127

Specific – States the intended outcome concisely and explicitly as possible. (Hint: Try starting with an action verb.) Measurable – It should be clear what a team needs to do to achieve the objective. The measures may be descriptive, yes/no, quantitative, or provide a range. Achievable – Achieving the objective should be within the team’s control and influence. Realistic – Recognize factors that cannot be controlled. (Hint: Avoid making ‘happy path’ assumptions.) Time-bound – The time period for achievement must be within the PI, and therefore all objectives must be scoped appropriately.

Answer 128

during the Post-PI Planning event, after all the ARTs have planned, objectives are further rolled up by the Solution Train Engineer, and the solution PI objectives are synthesized and summarized. This is the top level of PI objectives in SAFe, and they communicate to stakeholders what the Solution Train will deliver in the upcoming PI.

Answer 129

Map the current process Add metrics to establish opportunities for improvement

Answer 130

Process Time is the time it takes to get work done in one step. Lead Time is the time it takes from when the work was done in the previous step until it’s done in the current step. In other words, Lead Time = Delay Time from Last Step + Process Time of the current step. Delay time is the time when no work is happening. Percent Complete and Accurate (%C&A) represents the percentage of work that the next step can process without needing rework.

Answer 131

Kanban systems consist of a series of WIP-limited states: Funnel – This is the capture state for all new features or enhancement of existing system features. Analyzing – Features that best align with the vision are pulled into the analyzing step for further exploration. Here they’re refined with key attributes, including the business benefit hypothesis and acceptance criteria. Program backlog – After analysis, higher priority features move to the backlog, where they’re ranked. Implementing – At every Program Increment(PI) boundary, top features from the program backlog are pulled into the implementing stage, where they’re developed and integrated into the system baseline. Validating on staging – Features that are ready for feedback get pulled into the validating on staging step to be integrated with the rest of the system in a staging environment, and then tested and validated. Deploying to production – When capacity is available, features are deployed into the production environment, where they await release. Releasing – When sufficient value meets market opportunity, features are released, and the benefit hypothesis is evaluated. Done – When the hypothesis has been satisfied, no further work on the feature is necessary, and it moves to the done column

Answer 132

how to apply Lean-Agile principles and practices to the specification, development, deployment, operation, and evolution of the world’s largest and most sophisticated software applications, networks, and cyber-physical systems. It is one of the 7 core competencies of the Lean Enterprise.

Answer 133

Requirements analysis Business capability definition Functional analysis and allocation System design and design synthesis Design alternatives and trade studies Modeling and simulation Building and testing components, systems, and systems of systems Compliance and verification and validation Deployment, monitoring, support, and system updates

Answer 134

Lean System and Solution Engineering Coordinating Trains and Suppliers Continually evolve live systems.

Answer 135

Lean Systems and Solution Engineering applies Lean-Agile practices to align and coordinate all the activities necessary to specify, architect, design, implement, test, deploy, evolve, and ultimately decommission these systems. Aspects of this dimension include: Continually refine the fixed/variable Solution Intent Apply multiple planning horizons Architect for scale, modularity, releasability, and serviceability Continually address compliance concerns

Answer 136

Coordinating Trains and Suppliers coordinates and aligns the extended, and often complex, set of value streams to a shared business and technology mission. It uses the coordinated Vision, Backlogs, and Roadmaps with common Program Increments (PI) and synchronization points. Aspects of this dimension include: Build and integrate solution components and capabilities with Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and Solution Trains Apply ‘continuish’ integration Manage the supply chain with systems of systems thinking

Answer 137

Continually Evolve Live Systems ensures large systems and their development pipeline support continuous delivery. Aspects of this dimension include: Build a Continuous Delivery Pipeline Evolve deployed systems

Answer 138

Using small batches, replaces the ‘V’ model with continuous and concurrent engineering Take advantage of technology advances to reduce the cost of changing the systems Explore options through set-based design

Answer 139

Fixed and variable Solution Intent aligns all system builders to a shared direction. Solution Context, defines the system’s deployment, environmental, and operational constraints. Both should allow teams the implementation flexibility to make localized requirements and design decisions. Solution intent and solution context flow down the value stream. As downstream subsystem and component teams implement decisions, the knowledge gained from their continuous exploration (CE), integration (CI), and deployment (CD) efforts provide feedback back upstream and move decisions from variable (undecided) to fixed (decided).

Answer 140

Solution and Vision Roadmap (Epics) Solution PI Roadmap (Capabilities) ART PI Roadmap (Features)

Answer 141

Builders of large, cyber-physical systems must develop their own, applying intentional architecture and emergent design, which encourages collaboration between architects and teams. The goal is to create a resilient system that enables teams and trains to independently build, test, deploy—and even release—their parts of large solutions.

Answer 142

Lean QMS makes compliance activities part of the regular flow

Answer 143

To plan, present, learn, and improve together, trains align everyone on a regular cadence. They integrate their solutions at least every PI to validate that they are building the right thing and verify technical assumptions. Trains with components that have longer lead times still deliver incrementally through proxies that can integrate with the overall solution and support early validation and learning.

Answer 144

‘Continuish integration’ addresses the economic tradeoffs of the transaction cost of integrating versus delayed knowledge and feedback. The goal is frequent partial integration with at least one full solution integration each PI.

Answer 145

partial integration lessens risks. With partial integration, Agile teams and trains integrate and test in a smaller context and rely on the System Team for larger end-to-end tests with true production environments. A smaller context can mean testing a partial scenario or Use Case or testing with virtual/emulated environments, test doubles, mocks, simulations, and other models. This decreases the testing time and costs for teams and trains.

Answer 146

strategic suppliers should behave like trains and participate in SAFe events (planning, demos, I&A), use backlogs and roadmaps, adapt to changes, etc. Agile contracts should encourage this behavior Suppliers must support train-like roles. The supplier’s Product Manager and Architect continuously align the backlog, roadmap, and Architectural Runway with those of the overall solutions. Similarly, customer and supplier system teams share scripts and context to ensure that integration handoffs are smooth and free of delays

Answer 147

Clone and Own: common technique, creates a new version for each customer Platform: places all builders for Solution A on one value stream with aligned roadmaps. Internal Open Source: blends the two

Answer 148

Development on the CD pipeline begins at the same time system development begins and they evolve together: Systems engineering activities for analysis and design (continuous exploration) are performed in small batches to flow through the pipeline quickly Planning includes building the pipeline as well as the system Continuish integration creates the automation and environments that can flow changes through the pipeline Architecture leverages over-the-air updates and programmable hardware to enable deployment and release in the operational environment

Answer 149

Most hardware can be represented in models (Computer-Aided Design) and code (Verilog, VHDL) that can already support continuous integration. For these systems, ‘end-to-end’ integration will likely begin with connected models that later evolve to physical proxies, and ultimately become production hardware.

Answer 150

Objectives and Key results

Answer 151

a description of the future state of a portfolio’s Value Streams and Solutions and describes how they will cooperate to achieve the portfolio’s objectives and the broader aim of the Enterprise.

Answer 152

Lean Budgets and Guardrails are a set of funding and governance practices that increase development throughput while maintaining financial and fitness-for-use governance. This new funding model allows the enterprise to eliminate or reduce the need for traditional project-based funding and cost accounting, reducing friction, delays, and overhead. Lean budgets provide funding for value streams aligned with the business strategy and current strategic themes. Guardrails support these budgets by providing governance and spending policies and practices.

Answer 153

The Agile portfolio operations collaboration and responsibilities require the active engagement of the Agile Program Management Office/Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (APMO/LACE) and Communities of Practice (CoPs) for Release Train Engineers (RTEs) and Scrum Masters to Coordinate Value Streams Support Program Execution Foster Operational Excellence

Answer 154

Strategy & Investment Funding ensures the entire portfolio is aligned and funded to create and maintain the solutions needed to meet business targets. Agile Portfolio Operations coordinates and supports decentralized program execution and fosters operational excellence. Lean Governance is the oversight and decision-making of spending, audit and compliance, forecasting expenses, and measurement.

Answer 155

LPM aligns strategy and execution by applying Lean and systems thinking approaches to strategy and investment funding, Agile portfolio operations, and governance. It is one of the seven core competencies of the Lean Enterprise, each of which is essential to achieving Business Agility. Each core competency is supported by a specific assessment, which enables the enterprise to assess their proficiency. . Lean Portfolio Management describes how a SAFe portfolio is a collection of Value Streams for a specific business domain in an Enterprise. Each value stream delivers one or more Solutions that help the enterprise meet its business strategy. These value streams develop products or solutions for external customers or create solutions for internal operational value streams.

Answer 156

Lean Portfolio Management

Answer 157

how a SAFe portfolio is a collection of Value Streams for a specific business domain in an Enterprise. Each value stream delivers one or more Solutions that help the enterprise meet its business strategy.

Answer 158

Connect the portfolio to Enterprise strategy Maintain a Portfolio Vision Realize the Portfolio Vision through Epics Establish Lean Budgets and Guardrails Establish Portfolio Flow

Answer 159

Strategic Themes Portfolio Budget

Answer 160

Portfolio flow describes the process of managing portfolio epics through their lifecycle, including limiting the number of significant and typically cross-cutting initiatives in progress to match the portfolio’s capacity. LPM uses the Portfolio Kanban system to visualize and limit work in process (WIP), reduce batch sizes, and control the length of longer-term development queues.

Answer 161

Epics, as the run through the Portfolio Kanban.

Answer 162

APMO and LACE

Answer 163

Lead the move to objective milestones and Lean-Agile budgeting Establish and maintain the systems and reporting capabilities Foster Agile contracts Support leaner and more persistent Supplier and Customer partnerships Offer key performance indicators. Provide financial governance Advise as a communication liaison regarding the strategy to ensure the smooth deployment and operation of the value stream investment

Answer 164

Lean Governance manages spending, audit and compliance, forecasting expenses, and measurement. The Lean governance collaboration and responsibilities require the active engagement of the Agile PMO/LACE, Business Owners, and Enterprise Architects.

Answer 165

Forecast and budget dynamically Measure Portfolio performance Coordinate continuous compliance

Answer 166

The effective operation of the LPM function relies on three significant events: Strategic Portfolio Review Portfolio Sync Participatory Budgeting

Answer 167

The strategic portfolio review event provides continuous strategy, implementation, and budget alignment. The event is focused on achieving and advancing the portfolio vision. To enable value streams to prepare and respond to any changes, it’s typically held on a quarterly cadence, at least one month before the next PI Planning.

Answer 168

portfolio sync provides visibility into how well the portfolio is progressing toward meeting its objectives. This event has a more operational focus than the strategic portfolio review. Topics typically include reviewing epic implementation, the status of KPIs, addressing dependencies, and removing impediments. The portfolio sync is typically held monthly and may be replaced on a given month with the strategic portfolio review.

Answer 169

SAFe Participatory Budgeting (PB) is an LPM event in which a group of stakeholders decides how to invest the portfolio budget across Solutions and Epics. The resulting data is used to finalize any adjustments needed to the value stream budgets. These budgets are typically adjusted twice annually using PB.

Answer 170

MVP specification Lean Portfolio Management approval

Answer 171

Lean Business Case The LPM reviews the Lean business case to make a go/no-go decision for the epic. Once approved, portfolio epics stay in the portfolio backlog until implementation capacity and budget becomes available from one or more ARTs. The Epic Owner is responsible for working with Product and Solution Management and System Architect/Engineering to split the epic into Features or Capabilities during backlog refinement. Epic Owners help prioritize these items in their respective backlogs and have some ongoing responsibilities for stewardship and follow-up.

Answer 172

Business and Enabler

Answer 173

The MVP cost ensures the portfolio is budgeting enough money to prove/disprove the Epic hypothesis and helps ensure that LPM is making investments in innovation in accordance with lean budget guardrails The forecasted implementation cost factors into ROI analysis, help determine if the business case is sound, and helps the LPM team prepare for potential adjustments to value stream budgets

Answer 174

The MVP cost estimate is created by the epic owner in collaboration with other key stakeholders. It should include an amount sufficient to prove or disprove the MVP hypothesis. The cost is considered a hard limit.

Answer 175

The MVP and/or the full implementation cost is further comprised of costs associated with the internal value streams plus any costs associated with external suppliers. It is initially estimated using t-shirt sizing and refined over time as the MVP is implemented.

Answer 176

duration of the epic can be forecasted as an internal duration, the supplier duration, and the necessary collaborations and interactions between the internal team and the external team. Practically, unless the epic is completely outsourced, LPM can focus on forecasts of the internal ARTs affected by the epic, as internal ARTs are expected to coordinate work with external suppliers. Forecasting an epic’s duration requires an understanding of three data points: An epic’s estimated size in story points for each affected ART, which can be estimated using the T-shirt estimation technique for costs by replacing the cost range with a range of points The historical velocity of the affected ARTs The percent (%) capacity allocation that can be dedicated to working on the epic as negotiated between Product and Solution Management, epic owners, and LPM

Answer 177

Lean Startup strategy recommends a highly iterative build-measure-learn cycle for product innovation and strategic investments. This strategy for implementing epics provides the economic and strategic advantages of a Lean startup by managing investment and risk incrementally while leveraging the flow and visibility benefits of SAFe. Goal is to prove or disprove the hypothesis.

Answer 178

After it’s approved for implementation, the Epic Owner works with the Agile Teams to begin the development activities needed to realize the epic’s business outcomes hypothesis: If the hypothesis is proven true, the epic enters the persevere state, which will drive more work by implementing additional features and capabilities. ARTs manage any further investment in the Epic via ongoing WSJF feature prioritization of the Program Backlog. Local features identified by the ART, and those from the epic, compete during routine WSJF reprioritization. However, if the hypothesis is proven false, Epic owners can decide to pivot by creating a new epic for LPM review or dropping the initiative altogether and switching to other work in the backlog.

Answer 179

Guiding investments by horizon Applying capacity allocation to optimize value and solution integrity Approving significant initiatives Continuous Business Owner engagement

Answer 180

Horizon 3: Evaluating Horizon 2: Emerging Horizon 1: Investing / Extracting Horizon 0: Retiring

Answer 181

Horizon 1: investing // Extracting

Answer 182

one of the challenges every ART and Solution Train faces is how to balance the backlog of new business Features with the need to continuously invest in the Architectural Runway, and in maintaining current systems, avoiding velocity reduction and the need for wholesale replacement of components or solutions due to technological obsolescence. One solution to this challenge is that value streams (and ARTs) apply capacity allocation as a quantitative guardrail to determine how much of the total effort can be allocated for each type of activity for an upcoming Program Increment (PI),

Answer 183

Policies guide the allocation of capacity.

Answer 184

Below threshold: If the epic estimate is below the portfolio epic threshold, approval is managed through the Program or Solution Kanban systems. Above threshold: If the epic estimate exceeds the portfolio epic threshold, it requires review and approval through the Portfolio Kanban system, regardless of which level the initiative originates. The Portfolio Epic threshold is defined by LPM to determine which Epics are a portfolio concern. Example thresholds include: Forecasted epic cost, forecasted number of PIs to implement an epic, strategic importance of the epic or a combination of these factors.

Answer 185

Preparing for the upcoming PI – Business Owners ensure that ARTs and Solution Trains are allocating sufficient capacity for features, enablers and technical debt and maintenance, as well as providing input on prioritization of Features and Capabilities using Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF). Business Owners also collaborate with Product and Solution Management to assure that the work planned for the PI contains the right mix of investments that address near-term opportunities (horizon 1), long-term strategy (horizon 2 and 3) and that sufficient capacity is allocated for decommissioning solutions (horizon 0). PI Planning – During PI planning Business Owners actively participate in key activities, including the presentation of the vision, draft plan review, assigning business value to team PI objectives, and approving final plans. Inspect & Adapt (I&A) Workshop – During the I&A workshop, Business Owners provide feedback on the solution’s ‘fitness for purpose’ during the System Demo (or Solution Demo). The Business Owner’s feedback is critical, as only they can give the guidance the train needs to stay on course or take corrective action. Additionally, they help assess actual value achieved versus plan, and they participate in the problem-solving workshop that follows.

Answer 186

The portfolio vision should have the following characteristics: Aspirational, yet realistic and achievable – It must be compelling and somewhat futuristic, yet practical enough to be feasible over some meaningful timeframe Motivational to engage others on the journey – The vision must align with the Strategic Themes, as well as to the individual team’s purpose

Answer 187

Portfolio Canvas

Answer 188

The portfolio canvas defines the Development Value Streams that are included in a SAFe portfolio, the value propositions and the Solutions they deliver, the customers they serve, the budgets allocated to each value stream, and other key activities and events required to achieve the portfolio vision.

Answer 189

Value Streams: The development value streams that are used to build the systems and capabilities that enable business processes in operational value streams or provide products and services to the operational value streams. Solutions: Each value stream produces one or more solutions, which are the products, services, or systems delivered to the Customer, whether internal or external to the Enterprise Customers: Customers describe the internal or external customers for each value stream. It defines how the business views and treats various sets of customers differently based on their common attributes. Channels: Explains how the enterprise delivers its products and services to intermediaries, customers, and end-users. If serving external customers, this may include marketing and sales mechanisms used to reach customers (e.g., web, direct sales, brick and mortar store, distribution network). If serving internal customers, it captures the interfaces with internal stakeholders and end-users (e.g., internal websites or custom IT applications). Customer Relationships: The types of relationships needed with customers to effectively apply and leverage the business’ products and services. It describes the connections and communications with each customer segment. These relationships influence the design of solutions and the allocation of resources within the portfolio. Budget: Each value stream is assigned a Lean Budget, which includes operating, overhead and capital expenses. KPIs / Revenue: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) define the measures that will be used to evaluate the results of the value stream investment.

Answer 190

Key Partners: The various buyer-supplier relationships and business alliances that facilitate achieving the value proposition. Key Activities: The most important actions the enterprise takes to deliver its products and services. Key Resources: The critical physical, intellectual, financial, human, and other capabilities and assets the enterprise has to achieve its objectives.

Answer 191

Cost Structure: Identifies the most significant costs in the portfolio’s business model, including the structural aspects, such as license costs, development labs, and costs of external services. Building cyber-physical systems also have other costs (e.g., hardware and firmware) which must be considered here. Revenue Streams: If the development value streams monetize directly, list the types and sources of revenue from customers. Note the major sources of revenue and how the customer is charged (fixed price, usage-based, etc.). For internal customers, non-profits, and government agencies describe the value of the solutions.

Answer 192

current state canvas represents the as-is state for the portfolio, enabling alignment of the organization on its structure, purpose, and status. One way to capture the current state is to assemble one or more teams to create a shared understanding. The team should include the Agile Release Train (ART) and value stream Business Owners, Lean Portfolio Management (LPM), Epic Owners, Architects. RTEs, Product and Solution Management, Product Owners and other portfolio stakeholders Iterate with Post-its with a few keywords to fill out each building block May have one for each Value stream. The appropriate stakeholders in each value stream should develop their Value Stream Canvas.

Answer 193

SWOT and TOWS The portfolio’s Strategic Themes and SWOT and TOWS analysis are critical inputs to exploring alternatives for the future state. LPM uses the current state portfolio canvas as a starting point to explore the different ways in which the portfolio could evolve in alignment with the strategic themes. Start by selecting a specific block in the portfolio canvas, identifying a potential change or opportunity, and then explore how it impacts the other parts of the canvas

Answer 194

Strategic Themes are differentiating business objectives that connect a portfolio to the strategy of the Enterprise. They influence portfolio strategy and provide business context for portfolio decision-making

Answer 195

Strategic themes offer a way to align the business strategy of an Enterprise or Government agency with a SAFe portfolio. Working together, enterprise executives and portfolio stakeholders analyze various inputs to establish a set of strategic themes (Figure 1). These are specific, differentiated business goals that communicate aspects of strategic intent from the enterprise to the portfolio. Strategic themes also provide a mechanism for aligning the business strategy of the Enterprise (or Government Agency) to a SAFe solution portfolio

Answer 196

Portfolio Vision Strategic themes are direct inputs to the portfolio vision. They may impact solutions, partners, key activities, customer segments, and revenue streams, and other portfolio business model elements. Investment Horizons Strategic themes help the portfolio align solution investments with the time horizons of the enterprise Value Stream Budgets and Guardrails Strategic themes profoundly influence value stream budgets, which provide the investment and allocation of people needed to accomplish the strategic intent. Portfolio Kanban and Portfolio Backlog Strategic themes provide insight into the Epics that are necessary to achieve the vision. They serve as inputs to decision-making criteria in the Portfolio Kanban system, where they: ---Impact the identification, success criteria, and prioritization of items in the funnel and backlog states ------Warrant reference and consideration in the Lean business case ---Impact the definition of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP Vision and Solution, Program, and Team Backlogs Strategic themes have an influence on the vision and backlogs for development at every level. They help determine the values of Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) that determine epic priorities. Solution and program epics that flow from the portfolio, or arise locally, are also influenced by the current themes. Due to their importance, strategic themes will often be presented (and repeated) by the Business Owners during Program Increment (PI) Planning. Moreover, strategic themes provide vital conceptual alignment across Agile Release Trains and Solution Trains

Answer 197

. Strategic themes can be defined by a phrase or by using the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) template.

Answer 198

There are two primary fields in the OKR template: Objective – a memorable description of what you want to achieve. They should be short, inspirational, and challenging. Key results – are measurable success criteria that can be used to track progress towards the objective. For each objective, there should be two to five key results

Answer 199

Organizational Agility competency describes how Lean-thinking people and Agile teams optimize their business processes, evolve strategy with clear and decisive new commitments, and quickly adapt the organization as needed to capitalize on new opportunities.

Answer 200

Lean-Thinking People and Agile Teams – Everyone involved in solution delivery is trained in Lean and Agile methods and embraces their values, principles, and practices. Lean Business Operations – Teams apply Lean principles to understand, map, and continuously improve the processes that deliver and support businesses solutions. Strategy Agility – The enterprise is Agile enough to continuously sense the market, and quickly change strategy when necessary.

Answer 201

This dimension is critical to delivering business solutions—not just the software applications and digital systems, but all of the supporting activities (e.g., privacy, security, support, availability) necessary to continually address the business problem. Even the solution itself is not stand alone, it lives in the larger context of its environment—including other hardware, software, network systems, and more.

Answer 202

combination of beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and actions of SAFe leaders and practitioners who embrace the concepts of the Agile Manifesto and Lean thinking. It’s the personal, intellectual, and leadership foundation for adopting and applying SAFe principles and practices.

Answer 203

the ten underlying SAFe principles that guide effective roles, practices, and behaviors. These principles are fundamental to organizational agility and the Lean-thinking people and Agile teams who enable it.

Answer 204

Sales, product marketing, and corporate marketing Sourcing and supply chain management Operations, legal, contracts, finance, and compliance People operations (Agile HR) Receiving, production, fulfillment, and shipping Customer service, support, and maintenance

Answer 205

Be Agile Know your value stream Specialize the principles and practices

Answer 206

Physical space considerations include: Providing focused individual areas that enhance the state of mental flow Supporting the need for constant informal team collaboration Supporting the need for occasional privacy Providing room for Daily Stand-ups, whiteboards, and walls to post objectives A semi-dedicated physical space for PI planning

Answer 207

the organization must ensure that everyone has the requisite infrastructure and technology to support remote working which includes: High bandwidth connection for audio and video communication Adequate computer hardware including webcams and headsets Out-of-hours technical support, covering all required time zones Access to files via a remotely accessible storage solution Instant messaging, collaboration, and Agile Lifecycle Management tooling

Answer 208

Visualize customers. Agile teams use personas to bring the customer to life and post their representations on the walls of their team area, so they are always top of mind. Visualize the flow of work. Making the current work visible using Kanban systems exposes the amount of Work In Process (WIP), bottlenecks, and what people are really doing as opposed to what others think they are doing. Visualize solution health. Customer support teams have long seen the value in displaying the number of waiting calls, daily closed and open tickets, and current Service Level Agreements performance prominently on monitors close to the teams who rely on that information. This approach has been adopted by Agile teams to include metrics on the state of the current solution. Visualize strategy. Another example of visualizing work is an ‘investment corridor’ (Figure 4) that identifies all current and potential epics in flight. Rather than confining the portfolio visualizations to a room, information in the corridor is outside, making it easy for people to walk up and add their thoughts and suggestions

Answer 209

Organizational agility requires enterprises to understand both the Operational Value Streams (OVS) that deliver business solutions to their customers, as well as the Development Value Streams (‘DVS’, which are the primary focus of SAFe) that develop those solutions.

Answer 210

requires that developers: Understand (and often help analyze and map) the operational value streams they support Apply customer-centricity and design thinking to internal and external solutions Include the business teams that support the solution in the development process

Answer 211

Map the Value Streams Implement Flow via the Kanban Optimize the Operational Value Streams with Automation and Tooling

Answer 212

This tooling typically includes: Agile Lifecycle Management solutions instantiate and connect the various backlogs and Kanbans teams use to manage their local work and provide enterprise-wide visibility Collaboration tools support local and distributed development and the intense degree of interaction and cooperation that is required Content management and translation management systems help teams of all type store, revise, access, and translate content Workflow management systems help business teams visualize and track the activities to evolve an ever-increasing set of digital assets

Answer 213

SAFe Principle #6, Visualize and limit Work In Process (WIP), reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths, is then applied to optimize flow.

Answer 214

Strategy agility is the third dimension of the organizational agility competency. Strategy agility is the ability to sense changes in market conditions and implement new strategies quickly and decisively when necessary.

Answer 215

Market Sensing innovating like a Lean Startup Implementing changes in Strategy Innovation Accounting Ignoring Sunk costs Organizing and reorganizing around value Agile Contracts

Answer 216

Market sensing represents the culture and practice of understanding changing market dynamics based on the following: Market research Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data Direct and indirect customer feedback Direct observation of the customers in the marketplace

Answer 217

Testing the outcome hypothesis via a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) before committing to a more significant investment reduces risk while generating useful feedback.

Answer 218

Significant changes to strategy often affect multiple solutions in the portfolio and require coordination and alignment. Consequently, most large strategy changes require new epics to implement the change across value streams. New epics go through the various Kanban systems and backlogs that manage the flow of work. During the normal course of work all backlogs are continuously reprioritized. Kanban systems help changes in strategy move quickly across value streams to the teams who do the implementation. This way, execution is aligned—and constantly realigned—to the evolving business strategy.

Answer 219

Innovation Accounting applies leading indicators—actionable metrics focused on measuring specific early outcomes using objective data. They are an essential part of the economic framework that drives business agility.

Answer 220

SAFe Principle #10 – Organize around value guides enterprises to align their development efforts around the full, end-to-end flow of value. This principle highlights the ‘dual operating system,’ one that leverages the benefits of the existing hierarchy but also creates a value stream network. This network assembles the people who need to work together, aligns them to the needs of the business and customer, minimizes delays and handoffs, and increases quality.

Answer 221

No portfolio is an island. Instead, each typically depends on other portfolios, suppliers, partners, operational support, and more, all of which require implicit or explicit contracts for the value to be delivered. Traditionally, these contracts are based on the assumption that requirements, deliverables, and service levels are known upfront and will remain stable. We know from experience that is just not true. As strategy changes, these traditional contracts can become enormous impediments that lock the business into assumptions of a former strategy. Although the business would like to change strategy, it is blocked by existing contracts.

Answer 222

Lean business operations recognize that delighting customers goes further than purely solution development. The entire customer journey, which includes delivering, operating, and supporting business solutions, needs to be continually optimized to reduce time to market and increase customer satisfaction. Strategy agility provides the ability to sense and respond to changes in the market, to evolve and implement new strategies quickly, and to reorganize when necessary to address emerging opportunities. As a result, ‘change becomes an opportunity, not a threat.’

Answer 223

Learning organizations invest in and facilitate the ongoing growth of their employees. When everyone in the organization is continuously learning, it fuels the enterprise’s ability to dynamically transform itself as needed to anticipate and exploit opportunities that create a competitive advantage. Learning organizations excel at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge while modifying practices to integrate the new insights [1,2]. These organizations understand and foster the intrinsic nature of people to learn and gain mastery, harnessing that impulse for the benefit of the enterprise [3].

Answer 224

Hire innovative people: Instilling innovation as a core organizational capability requires a commitment to cultivating the courage and aptitude for innovation and encouraging risk-taking among employees Create time and space for innovation Go See Often, the best innovation ideas are sparked by seeing the problems to be solved first-hand—witnessing how customers interact with products or the challenges they face using existing processes and systems, i.e., Continuous Exploration Experimentation and Feedback: Innovation cultures embrace the idea that conducting experiments designed to progress iteratively towards a goal is the most effective path to learning that creates successful breakthroughs Pivot without mercy or guilt: Experiment by building a Minimum Viable Product or MVP Create innovation Riptides: continuous flow of innovation is built on the foundation of SAFe principle #9 which promotes decentralized decision-making. ---------Some innovation starts as strategic portfolio concerns that are realized through Epics and Lean Budgets applied to value streams. --In the course of building the solution to realize Epics, teams, suppliers, customers and business leaders all identify opportunities for improving the solution. --The potential innovations that result can be considered an ‘innovation riptide’ that flows back into the structures that SAFe provides for building solutions. --Smaller, less expensive innovations flow into the Program Kanban as Features while larger, more expensive innovations result in the creation of an Epic and Lean Business Case and flow into the Portfolio Kanban

Answer 225

Constant learning based on a sense of constant sense of danger, desire to optimize the whole, enabling a problem-solving culture, reflecting at key milestones, and implementing fact-based improvement.

Answer 226

The three dimensions are: Learning Organization – Employees at every level are learning and growing so that the organization can transform and adapt to an ever-changing world. Innovation Culture – Employees are encouraged and empowered to explore and implement creative ideas that enable future value delivery. Relentless Improvement – Every part of the enterprise focuses on continuously improving its solutions, products, and processes.

Answer 227

The Continuous Learning Culture competency describes a set of values and practices that encourage individuals—and the enterprise as a whole—to continually increase knowledge, competence, performance, and innovation. This is achieved by becoming a learning organization, committing to relentless improvement, and promoting a culture of innovation.

Answer 228

to thrive in the current climate, organizations must evolve into adaptive engines of change, powered by a culture of fast and effective learning at all levels. Learning organizations leverage the collective knowledge, experience, and creativity of their workforce, customers, supply chain, and the broader ecosystem. They harness the forces of change to their advantage. In these enterprises, curiosity, exploration, invention, entrepreneurship, and informed risk-taking replace commitment to the status quo while providing stability and predictability. Rigid, siloed top-down structures give way to fluid organizational constructs that can shift as needed to optimize the flow of value. Decentralized decision-making becomes the norm as leaders focus on vision and strategy along with enabling organization members to achieve their fullest potential.

Answer 229

Innovation is one of the four pillars of the SAFe House of Lean. But the kind of innovation needed to compete in the digital age cannot be infrequent or random. It requires an innovation culture. An innovation culture exists when leaders create an environment that supports creative thinking, curiosity, and challenging the status quo. When an organization has an innovation culture, employees are encouraged and enabled to: --Explore ideas for enhancements to existing products Experiment with ideas for new products --Pursue fixes to chronic defects --Create improvements to processes that reduce waste --Remove impediments to productivity

Answer 230

Building time and space for innovation includes providing work areas conducive to creative activities, as well as setting aside dedicated time from routine work to explore and experiment. Innovation space can also include: Broad cross-domain interactions involving customers, the supply chain, and even the physical or professional communities connected to the organization Temporary and limited suspension of norms, policies, and systems (within legal, ethical, and safety boundaries) to challenge existing assumptions and explore what’s possible Systematic activities (IP iteration, hackathons, dojos, etc.) and opportunistic innovation activities (continuous, accidental, unplanned) Perpetual innovation forums on collaboration platforms and Communities of Practice (CoPs) that create the opportunity for ongoing conversations across the organization

Answer 231

Maintain a Constant Sense of Danger and Built-in Improvement: SAFe promotes both ongoing and planned improvement efforts through team retrospectives, the problem-solving workshop during Inspect & Adapt (I&A), as well as the use of the Innovation & Planning (IP) iteration to conduct improvement work. Improvement Features and Stories that emerge from the I&A are also incorporated into team plans and integrated into the work planned for the following Program Increment. “Optimize the whole” suggests that improvements should be designed to increase the effectiveness of the entire system that produces the sustainable flow of value, as opposed to optimizing individual teams, silos, or subsystems. Everyone at all levels should embrace improvement thinking, but improvements in one area, team, or domain should not be made to the detriment of the overall system Maintain a Problem-Solving Culture via Plan-Do-Ceck-Adjust Cycles, as well as retrospectives and I&A cycles. Reflect at key milestones: Improve based on facts.

Answer 232

Growth Mindset. Leaders must remain open to the possibility that existing mindsets based on traditional management practices need to evolve in order to guide the organizational change required to become a Lean enterprise.

Answer 233

Goal: Value Foundation: Lean Agile Leadership; in Lean, managers are leaders who embrace the values of Lean, are competent in the basic practices, and teach these practices to others. They proactively eliminate impediments and take an active role in driving organizational change and facilitating relentless improvement. © Scaled Agile, Inc. Include this copyright notice with the copied content. Read the FAQs on how to use SAFe content and trademarks here: https://www.scaledagile.com/about/about-us/permissions-faq/ Explore Training at: https://www.scaledagile.com/training/calendar/ 4 Pillars: 1. Respect for People and Culture ; driving force behind this new behavior is a generative culture, which is characterized by a positive, safe, performance-centric environment [8]. Achieving this culture requires the enterprise and its leaders to change first. The principle of respect for people and culture also extends to relationships with Suppliers, partners, customers, and the broader community that supports the Enterprise 2. Flow ; principles of flow are an essential part of the Lean-Agile mindset. These include understanding the full Development Value Stream, visualizing and limiting Work in Process (WIP), and reducing batch sizes and managing queue lengths. Additionally, Lean focus on identifying and continuously removing delays and waste (non-value-added activities). One critical move that organizations must address to achieve flow is the shift from a start-stop-start project management process to an agile product management approach aligned to long-lived development value streams. 3. Innovation; Lean-Agile Leaders engage in the following practices: Hire, coach, and mentor innovation and entrepreneurship in the organization’s workforce Go see…get out of the office and into the actual workplace where the value is produced, and products are created and used Provide time and space for people to be creative to enable purposeful innovation. . Apply Continuous Exploration, the process of constantly exploring the market and user needs, getting fast feedback on experiments, and defining a Vision, Roadmap, and set of Features that bring the most promising innovations to market. Validate the innovation with customers, then pivot without mercy or guilt when the hypothesis needs to change. Engage both top-down strategic thinking with organic team-based innovations to create a synergistic ‘innovation riptide’ that powers a tidal wave of new products, services, and capabilities. 4. Relentless Improvement; Optimize the whole, not the parts, of both the organization and the development process Reinforce the problem-solving mindset throughout the organization, where all are empowered to engage in daily improvements to the work Reflect at key milestones to openly identify and address the shortcomings of the process at all levels Apply Lean tools and techniques to determine the fact-based root cause of inefficiencies and apply effective countermeasures rapidly

Answer 234

1. Take an economic view 2. Apply systems thinking 3. Assume variability; preserve options 4. Build incrementally, with fast integrated learning cycles 5. Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems 6. Visualize and limit, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths 7. Apply cadence; synchronize with cross-domain planning 8. Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers 9. Decentralize decision making 10. Organize around value

Answer 235

This principle, Principle 10-Organizing around value, describes how applying this second operating system frees the enterprise to arrange itself to optimize value delivery. It accomplishes this in three nested parts: 1. Build technology portfolios of development value streams: --Precisely specify value by specific product --Identify the value stream for each product --Make value flow without interruptions --Let the customer pull value from the producer --Pursue perfection 2. Realize value streams with product-focused Agile Release Trains (ARTs) ARTs are cross-functional, cross-discipline teams-of-teams of up to 150 people. To minimize handoffs and delays—and to foster continuous knowledge growth—ARTs have all the business and technical capabilities needed to define, implement, validate, deploy, release and support solutions for their customers 3. Form Agile teams that can directly deliver value Agile Teams are organized around one of four types of value: stream-aligned, complicated subsystem, platform, and enabling teams. Most ART teams are stream-aligned, empowered, and capable of delivering value to their customers with a minimum of handoffs, delays, and dependencies with other teams. Other teams support stream-aligned teams in their mission

Answer 236

Alignment – Communicate the mission by establishing and expressing the portfolio strategy and solution vision. Help organize the value stream and coordinate dependencies. Provide relevant briefings and participate in Program Increment (PI) Planning. Help with backlog visibility, review, and preparation; regularly check for understanding. Built-in quality – By refusing to accept or ship low-quality work, Lean-Agile leaders demonstrate their commitment to quality. They support investments in capacity planning for maintenance and to reduce technical debt, ensuring that the concerns of the entire organization—including design thinking, UX, architecture, operations, security, and compliance—are part of the regular flow of work. Transparency – Visualize all relevant work. Take ownership and responsibility for errors and mistakes. Admit missteps while supporting others who acknowledge and learn from theirs. Never punish the messenger. Instead, celebrate learning. Create an environment where the facts are always friendly and transparent. Program execution – Participate as Business Owners in PI execution and establish business value. Help adjust the scope to ensure demand matches capacity. Celebrate high-quality Program Increments while aggressively removing impediments and demotivators.

Answer 237

By modeling the right behaviors, leaders can transform organizational cultures from the pathological (negative, power-oriented) and bureaucratic (negative, rule-oriented) patterns of the past to the generative (positive, performance-oriented) culture that is required for the Lean-Agile mindset to flourish: 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 intelligence describes how leaders identify and manage their emotions and those of others through self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Life-long learning depicts how leaders engage in ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge and growth, and they encourage and support the same in others. Growing others encourages leaders to provide the personal, professional, and technical guidance and resources each employee needs to assume increasing levels of responsibility and decision-making. Decentralized decision-making moves the authority for decisions to where the information is; prepares teams to make decentralized decisions by investing in their technical competence and by providing organizational clarity with decision guardrails

Answer 238

Organize and reorganize around value Identify queues and excess Work in Process (WIP) Continually focus on eliminating waste and delays Eliminate demotivating policies and procedures Inspire and motivate others Create a culture of relentless improvement Provide the space for teams to innovate

Answer 239

Reaching the Tipping Point Train Lean-Agile Change Agents Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence Identify Value Streams and ARTs Create the Implementation Plan Prepare for ART Launch Train Teams and Launch the ART Coach ART Execution Launch More ARTs and Value Streams Extend to the Portfolio Accelerate

Answer 240

‘Measure and grow’ is the term we use to describe how SAFe value stream portfolios evaluate their progress towards business agility and determine the next improvement steps. It describes how to measure the current state of a portfolio and grow to improve overall business outcomes. Measure and grow are accomplished via two separate assessment mechanisms, designed for significantly different audiences and different purposes. The SAFe Business Agility Assessment (Figure 1) is designed for LPM and portfolio stakeholders to assess their overall progress on the ultimate goal of true business agility. The SAFe Core Competency Assessments (Figure 2) are used to help teams and trains improve on the technical and business practices they need to help the portfolio achieve that larger goal. Each assessment follows a standard process pattern of running the assessment, analyzing the results, taking action and, lest we forget, celebrating the victories.

Answer 241

Identify the Operational Value Streams Identify the Solutions the operational value streams use or provide to customers Identify the people who develop and support the solutions Identify the Development Value Streams that build the solutions Add the people needed to build the full business solution Realize development value streams into ARTs

Answer 242

Personal Mastery – Employees develop as ‘T-shaped people’. T-shaped employees are a critical foundation of Agile teams. Shared Vision – Forward-looking leaders envision, align with, and articulate exciting possibilities. Then, they invite others to share in and contribute to a common view of the future. Team Learning – Teams work collectively to achieve common objectives by sharing knowledge, suspending assumptions, and ‘thinking together’. They complement each other’s skills for group problem solving and learning. Mental Models – Teams surface their existing assumptions and generalizations while working with an open mind to create new models based on a shared understanding of the Lean-Agile way of working and their customer domains. Systems Thinking – The organization sees the larger picture and recognizes that optimizing individual components does not optimize the system. Instead, the business takes a holistic approach to learning, problem-solving, and solution development. This optimization extends to business practices such as Lean Portfolio Management (LPM), which ensures that the enterprise is making investments in experimentation and learning to drive the system forward.

Answer 243

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

Answer 244

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. Working software is the primary measure of progress. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount of work not done — is essential. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Answer 245

Organizing a portfolio this way offers many benefits: Helps assure customer and product focus across the entire portfolio Aligns strategy to execution by bringing visibility to all the work Provides the basis for Lean Budgets, which eliminates the friction and cost accounting overhead of traditional project-based work Supports measuring success via outcome-based key performance indicators (KPIs) Improves workflow with smaller batch sizes

Answer 246

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 own personal development journey. Mindset 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. Leading Change – Leaders lead (rather than simply support) the transformation by creating the environment, preparing the people, and providing the necessary resources to realize the desired outcomes.

Answer 247

They drive the change process by developing and applying the following skills and techniques: Change vision occurs when leaders communicate why change is needed and do so in ways that inspire, motivate, and engage people. Change leadership is the ability to positively influence and motivate others to engage in the organizational change through the leader’s own personal advocacy and drive. A powerful coalition for change is formed when individuals from multiple levels and across silos are empowered and have the influence necessary to effectively lead the change. Psychological safety occurs when leaders create an environment for risk-taking that supports change without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status, or career. Training the new way of working ensures that everyone is trained in the values, principles, and practices of Lean and Agile, including a commitment by leaders to their own training so they can lead by example.

Answer 248

Here are some activities the enterprise can use to ensure relentless improvement: Measure the performance of the portfolio Reinforce the basics Progress toward mastery Anchor new behaviors in the culture Apply learnings across the enterprise

Answer 249

One of the most important steps to accelerate progress toward business agility is to assess how far the portfolio has come, leverage its strengths, and to focus improvement efforts on any areas of weakness. If the organization followed the guidance in Measure and Grow to conduct baseline business agility assessments at the start of the SAFe implementation, then a re-assessment using the same 21 dimensions of business agility can quickly shine the spotlight on the most critical areas of focus for relentless improvement activities. The questions in the Business Agility assessment download (see Measure and Grow) also imply the recommended actions to take for advancing in each of the 21 dimensions of business agility.

Answer 250

At the beginning of the transformation journey, great focus was placed on the basics of Lean-Agile and SAFe principles, Team and Technical Agility, and Agile Product Delivery. Everyone was trained, and much of the initial emphasis was on learning the basics of SAFe. As more trains are launched and the organization’s attention moves to new challenges, steps in the implementation roadmap may be skipped along the way. Whether it’s due to lack of understanding, a desire to shortcut the path to agility, or the natural ebb and flow of a large company, the end result is that one (or several) of the ten critical ART success factors of SAFe described in the Essential SAFe article are not being followed SAFe Program Consultants (SPCs) can use the Essential SAFe Toolkit to guide a self-assessment by the organization of these ten critical success factors.

Answer 251

Lean-Agile Principles Real Agile Teams and Teams of Teams Cadence and Synchronization PI Planning Customer Centricity, DevOps, and Release on Demand System Demo Inspect & Adapt IP Iteration Architectural Runway Lean-Agile Leadership

Answer 252

Team and Technical Agility: -- Double down on the principles that drive Agile Teams and Agile Release Trains. --Train all teams in built-in practices, with software-centric teams getting trained in Agile Software Engineering --Ensure all teams apply and improve built-in quality practices Agile Product Delivery: --Focus on Customer Centricity and Design Thinking to help drive better solutions. --Train Product Management in Agile Product and Solutions Management to better understand the practices and apply the tools --Map the delivery pipeline to identify the delays to flow, guide investments in automation, and achieve the goal of release on demand. Enterprise Solution Delivery: --Ensure specification and roadmaps build and validate the solution and its Continuous Delivery Pipeline together --Include continuous delivery concerns and the cost of delayed value in system architecture decisions --Measure and improve ‘continuish’ integration practices across the entire supply chain Lean Portfolio Management: --Apply participatory budgeting --Eliminate projects and timesheets --Master Lean Startup practices --Make an explicit Enterprise Architecture roadmap Lean-Agile Leadership: --Evolve the focus from developing individual Lean-Agile leaders to building high-performing leadership teams --Form Communities of Practice specifically for leaders interested in connecting with peers who are also developing as Lean-Agile leaders --Launch a leader development initiative using one or modules of the Leading in the Digital Age series from Scaled Agile Organizational Agility: --Reinforce the principles with book club readings --Share best practices and learnings from optimizing value streams --Incorporate Gemba in everyone’s work activities --Share strategy agility success stories Continuous Learning Culture: --Develop and visualize both quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess the tangible results of relentless improvement --Expand Gemba visits to customers, partner organizations, and enterprises in unrelated markets to gain new insights that can spark fresh innovation initiatives --Invest in advanced digital systems for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and rapid access to accurate information

Answer 253

facilitated session with someone trained in the nuances of SAFe and the assessment process. An experienced SPC is probably a good choice. Two assessment patterns can be used: Each participant fills the assessment independently and then the group discusses and analyzes the results together All participants discuss each statement together and reach a consensus on the score for each statement Both patterns have their benefits and disadvantages. Trust the facilitator to pick the right pattern based on group dynamics, distribution, and time frame.

Answer 254

Explore differences of viewpoints Identify common problem areas and identify potential causes Identify potential "wins" for consolidation and improvement

Answer 255

The portfolio or the LACE should routinely re-evaluate their progress toward business agility, perhaps every other PI, and plan the next steps. The measurement frequency depends on the opportunities pursued and how fast the portfolio can reasonably achieve progress. Creating a baseline early on in the transformation, followed by periodic assessments will illustrate improvement trends and allow everyone to communicate successes.

Answer 256

The results of a competency assessment are summarized along the three dimensions and several sub-dimensions

Answer 257

Additionally, it can be useful to analyze the data in the following three ways: Highest and lowest average scores: Highest average scores represent those areas where there is the greatest success. Identifying these can help to highlight the results of previous improvement efforts and these strengths can be amplified further as required. The lowest average scores likely represent candidates for the next areas of improvement. Most and least standard deviation: Often the assessments will highlight differences in opinion. Comparing the standard deviation across the responses will illustrate where there is broad agreement on the progress being made as well as those areas where there is disagreement. The latter warrants further investigation as it may point to siloed improvement efforts or challenges with communication or consistency of practice. Comparison to a benchmark: One of the significant benefits of the assessments is that they can be used to show improvement trends over time. Comparing against a previous data set will immediately demonstrate whether our improvement efforts have been successful in delivering the expected benefits.

Answer 258

The SAFe DevOps Health Radar (Figure 6) is an assessment that helps ARTs and Solution Trains optimize their value stream performance. It provides a holistic DevOps health check by assessing the maturity of the four aspects and 16 activities of the continuous delivery pipeline. The Health Radar is used to measure baseline maturity at any point in a DevOps transformation and guide fast, incremental progress thereafter.

Answer 259

generally, operational value streams fall into one of four types: Fulfillment value streams represent the steps necessary to process a customer request, deliver a digitally-enabled product or service, and receive remuneration. Examples include providing a consumer with an insurance product or fulfilling an eCommerce sales order. Manufacturing value streams convert raw materials into the products customers purchase. Examples include consumer products, medical devices, and complex cyber-physical systems. Software product value streams offer and support software products. Examples include ERP systems, SaaS, and desktop and mobile applications. Supporting value streams include end-to-end workflows for various supporting activities. Examples include the lifecycle for employee hiring and retention, supplier contracting, executing the annual budget process, and completing a full enterprise sales cycle.

Answer 260

Multiple development value streams can fit within a single ART – When several related products or solutions can be produced with a relatively small number of people, a single ART may deliver multiple value streams. A single development value stream can fit within an ART – Often, a Value Stream can be realized with 100 or fewer practitioners. Many development groups are already organized into units of about that size, so this is a common case. In this case, the ART is roughly the same as the value stream. Everyone is in that ART! Multiple ARTs are required for large development value streams – When a lot of people are involved, the development value stream must be split into multiple ARTs, as described in the next section, and form a Solution Train.

Answer 261

Embrace the New Talent Contract: --In SAFe, this goes hand in hand with a move from task-management and command & control to inspiring leadership: Principle # 8 – Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers Principle # 9 – Decentralize Decision-Making Foster Continuous Engagement: --Agile understands the power of bringing intrinsically motivated people together to form collaborative empowered teams. Hire for Attitude and Culture Fit: -- Build a strong employer brand – Agile is a magnet for talented people. Enterprises can use it to help build a strong employer brand. --Proactively attract and engage knowledge worker talent. The talent acquisition team must continuously reach out and connect with interesting technical people to pull them into the talent pipeline. --Employ for attitude and cultural fit. Agile is a team sport. Success depends on the collective and collaborative skills of the team. --Inspire candidates with a larger sense of purpose. Helping candidates understand the larger purpose of the organization is the best way to inspire them. --Make a solid, team-based decision. No hiring decision should be made without the backing of the team. --Excel at onboarding. Pre-integration activities, interactions, and access to information can enhance the onboarding experience. Post onboarding support requires communication and touch points with the individual, to assure that they are happy in the role, and that management is content with their performance. Move to Iterative Performance Flow: --Align performance cycle in iterations SAFe shifts from 12-month cycles to an iterative, interactive process measured in weeks and PI Plannings. These iterations reflect an optimal cadence and represent the new performance cycles. --Utilize PI planning to share the vision, set inspiring goals, and clarify expectations. The heartbeat of the ART is the PI Planning. All members of the train come together to understand the business context and vision, set and synchronize goals, clarify expectations and dependencies, and commit to common objectives. --Continuously inspect and adapt – While iterations focus on the system under development, not the people, they do provide formal and informal opportunities in team retrospectives. --Embed learning and development into the workflow . Cross-role, cross-functional, and cross-team training enhance the skills, flexibility, and utility of the knowledge worker. --Eliminate annual performance ratings in favor of continuous feedback – Instead of employee ratings, shape a culture of mutual respect where candid dialogues and continuous feedback consistently take place Take the Issue of Money Off the Table: --Pay adequate base salaries. Adequate base salaries compensate not only the role but the person’s skills and experiences. --Decentralize salary decisions – Compensation has to be easy to deliver – and change. This means empowering managers to set salaries and pay increases. --Bring transparency to the salary structure – A transparent salary structure brings many advantages like fostering greater trust and honoring the value of employees, independent of their personal negotiation skills. -- Avoid toxic individual bonuses Fair, transparent incentives that honor collective performance and corporate success (for example, equity and profit sharing plans), allow employees to participate financially in the success of the enterprise -- Combine various forms of recognition – find a suitable combination of low frequency formal, recognition with more frequent and intimate, personal acknowledgments. -- Provide benefits that people value. Flexible schedules, remote office, parental leave, financial guidance, time off, and volunteer opportunities are examples -- Invest in the health and well-being of people – A balanced reward approach is a part of “taking the topic of money off the table.” It promotes a broader understanding of an effective incentive system – one that appreciates the appeal of growth opportunities. Support Impactful Learning and Growth: -- Create a learning organization – While working is a key part of learning, agile people must also understand how knowledge grows, changes, and is overturned; and be given a method to acquire relevant new skills and competencies as well as the ability for transfer of learning. -- Empower employees to take the lead – In line with new talent contract, employees are not only empowered when it comes to their work, but they are also in charge of their own development. -- Illustrate prospective role-based career paths – A catalog of prospective role-based career paths can illustrate typical growth paths, but without limiting the options to a pre-set career model. -- Establish individual career coaching – A dedicated team of career coaches can connect with each person individually in order to outline an individual career profile with a learning and growth plan, that is continuously reviewed and adjusted as needed. -- Apply Agile workforce planning and talent scouting – Allowing for flexible careers requires agile workforce planning and talent scouting. -- Enhance development through Lean-Agile Leaders – Lean-Agile Leaders are lifelong learners, teachers, and people developers. They engage in continuous listening, communication, and feedback in order to identify development areas and boost learning.

Business Agility Flashcards

(293 cards)