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The Scaled Agile Framework® (Safety), is a set of organizational and workflow patterns, which includes Inspect and Accommodate, designed to guide organizations in scaling Lean and Agile development practices. SAFe is i of a growing number of frameworks, forth with Large-Calibration Scrum (LeSS), Disciplined Agile Commitment (DAD), and Nexus, that aim to address the challenges companies come across when scaling beyond a unmarried squad.

The framework, which promotes alignment, collaboration, and commitment across large numbers of Agile teams, is made freely bachelor by Scaled Active, Inc.

Visualize across teams for better business outcomes
Visualize across teams for better concern outcomes

Inspect and Adapt

A central aspect of Prophylactic is Inspect and Adapt (I&A), which Scaled Agile refers to as a significant event held at the end of each program increase (PI). A Program Increment or "PI" is a timebox that's typically eight to 12 weeks long, during which an Agile Release Railroad train (ART) delivers incremental value in the course of working, tested software and systems. The I&A held at the end of each PI is when the evolution team demonstrates and evaluates both the current land of the product in development and the process used to go it there.

Thoroughly inspecting and improving both product and process typically translates into a better upcoming PI. It's a key component of the concept of continuous comeback, and the best opportunity for the entire ART to work together to place and solve systemic problems.

All stakeholders participate with the Active teams in the Audit and Adjust result, and the result is a set of comeback items that the teams add to the backlog for the next PI Planning effect. PI Planning is a cadency-based, face-to-face up event that serves equally the heartbeat of the Art, adjustment all teams to a shared mission and vision, and improving every PI.

Prepare and perform Program Increment Planning
Prepare and perform Program Increase Planning

According to the creators of SAFe, participants in the plan-level Inspect and Arrange should ideally consist of:

  • Agile teams release train engineer (RTE)
  • System and solution architect / engineering production direction
  • Business owners

An Inspect and Adapt event consists of three distinct phases.

Phase ane: The PI arrangement demo

In this phase, product management acts as the facilitator of the demonstration that covers the fully integrated arrangement. The main goal is to illustrate the current state of the system and how it has avant-garde.

Unlike the dart demos that have identify biweekly, this demo shows all the features developed over the course of the PI to a much larger audition consisting of business organisation owners, sponsors, stakeholders, and portfolio representatives, besides as client representatives. All of these groups collaborate with each Agile team to evaluate the business concern value that'southward been delivered.

SAFe recommends that each development team quickly demonstrate their portion of features, with the entire process taking less than 60 minutes. While each team deserves their time in the spotlight, the result tin can often feel disconnected. The primal hither is to keep the audience engaged. Then, continue it brief, don't get lost in the weeds, and don't be afraid to take a creative approach to your presentation that will help the audience stay focused and attentive.

Phase ii: Quantitative measurement

In this phase of Inspect and Adapt, metrics are used to mensurate the performance of the Art products and process from both a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. The RTE and Solution Train Engineer are typically responsible for gathering and analyzing the metrics which the teams take previously agreed to (and should exist aligned to concern objectives) and presenting the data in another 60-minute segment.

If you're not certain which metrics you should be collecting and analyzing, the Scaled Active Framework Metrics page offers a comprehensive list of the various enterprise, portfolio, plan, solution, and squad metrics that could be used.

But no matter what you measure, remember that numbers lonely won't tell the whole story. The metrics are merely the key to uncovering the narrative.

For case, the team and leaders may consider the fact that they accomplished 67 percent predictability the end result. But that doesn't tell the story of why or how the teams fell short of expectations. Instead, saying that you lot made 67 percent of predictability because we were under-resourced in 2 specific areas sets the stage for trouble-solving in the next stage.

Phase 3: Retrospective and problem solving

In the retrospective phase of Inspect and Suit, the teams identify all of the problems or process bug they feel should be addressed. Then they narrow the field to a few fundamental problems at either the team or program level.

Program-level problems tend to describe cross-functional participants that are directly impacted by them and therefore are more motivated to solve them. This provides a much wider perspective of the problem, as well equally a larger pool of creative solutions.

Next, a trouble-solving workshop begins with a root-crusade assay to aid separate the actual cause from the symptoms. Here, several unlike tools can be used:

  • A fishbone or "Ishikawa" diagram to identify the root causes of events
  • A "5 whys" technique to identify the cause(due south) behind a root cause
  • A Pareto Analysis to identify the actions that will produce the most meaningful results

In one case the largest cause from the list is identified and restated as a problem, an unfettered brainstorming procedure yields a number of potential solutions. The top three of these are loaded into the following PI session and acted on accordingly. And thus, the bike of Relentless Improvement is brought to life.

Relentless Improvement

The twelfth principle of the Agile Manifesto sums up how important the philosophy of continuous improvement is to the Safe Lean-Agile approach:

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

SAFe emphasizes the importance of this philosophy by including "relentless comeback" as one of the 4 pillars of the Safety House of Lean. While opportunities to ameliorate tin and should occur continuously, applying some structure, cadence, and synchronization helps to ensure time is set aside to consider what tin can exist done amend during the Programme Level Inspect and Arrange.

Inspect and Adjust provides an opportunity to larn, notes Raja Bavani, main architect of Mindtree. "Nosotros are no longer part of a traditional waterfall world where we await until the end of every project to reflect and larn something," he says. "We are in an iterative and incremental earth with an abundance of opportunity to learn, apply what nosotros learn, improve, and ensure that we're putting the lessons learned into practice in social club to deliver meaningful solutions to our customers. This is an opportunity nosotros had never chosen to leverage systematically in the past."

Inspect and Adapt is a cadre component of the Safe Business firm of Lean, and in particular, Pillar 4: Relentless Improvement. I&A drives continuous improvement through team retrospectives and stakeholder feedback. Teams learn from these sources and apply the knowledge gained from them and then that anybody wins with a better product. To understand Inspect and Adjust better, let'due south look at the SAFe Business firm of Lean equally a whole.

Inspect and Adapt: A Core Component of the SAFe House of Lean

The bottom of the SAFe House of Lean is the foundation upon which the house rests; it represents Lean-Active Leadership. On elevation of the foundation are four pillars, which include respect for people and civilisation, period, innovation, and relentless improvement. These pillars support the roof, which signifies the ultimate goal of the Firm of Lean: Value.

Moving to the top, the goal of Lean is to evangelize the maximum customer value in the shortest sustainable lead fourth dimension while providing the highest possible quality to customers and society. High morale, condom, and customer delight are additional goals and benefits.

The iv pillars of the SAFe Firm of Lean are used to support the delivery of that value:

Pillar #1: Respect for people and culture

This pillar reflects aspects of the first value of the Agile Manifesto, "Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools," too every bit the manifesto's 5th core principle: "Support, trust, and motivate the people involved."

People are the lifeblood of your organisation. They are the creative chemical element; they do the work of translating ideas into products, they solve problems and, ultimately, they generate revenue. In return, they must accept their needs met; they must feel trusted, valued, and respected.

To evolve into a Lean-Agile organization, management must transform the culture past empowering employees with the autonomy to make their own decisions, develop their own practices, and execute improvements they experience are necessary – all while beingness held accountable for their actions. Respect for people and culture should extend to anybody beyond the business ecosystem: Suppliers, partners, customers, and the broader community.

Colonnade #2: Flow

The second pillar of the SAFe Firm of Lean reflects aspects of the fourth value of the Agile Manifesto, "Responding to Change Over Following a Program," also as the manifesto'due south commencement three core principles dealing with early on and continuous commitment and accommodating alter without delays.

Capturing fast, continuous feedback and making quick adjustments and informed decisions based on that feedback enable a continuous flow of incremental value delivery. Quality here is never an add-on but is built-in to ensure that every incremental commitment meets standards. This is a mandatory prerequisite of Lean.

To chief flow in the Lean-Active organization, y'all must:

  • Sympathise the full value stream
  • Limit Piece of work in Process (WIP)
  • Reduce batch sizes and manage queue lengths
  • Reduce delays
  • Eliminate wasteful activities that fail to add sufficient value
In-app, out-of-the-box reporting helps teams understand bottlenecks to improve their processes
In-app, out-of-the-box reporting helps teams sympathise bottlenecks to improve their processes

As you brainstorm to chief continuous menstruation, you lot'll experience faster value delivery, more than effective practices that ensure built-in quality, and continuous improvement.

Pillar #iii: Innovation

The pillar of innovation in the Rubber Firm of Lean reflects virtually every attribute of the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto. Innovation is a main ingredient, and neither individuals, teams nor entire organizations can be improved or deliver continuous value without information technology. It'south the mutual cistron present in everything.

Prophylactic was designed to challenge comfort zones and the status quo.

Information technology's based on the idea that there must be something better out there – amend ways of doing, better ways of producing. Just to detect them, norms must exist challenged, and new frontiers must exist explored.

Innovation is required to maintain and improve product and process. To nurture and support it, Lean Agile Leaders must:

  • Go out from backside the desk and "walk the factory floors." There'due south no substitute for spending time where value is produced and products are used.
  • Encourage untamed creativity until information technology becomes a natural part of the development procedure.
  • Leave firefighting to firefighters. If yous focus too much on urgent demands to "put out fires," you may end upward dousing more than just the fires.
  • Apply feedback metrics to validate new concepts and fuel innovation at every stage.
  • Leverage customers to confirm innovations.

Pillar #5: Relentless improvement

This final pillar in the Safe House of Lean reflects aspects of the 4th value of the Agile Manifesto, "Responding to Change Over Following a Program," too equally the manifesto's 12th core principle: "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to get more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly."

This pillar is aimed at the relentless improvement of both the product and the processes. Fueled past a threat of competition and a sense of opportunity, organizations apply reviews, retrospectives and continuous reflection to larn and accommodate. This is where Inspect and Arrange sits for a Rubber system.

Leaders and teams nurture this through:

  • Organization-broad optimization of the development process
  • Conscientious contemplation of data followed by quick and decisive activity
  • Applying Lean tools and techniques to determine root causes
  • Reflection at regular intervals to identify and address procedure deficiencies

Leadership: The Foundation of the Safety House of Lean

The foundation of the Safe House of Lean is critically important: Leadership. An system's leaders are ultimately responsible for the adoption, success, and ongoing comeback of Lean-Agile development.

Only leaders take the power to fundamentally alter the organisation and the way work is performed. Only leaders can create an environment that encourages innovative thinking and the relentless drive for comeback.

The best Agile leaders modify their thinking and with it, the blowsy approaches to business organisation common in the last prototype. They cover Active thinking, methods, and practices and contain them into every activity and every decision.

This is where Inspect and Adapt plays a significant part. Adopting practices similar I&A allows businesses to inspect both production and process and so to adjust either one or both in ways that improve the organization. Effective Active leaders sympathize the benefits of I&A and ensure they're executed with recommended regularity.

Becoming a Lean-Active enterprise is not easy, and it's not something that happens overnight. But an system doesn't have to reach the goal before seeing results. With every step toward Lean-Agile, benefits will be realized that strengthen the organization at every level, like increases in engagement, improvements in quality, faster releases, and a host of other positive outcomes. Those benefits volition inspire the business concern to push button frontward.