Deconstructing the Scaled Agile Framework - boiling down the "big diagram" and talking about when and how SAFe *might* be an appropriate direction for you or your team. Also covers practices from SAFe that could be useful regardless of the size and complexity of your organization

1. Polaris Solutions Lunch and Learn Series

2. Introductions
Why is Agile such a big deal?
Overview of SAFe
Adopting SAFe
Tooling to support your SAFe Teams
SAFe Adoption programs and services

3. Polaris Solutions

5. Founded in
2008
Offices in
Chicago, St
Louis, and
Denver
Microsoft Gold
ALM Partner
Certified SPCs
and CSMs
Balanced
Approach to IT
Polaris Solutions helps improve the way your teams deliver software.
Microsoft Partner
Gold Application Lifecycle Management
Silver Application Development
Polaris Solutions is an Application Lifecycle Management
and Microsoft Application Development consulting firm,
specializing in helping teams deliver high value software
through technical leadership, process improvement, and
software development expertise.

6. Agile project management
Team leadership
Architecture & design
Quality assurance
Code quality & metrics
Source control
Automated builds
Release management
More details of how we can support you on the services menus provided!

8. LEADERSHIP
Respectfor
peopleandculture
Flow
Innovation
Relentless
improvement
VALUE
House of Lean
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Agile Manifesto
Value in the sustainably
shortest lead time
That is, while there is value in the items on the
right, we value the items on the left more.
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it
and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

10. 4 444 :
Documents Documents Unverified System System

11. Early delivery provides fast value with fast feedback
Time
ValueDelivery
Fast feedback

13. Library of Congress

14. Problems
discovered
too late
No way to
improve
systematically
Hard to
manage
distributed
teams
Late
Delivery!
Too little
visibility
Too early
commitment to a
design that
didn’t work
Poor
morale

Massive
growth in
complexity
Phase gate
SDLC isn't
helping reduce
risk
Under-estimated
or missed
dependencies
And Their Retrospectives read like this

22. THE
LEVELS

26. THE
PEOPLE

30. 30
“A system is a network of interdependent components
that work together to try to accomplish the aim of the
system.
A system must have an aim. Without an aim, there is
no system.”
—W. Edwards Deming

31. THE
BACKLOGS

33. THE
CADENCE

35. Deliver on Demand
Major
Release Customer
Upgrade
Customer
Preview
Major
Release New
Feature
Develop on Cadence
PSI PSI PSI PSI PSI

36. THE
QUALITY

38. RELENTLESS
IMPROVEMENT

42. Do you have a single product worked on by many teams?
Do you have a single team working on many products at the
same time?
Do you deliver many products that are worked on by many
teams?
Do you have one product worked on by a single team?

43. Focus on having a single product owner, not a product owner per
team
Minimize sources of work, if possible use one consolidated
portfolio backlog
Consolidate onto a minimum set of ALM/DevOps tools
Encourage and continually support EFFECTIVE and CONSTANT
communication
Make sure progress across teams is transparent and easily
discoverable

44. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize
Context switching to work on multiple products should NOT be
tolerated
Keep sprints short to allow for fast pivoting and integration of
learnings
Scrum may not be the only solution, be creative!
Extreme focus on quality – crap doesn’t scale!

45. First off  OH MY!!
Second off, this is where SAFe strategies shine
Leverage techniques already discussed
Bring the work to the team, always!
All teams must already be operating as highly effective agile
teams before you bring in SAFe strategies!!

46. Move along… SAFe is probably not for you
Embrace lean principals
Leverage a proved framework like Scrum
Keep focusing on continuous improvement

47. TFS on-premises and Visual Studio Team Services
• Agile backlogs
• Charting and dash-boarding
• Plug-ins for additional visualization of work, progress, and
dependencies
• Build and release automation
Visual Studio Code Quality and Test Automation Services

48. Now that momentum around scaling agile is growing, what are
the key factors for success?
The respondents said the top three tips for successfully scaling
agile are:
1. consistent process and practices (43%)
2. implementation of a common tool across teams (40%)
3. agile consultants or trainers (40%)
http://stateofagile.versionone.com/

50. ©2008-2014 Scaled Agile, Inc. and Leffingwell, LLC. All rights reserved.
A proven, publicly-facing framework for applying Lean and Agile practices at enterprise scale
ScaledAgileFramework.com
Synchronizes
alignment,
collaboration and
delivery for large
numbers of teams
CORE VALUES
1. Program Execution
2. Alignment
3. Code Quality
4. Transparency
50

52. Developer Tools Deployment Planning Services (DTDPS) is a
Software Assurance benefit designed to help organizations plan
effective Visual Studio deployments.
Up to 5 days of planning consultation at NO COST to the
customer*
For more information on "number" of days of Planning Services
your organization has, visit Volume Licensing Service Center.
*Polaris is compensated directly by Microsoft for their planning services

53. Team Foundation Server /VSTS Deployment Assessment
Visual Studio Quality Tools Deployment Assessment
Visual Studio Agile Deployment Assessment
Visual Studio DevOps Deployment Assessment
Any of these engagements can support the adoption of SAFe
via process improvement and/or tools adoption!

54. Enable Application Innovation is a program for customers
interested in innovating around Azure usage, or hosted services
such as VSTS
Both planning consultation and proof of concept execution at NO
COST to the customer*
Contact your local Microsoft Solution Sales Professional to learn
what you are eligible for!
*Polaris is compensated directly by Microsoft for their planning services

55. Polaris offers scalable and affordable SAFe training options
Polaris offers customized coaching and mentoring for your scrum masters,
product owners, and other agile team members
Polaris consultants are experienced with building, testing, and delivering high
quality applications with Visual Studio and TFS/VSTS
Polaris has a number of certified and experienced SAFe Program Consultants
who can get your organization ready to successfully launch their first release
train!

56. 1. Let us know what other topics you’d like
covered, including development topics
2. Help us to stay in touch with you (if you want)
3. Provide feedback to improve future events
2 lucky attendees will win a Starbucks gift card 

57. SAFe Guidance: http://www.scaledagileframework.com/guidance/
Principals of Product Development Flow:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935401009
2016 State of DevOps Report: https://puppet.com/resources/white-
paper/2016-state-of-devops-report
10th Annual State of Agile Report: http://stateofagile.versionone.com/
Lean Change Management by Jason Little: www.amazon.com/Lean-
Change-Managment-Innovative-Organizational/dp/0990466507/

58. Email: Angela.Dugan@PolarisSolutions.com
Zaneta.Surdel@PolarisSolutions.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andugan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaneta-surdel-a8923a9
Slideshare.NET: http://www.slideshare.net/angelabinkowski
Polaris Solutions website - http://www.polarissolutions.com/