This document compares and contrasts the SAFe and LeSS frameworks for scaling agile practices in large organizations. It describes SAFe's use of Agile Release Trains, planning events, and roles. An example is given of SimCorp's experience transforming to SAFe, which resulted in increased throughput and reduced errors. LeSS is described as prescribing less and focusing on building a learning organization through cross-functional feature teams without dependencies. The risks of each approach and how to start the transformation are also outlined.

1. by Evgeniy Labunskiy & Dmytro Iarmak

4. BUILDING ORGANIZATIONS OF FUTURE

6. Organizational Structure

10. Project oriented
organizations
Many manager positions
Functional teams
No experience in Agile
Typical companies before Agile Transformation

11. SAFe organisational structure is more
understandable for traditional Top Management
than LeSS structure.

13. Roles

14. Leadership Roles

15. After SAFe transformation “Developer/overhead” ratio has decreased by factor of 2
Change of Leadership Roles in SimCorp
Team Leader → Gone
Baseline Manager → Gone
Unit Release Manager → Gone
Project Manager → Gone
Request Manager → Gone Process Manager → Gone
Architect → System Architect
Group Manager → Development Manager (Lean-Agile Leader)
Domain Manager → Product Manager
→ Release Train Engineer (“Scrum Master of Agile Release Train”)
→ Product Portfolio Manager (“PO of Agile Release Train”)

16. Planning Events

17. “There is no magic in SAFe …
except maybe for PI Planning.”
2 days Planning Events
every Program Increment.
All teams are gathered for
common planning
Pull vs. Push of features
Teams decide on what features
to work
SAFe Planning Event

18. Program Backlog during the PIPE

19. Program Backlog during the PIPE

20. Time for Innovations

21. SAFe has Dedicated Innovation Time
In SimCorp we have 3 weeks every quarter for innovation work.

22. Results of SAFe transformation in SimCorp
2x releases per year
55 SCRUM Teams7 Agile Release Trains
30 % reduction of
feature cycle time
10x reduction of open errors
Historical min. of client errors
Teams have direct
communication with client

23. What about LeSS?

24. Classical issues in Agile Transformation
1. A lot of non-value adding roles
2. Unreasonable approvals, powers
3. Internal Politics, “I” mental models
4. Local Optimization
5. Super specialization of employees
6. Management understanding of what Agile is about
7. Ability to start products ONLY with component teams
8. Focus on resource utilization

27. Remember how complicated is to
select/find PO or SM?

30. SAFe LeSS
Prescribe more Prescribe less

31. Large Scaled Scrum is DESCALING

32. What is your product?

35. We don’t have dependencies in LeSS
We have a common work
that need to be done by multiple teams

40. With LeSS we are building
Learning Organisation

42. Scrum Master in Less is System Coach

47. Core
1 PO
7 Teams
RPA
1 PO
5 Teams
BI
1 PO
1 Team
INFRA
1 PO
1 Team
Tribe
Lead
Tribe
Lead
Chief Product
Owner
Tribe
Lead

51. Our Agile Transformation goals
Shorter development cycles
sprint cycle, regression time
Increased throughput
lead time for the features released
Fewer production incidents
L3 + #war rooms time
Reduced code complexity
actual vs. planned tickets features
Happier teams
Surveys and NPS
Customer and Partners
satisfaction
NPS and upsell figures

52. Adoption Process

54. How to start SAFe
0. Educate Everyone
1. Define Value Streams (Agile Release Trains)
2. Define ART Implementation Plan
3. Organize cross-functional teams
4. Launch Pilot ART
5. Inspect & Adapt
6. Launch other ARTs

56. How to start LeSS
0. Educate Everyone
1. Define ‘Product’
2. Define ‘Done’
3. Have Appropriately Structured Teams
4. Only the Product Owner Gives Work to Teams
5. Keep Managers Away from the Teams

57. Risks in SAFe
Can be seen as Agile end point
SAFe roles might be misused
Risk of having Silo Agile Release Trains
SAFe summary
SAFe is a good entry point to Agile world for big traditional companies.
It gives clear guideline and roadmap on the transformation journey.
It helps slowly to absorb Agile mindset and move towards true agility.

58. Risks in LeSS
High level of resistance from managers
Hard to define Product, and it’s a key
Require a lot of painful changes in organisation
LeSS Summary
Better overview of the whole product
Dealing with dependencies via feature teams
Better focus on the problem users try to solve than on the solution they
propose
Allows for de-scaling the organization

59. Thank you!

60. 1-3 April, Kyiv