Why Does Snowbird Use SAFe? (And What Is SAFe Anyway?)

Snowbird Agility is a digital services company that embraces Agile in all our practices, from software development to cyber security to our own back-office workflows. As we discussed in this post, Agile is an umbrella term that can be used in a variety of ways through the numerous frameworks that have been developed.

The primary framework that we use here at Snowbird is SAFe, which stands for Scaled Agile Framework. Our agilists are trained and certified in SAFe and we keep up with the latest research and developments at SAFe.

However, SAFe isn’t just a regular Agile tool, it’s a granddaddy of Agile tools because it incorporates many Agile frameworks in its use.  SAFe is designed to address the needs of larger organizations that require coordination across multiple teams and complex projects. While individual Agile methodologies like Scrum, Kanban, Lean, XP, and Crystal focus on team-level practices, SAFe provides a structured approach for scaling Agile principles and practices across the entire organization. Here’s how SAFe fits into the broader landscape of Agile methodologies:

1. Scaling Framework: SAFe is not a standalone Agile methodology but a framework that integrates various Agile methodologies and practices to work cohesively at scale. It incorporates elements from Scrum, Kanban, and XP, among others, to provide a comprehensive approach for large organizations.
2. Levels of Organization: SAFe introduces multiple levels of organization, including the Team, Program, Large Solution, and Portfolio levels. Each level has specific roles, responsibilities, and artifacts to ensure alignment and collaboration across the organization. This structure helps manage dependencies and synchronization across teams.
3. Alignment and Governance: SAFe emphasizes alignment through features like Program Increment (PI) Planning, where teams plan and commit to objectives over a set period (usually 8-12 weeks). This ensures that all teams work towards common goals and allows for coordinated delivery of value.
4. Lean-Agile Principles: SAFe incorporates Lean-Agile principles to optimize the flow of value across the organization. It focuses on delivering value incrementally, reducing waste, and promoting continuous improvement at all levels.
5. Built-in Quality: SAFe places a strong emphasis on quality by integrating practices such as continuous integration, test automation, and DevOps. This ensures that quality is maintained as a core aspect of the development process, even as the organization scales.
6. Business Agility: SAFe aims to enhance business agility by fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and adaptability. It encourages cross-functional teams to work closely with business stakeholders, ensuring that the organization can respond swiftly to market changes and customer needs.

We use SAFe as our primary certification because it opens the door to using many of the tools and frameworks for the different situations of our clients. SAFe is a comprehensive framework designed to scale Agile practices and gives us the freedom to curate your Agile transformation in the best way possible, giving you the strongest tools and structure for your implementation, ensuring that your organization can maintain agility and responsiveness while managing the complexities of your large-scale projects.