Becoming a Lean-Agile Leader Flashcards
SAFe Core Values
- built in quality
- transparency
- alignment
- program execution
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/safe-core-values/
Lean-Agile Principles
1 – Take an economic view Delivering the ‘best value and quality for people and society in the shortest sustainable lead time’ requires a fundamental understanding of the economics of building systems. Everyday decisions must be made in a proper economic context. This includes the strategy for incremental value delivery and the broader economic framework for each value stream. This framework highlights the trade-offs between risk, Cost of Delay (CoD), manufacturing, operational, and development costs. In addition, every value stream must operate within the context of an approved budget, and be compliant to the guardrails which support decentralized decision-making. #2 – Apply systems thinking Deming observed that addressing the challenges in the workplace and the marketplace requires an understanding of the systems within which workers and users operate. Such systems are complex, and they consist of many interrelated components. But optimizing a component does not optimize the system. To improve, everyone must understand the larger aim of the system. In SAFe, systems thinking is applied to the system under development, as well as to the organization that builds the system. #3 – Assume variability; preserve options Traditional design and life cycle practices encourage choosing a single design-and-requirements option early in the development process. Unfortunately, if that starting point proves to be the wrong choice, then future adjustments take too long and can lead to a suboptimal design. A better approach is to maintain multiple requirements and design options for a longer period in the development cycle. Empirical data is then used to narrow the focus, resulting in a design that creates optimum economic outcomes. #4 – Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles Developing solutions incrementally in a series of short iterations allows for faster customer feedback and mitigates risk. Subsequent increments build on the previous ones. Since the ‘system always runs’, some increments may serve as prototypes for market testing and validation; others become minimum viable products (MVPs). Still others extend the system to with new and valuable functionality. In addition, these early, fast feedback points help determine when to ‘pivot,’ where necessary to an alternate course of action. #5 – Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems Business owners, developers, and customers have a shared responsibility to ensure that investment in new solutions will deliver economic benefit. The sequential, phase-gate development model was designed to meet this challenge, but experience shows that it does not mitigate risk as intended. In Lean-Agile development, integration points provide objective milestones at which to evaluate the solution throughout the development life cycle. This regular evaluation provides the financial, technical, and fitness-for-purpose governance needed to assure that a continuing investment will produce a commensurate return. #6 – Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths Lean enterprises strive to achieve a state of continuous flow, where new system capabilities move quickly and visibly from concept to cash. Keys to implementing flow are: 1. Visualize and limit the amount of work in process (WIP). This increases throughout and limits demand to actual capacity. 2. Reduce the batch sizes of work to facilitate fast and more reliable flow. 3. Manage queue lengths to reduce the wait times for new functionality. #7 – Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning Cadence creates predictability and provides a rhythm for development. Synchronization causes multiple perspectives to be understood, resolved, and integrated at the same time. Applying development cadence and synchronization, coupled with periodic cross-domain planning, provides the mechanisms needed to operate effectively in the presence of the inherent development uncertainty. #8 – Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers Lean-Agile leaders understand that ideation, innovation, and employee engagement are not generally motivated by individual incentive compensation. Such individual incentives can create internal competition and destroy the cooperation necessary to achieve the larger aim of the system. Providing autonomy and purpose, minimizing constraints, creating an environment of mutual influence, and better understanding the role of compensation are keys to higher levels of employee engagement. This approach yields better outcomes for individuals, customers, and the enterprise. #9 – Decentralize decision-making Achieving fast value delivery requires decentralized decision-making. This reduces delays, improves product development flow, enables faster feedback, and creates more innovative solutions designed by those closest to the local knowledge. However, some decisions are strategic, global, and have economies of scale that justify centralized decision-making. Since both types of decisions occur, creating a reliable decision-making framework is a critical step in empowering employees and ensuring a fast flow of value. #10 – Organize around value Many enterprises today are organized around principles developed during the last century. In the name of intended efficiency, most are organized around functional expertise. But in the digital age, the only sustainable competitive advantage is the speed with which an organization can respond to the needs of its customers with new and innovative solutions. These solutions require cooperation amongst all the functional areas, with their incumbent dependencies, handoffs, waste and delays. Instead, Business Agility demands that enterprises organize around value to deliver more quickly. And when market and customer demands change, the enterprise must quickly and seamlessly reorganize around that new value flow.
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/safe-lean-agile-principles/
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3 assume variability , preserve options
Preserve options w/ set-based design (developers cast a wider design net initially, considering multiple design choices at the start. After that, they continuously evaluate economic and technical trade-offs—typically as exhibited by the objective evidence presented at integration-based learning points. Then, as Figure 3 illustrates, they eliminate the weaker options over time and ultimately converge on a final design, based on the knowledge gained to that point.
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/assume-variability-preserve-options/
Principle #6 – Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/visualize-and-limit-wip-reduce-batch-sizes-and-manage-queue-lengths/
Principle #7 – Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning
- CADENCE: Cadence is a rhythmic pattern of events that provides the steady heartbeat of the development process. It makes routine everything that can be routine, so developers can focus on managing the variable part of solution development.
- Synchronization allows multiple solution perspectives to be understood, resolved, and integrated at the same time.
- Cross domain planning periodic cross-domain planning (example: PI Planning in SAFe) provides the opportunity for the various aspects of a solution—business and technical —to be integrated and evaluated together at one time. This has the net effect of managing variability by frequently revisiting and updating the plan. In other words, cadence-based planning limits variability to a single interval,
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/apply-cadence-synchronize-with-cross-domain-planning/
Principle #8 – Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/unlock-the-intrinsic-motivation-of-knowledge-workers/
- Leverage the Systems View
- Understand the Role of Compensation
- Provide Autonomy with Purpose, Mission, and Minimum Possible Constraints
- Create an Environment of Mutual Influence
Principle #9 – Decentralize decision-making
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/decentralize-decision-making/
- Centralize strategic decisions
- decentralize everything else
3.
Centralize key decisions
Infrequent – Made infrequently, these decisions typically are not urgent, and deeper consideration is appropriate (ex., product strategy, international expansion). Long-lasting – Once made, these decisions are unlikely to change at least in the short term (e.g., commitment to a standard technology platform, commitment to organizational realignment around Value Streams). Provide significant economies of scale – These choices deliver large and broad economic benefits (e.g., a common way of working, standard development languages, standard tooling, offshoring).
Decentralize everything else
Frequent – The problems addressed by decentralized decisions are recurrent and common (e.g., Team and Program Backlog prioritization, real-time Agile Release Train [ART] scoping, response to defects and emerging issues). Time-critical – Delaying these types of decisions comes with a high cost of delay (e.g., point releases, customer emergencies, dependencies with other teams). Require local information – These decisions need specific local context, whether it be technology, organization, or specific customer or market impact (e.g., shipping a release to a specific customer, resolve a significant design problem, self-organization of individuals and teams to an emerging challenge).
Principle #10 – Organize around value
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/organize-around-value/
