Glossary Flashcards
Agile Release Train, ART
The Agile Release Train (ART) is a long-lived and cross-functional team-of-Agile-teams, which along with other stakeholders, develops and delivers solutions incrementally, using a series of fixed-length Iterations within a Program Increment (PI) timebox. The ART aligns teams to a common business and technology mission.
Agile Team
The SAFe Agile Team is a cross-functional group of five to ten people who have the ability and authority to define, build, and test some element of Solution value—all in a short Iteration timebox. Specifically, the SAFe Agile Team incorporates the DevTeam, Scrum Master, and Product Owner roles.
Architectural Runway
The Architectural Runway consists of the existing code, components and technical infrastructure needed to implement near-term features without excessive redesign, and delay.
Agile architecture
Agile Architecture is a set of values and practices that support active evolution of the design and architecture of a system, while implementing new system capabilities.
Built-in Quality
Built-in Quality practices ensure that each Solution element, at every increment, meets appropriate quality standards throughout development.
Business owners
Business Owners are a small group of stakeholders who have the primary business and technical responsibility for governance, compliance, and Return on Investment for a Solution developed by an Agile Release Train (ART). They are key stakeholders on the ART who must evaluate fitness for use and actively participate in certain ART events.
CapEx and OpEx
Capital Expenses (CapEx) and Operating Expenses (OpEx) describe Lean-Agile financial accounting practices in a Value Stream budget. In some cases, CapEx may include capitalized labor associated with the development of intangible assets—such as software, intellectual property, and patents.
Capabilities
A Capability is a higher-level solution behavior that typically spans multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs). They are sized and split into multiple features so that they can be implemented in a single PI.
Communities of Practice, CoPs
Communities of Practice (CoPs) are organized groups of people who have a common interest in a specific technical or business domain. They collaborate regularly to share information, improve their skills, and actively work to advance the general knowledge of the domain.
Compliance
In SAFe, Compliance refers to a strategy, and a set of activities and artifacts that allow teams to apply Lean-Agile development methods to build systems that have the highest possible quality, while simultaneously assuring they meet any regulatory, industry, or other relevant standards
Continuous Deployment (CD)
Continuous Deployment (CD) is the process that takes validated features from Continuous Integration and deploys them into the production environment, where they are tested and readied for release. It is is the third element in the four-part Continuous Delivery Pipeline of Continuous Exploration (CE), Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment and Release on Demand.
Continuous Exploration (CE)
Continuous Exploration (CE) is the process of constantly exploring market and user needs, and defining a Vision, Roadmap, and set of Features that address those needs. It is the first element in the four-part Continuous Delivery Pipeline, preceding Continuous Integration (CI) Continuous Deployment (CD), and Release on Demand.
Continuous Integration (CI)
Continuous Integration (CI) is the process of taking features from the Program Backlog and developing, testing, integrating, and validating them in a staging environment where they are ready for deployment and release. It is the second element in the four-part Continuous Delivery Pipeline,.
Core Values
The four Core Values of alignment, built-in quality, transparency, and program execution represent the fundamental beliefs that are key to SAFe’s effectiveness. These guiding principles help dictate behavior and action for everyone who participates in a SAFe portfolio.
DevOps
DevOps is a mindset, a culture, and a set of technical practices. It provides communication, integration, automation, and close cooperation among all the people needed to plan, develop, test, deploy, release, and maintain a Solution.
Develop on Cadence
Develop on Cadence is a strategy for managing the inherent variability in solution development by making sure important events and activities occur on a regular, predictable schedule. It is fundamental an essential method for managing the inherent variability of systems development in a flow-based system.
Economic Framework
The Economic Framework is a set of decision rules that aligns everyone to the financial objectives of the Solution, and guides the economic decision-making process. It contains four primary constructs: Lean Budgeting, Epic funding and governance, decentralized economic decision-making, and job sequencing based on the Cost of Delay (CoD).
Enablers
Enablers promote the activities needed to extend the architectural runway to support future business functionality. These include exploration, infrastructure, compliance, and architecture development. They are captured in the various backlogs and occur at all levels of the framework.
Enterprise
The Enterprise represents the business entity that has the ultimate strategic, fiduciary, and governance authority for all the Value Streams and Solutions that make up a SAFe portfolio.
Enterprise Architect
The Enterprise Architect fosters adaptive design and engineering practices, and drives strategic architectural initiatives for a SAFe Portfolio. Enterprise Architects also facilitate the reuse of ideas, components, services, and proven patterns across various Solutions in a portfolio.
Epic Owners
Epic Owners are responsible for coordinating portfolio epics through the Portfolio Kanban system. They define the Epic, its Minimum Viable Product and lean business case, and when approved, facilitate implementation.
Essential SAFe configuration
The Essential SAFe configuration is the heart of SAFe, and is the simplest starting point for implementation. It’s the basic building block for all other SAFe configurations, and describes the most critical elements needed to realize the majority of the Framework’s benefits.
Feature
A Feature is a system service that fulfills a stakeholder need. Each feature includes a benefits hypothesis and acceptance criteria, and is sized or split as necessary to be delivered by a single Agile Release Train (ART) in a Program Increment (PI).
Foundation
The Foundation contains the supporting principles, values, mindset, implementation guidance and leadership roles needed to successfully deliver value at scale.
Full SAFe configuration
The Full SAFe configuration is the most comprehensive version of the Framework. It supports enterprises that build and maintain large integrated solutions, which require hundreds of people or more, and includes all levels of SAFe: team, program, large solution and portfolio. In the largest enterprises, multiple instances of various SAFe configurations may be required.
Innovation and Planning Iteration
The Innovation and Planning Iteration occurs every Program Increment (PI) and serves multiple purposes. It acts as an estimating buffer for meeting PI objectives, provides dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, as well as PI planning and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events.
Inspect and Adapt
The Inspect and Adapt (I&A) is a significant event, held at the end of each Program Increment (PI), where the current state of the Solution is demonstrated and evaluated. Teams then reflect, and identify improvement backlog items via a structured, problem-solving workshop.
Iteration
Iterations are the basic building block of Agile development. Each iteration is a standard, fixed-length timebox during which Agile teams deliver incremental value in the form of working, tested software and systems. They may last from one to four weeks, with two weeks as the suggested and most common duration.
Iteration Execution
Iteration Execution is how Agile teams manage their work throughout the iteration timebox, resulting in a high-quality, working, tested system increment.
Iteration Goals
Iteration Goals are high-level summaries of the business and technical goals that the team agrees to accomplish in an iteration. Serving as a primary communication mechanism within the team, as well as to the team’s stakeholders, they help ensure alignment with the PI objectives.
Iteration Planning
Iteration Planning is an event where all team members determine how much of the team backlog they can commit to delivering during an upcoming iteration. The team summarizes the work as a set of committed iteration goals.
Iteration Retrospective
The Iteration Retrospective is a regular meeting where Agile Team members discuss the results of the iteration, review their practices, and identify ways to improve.
Iteration Review
The Iteration Review is a cadence-based event where each team inspects the increment at the end of every iteration to assess progress, and then adjusts its backlog for the next iteration.
Large Solution Level
The Large Solution Level contains the roles, artifacts and processes needed to build large and complex solutions. This includes a stronger focus on capturing requirements in Solution Intent, the coordination of multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and Suppliers, and the need to ensure compliance with regulations and standards.
Lean Budgets
Lean Budgets is a set of practices that minimizes overhead by funding and empowering Value Streams rather than projects, while maintaining financial and fitness-for-use governance. This is achieved through objective evaluation of working systems, prudent management of Epic investments, and dynamic budget adjustments.
Lean Portfolio Management
Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) function has the highest level of decision-making and financial accountability for the products and solutions in a Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) portfolio.
