SAFe® Coaches Handbook
Proven tips and techniques for launching and running SAFe® Teams, ARTs, and Portfolios in an Agile Enterprise
Darren Wilmshurst SPCT, SAFe® Fellow
Lindy Quick SPCT
BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI
SAFe® Coaches Handbook
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ISBN 978-1-83921-045-7
Foreword
Over my long career, I’ve had the privilege to witness people at their best in some of the most difficult business circumstances. Some of the most remarkable examples took place during the early years of Agile when I was in the field trying to convince people that they needed to change their thinking about the way they developed software and systems.
After a few years, the Agile Manifesto was published in 2001; I found myself at a career point where I was free to explore entirely new and more Agile ways to help the people that build significant technology-based systems. After a few successful field experiments, I found a renewed purpose: to see if it was possible to bring agility to large and complex enterprises, building some of the world’s largest and most important systems. The organizations delivering these systems needed a way to accelerate innovation and stay competitive in their markets. The systems—which we depend on daily—ran the gamut from medical equipment, transportation systems, and information systems to satellites, submarines, insurance, financial and banking systems.
Using an empirical and incremental approach, I started working with several large enterprises to apply Agile methods and practices. Where needed, I extended these practices with Lean and systems thinking. It was hard, labor-intensive work that required deep engagement within the enterprise. At times, the constraints that those companies placed on themselves, and those they assumed their industries placed on them, were truly daunting. But person by person, meeting by meeting, practice by practice, and course by course, we were able to develop the tools and insights needed to help these enterprises transition to a leaner, more Agile—and most importantly— more effective way of working. The outcomes were truly amazing. Thousands of jobs were saved, and new jobs were created. New and innovative systems reached the market more quickly than before. Over time, we integrated all those learnings into a new Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®), which quickly became the world’s leading framework for rapidly deploying innovative technological systems.
Building a community for change
As you would imagine, I wasn’t alone on this journey. Adopting SAFe® requires a new way of working and interacting that involves a significant shift in daily practices, mindset, and culture. And that requires thoughtful and skilled individuals to introduce and facilitate this way of working. Over time, first hundreds, then thousands of SAFe® Practice Consultants (SPCs) were trained to be change agents.
SPCs share a common foundation of how SAFe® works and why. They have the knowledge, talent, mass, and geographic distribution to help an enterprise implement SAFe®, and they reached over 10,000 businesses in just a few short years. Training SPCs required scale too, so we developed the SAFe® Practice Consultant-T (SPC-T) program, a select group of individuals that were further trained, evaluated, certified, and licensed to train SPCs worldwide. And finally, another unique community was formed: the SAFe® Fellow program, which recognizes individuals with the depth and breadth of experience to work at the highest levels of complexity in enterprise digital transformation and who contribute to the evolution of SAFe®.
The authors of this book are two exceptional people who have been with us on this journey. Darren “Daz” Wilmshurst, SPCT and SAFe® Fellow, was an early proponent of SAFe® and helped us formulate content and implementation strategies to transform many enterprises in the commercial and government markets. Lindy Quick, SPCT, has over 15 years of U.S. government IT experience and ten years of SAFe® consulting for delivering software and highly complex cyber-physical solutions. She addressed some of the most significant technical and commercial challenges facing industries and government as they adopted the new ways of working. These two thought and practice leaders are uniquely qualified to write this book.
Why I love this book
This book is written for people who do the important work of implementing SAFe®. SPCs, Scrum Master/Team Coaches, Release Train Engineers, Product Owners, Product Managers, and Business Owners will better understand their roles and responsibilities for the transformation. It brings clear and immediate focus to some of the most essential elements of SAFe®, including the nature and organization of Agile Teams and Agile Release Trains and how they iterate to deliver valuable solutions to their customers quickly. It provides enough portfolio management context to ensure the implementation aligns enterprise strategy to execution. It also describes the important Lean budgeting practices that facilitate agility.
This book will be a super companion for SPCs and others who implement SAFe® and teach the courses that provide people with the knowledge and skills needed to master this new way of working.
But even that understates the case a bit. Due to its synopsis-level brevity and readability, this book can help everyone who wants to be successful with SAFe®.
In other words, if you are in a SAFe® transformation, considering one, just want to learn about SAFe®, or simply want to know how to build and deploy significant technology-based systems faster, this book is for you!
Great job, Darren and Lindy!
Contributors
About the authors
Darren Wilmshurst is the UK director of Cprime, a leading global Agile, product, and technology solutions provider, delivering transformations. Having spent almost 30 years in the corporate world, first in retail banking and then later in the IT industry, he moved to consulting to help organizations in both the private and public sectors to be more effective and efficient. He is a SAFe® Practice Consultant Trainer (SPCT) and is also recognized as a SAFe® Fellow. He co-authored the BCS book Agile Foundations – Principles Practices and Frameworks, was a contributor and reviewer of The ART of Avoiding a Train Wreck, and was a reviewer of Valuing Agile: The Financial Management of Agile Projects.
Lindy Quick is the owner and principal at LNQ Consultants. She has more than 15 years of federal government IT experience and 10 years of SAFe® and Lean-Agile consulting and Coaching experience. Lindy has Coached and trained numerous individuals, teams, ARTs, and solutions, delivering both software and highly complex cyber-physical solutions. Lindy is a SAFe® Practice Consultant Trainer (SPCT) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and German and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
About the reviewers
Alex Gray is a professional, versatile, fun, and enthusiastic Certified Scrum Trainer®, Path to CSP Educator®, LeSS Friendly Scrum Trainer, ICAgile Authorised Trainer, and leader of Lean/Agile practices. He has been delivering CSM® training since 2016 and uses his 25+ years of experience working in technology teams and 15+ years of experience working in agile transformations to the class’s benefit.
Alex has experience working in banking and financial services, medical, gaming, telecoms, and other industries. His work involves training and guiding organizations on aspects of Lean-Agile transformations, from team-level agility and scaled agility through to business-wide agility and agile leadership.
Glenn Smith is a respected business agility consultant and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) SPCT. He works internationally, blending his consultation, Coaching, facilitation, and training skills to empower his clients. Described by clients as having the superpower to make the complex seem simple, he supports organizations in improving their bottom line in delivering and operating their products and services.
Patrick Campbell is a veteran of 20+ years of Project and Program leadership and management, as a Program Manager as well as a practice director while working at Digital Equipment, Compaq, and Hewlett Packard. Since 2006, Pat has been practicing, implementing, teaching, and Coaching in agile and lean principles and frameworks, and has helped multiple Fortune 500 companies discover their benefits. Originally certified by Ken Schwaber, one of the creators of Scrum, Pat brings a combination of background and experience to facilitate teams in the discovery of delivering Business Value. Pat holds a PMP (’99) and ACP (’14) certification from PMI, and is a certified Scrum Master, a certified Product Owner, and a certified SAFe® Practice Consultant.
Tim Jackson is an experienced SAFe® Practice Consultant Trainer (SPCT) with over 20 years of experience in digital. He began his career as a full-stack developer building intranets before discovering his passion for product management. Tim worked in various agencies around London before becoming a director in a pharmaceutical company where he began exploring the world of SAFe®. He then led the transformation at a large airline, where he found his true calling as a transformation architect using SAFe®.
Tim is a respected expert in his field, and his contributions to the industry have been significant. His expertise has been instrumental in the success of many organizations, and his passion for SAFe® has helped him to achieve great things throughout his career.