12/7/24, 9:34 AM Implementation - Prepare for ART Launch - Scaled Agile Framework

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+ Framework

“ Short-term wins help build

necessary momentum.

—Kotter

Prepare for ART Launch

This is article eight in the SAFe® Implementation Roadmap series. Click here to
view the entire roadmap.

Previous articles in the SAFe Implementation Roadmap series discussed the first
seven ‘critical moves’ in an implementation:

Reaching the Tipping Point

Train Lean-Agile Change Agents
Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE)
Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders
Lead in the Digital Age
Organize Around Value
Create the Implementation Plan

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The enterprise has now identified its value streams and established an
implementation plan. It will also have loosely defined the first ART. This is a pivotal
moment, as plans are now moving toward implementation. From a change-
management perspective, launching the first ART is a critical activity with potentially
far-reaching implications. This will be the first material change to the way of working
and will generate the initial short-term wins that help the enterprise build
momentum. This article describes the activities necessary to prepare for the ART
launch.

Details
Now is the time to execute the activities necessary for a successful ART launch. SPCs
often lead the implementation of the initial ARTs, supported by SAFe-trained ART
stakeholders and members of the Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE).

No matter who leads, the more significant activities in preparing for the launch
include the following:

Define the ART

Set the ART launch date and cadence calendar

Train ART leaders and stakeholders

Form Agile teams

Train Product Managers and Product Owners

Train Scrum Masters/Team Coaches

Train System Architects

Assess and evolve launch readiness

Prepare the ART backlog

Each of these activities is described in the sections below.

Define the ART

In Create the Implementation Plan, the stakeholders used to identify the first value
stream and ART were detailed. At that planning stage, the ART is defined with just
enough detail to determine that it’s a potential ART. However, the parameters and

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boundaries of the ART are left to those who better understand the local context, as
shown in Figure 1.

Agile Release Train Canvas: [ART Name]

Value statement Business Owners People and locations
Number of practitioners and geographic locations
FOR …

WHO …

THE … Key Customers Principal roles

Product Manager
IS AN …
RTE
THAT …
System Architect
UNLIKE …
Success measures Team design strategy
OUR SOLUTION ...
Outline of teams, their topologies and responsibilities
OUR SOLUTION …

Solution Technical assets Other stakeholders

Systems, products, services Development tools and
developed and maintained by the environment
ART

Development Value Stream

ART structure in development value stream, including steps

Operational Value Stream supported

Steps supported in operational value stream

© Scaled Agile, Inc.

Figure 1. Agile Release Train Canvas

A vital benefit of the canvas is to help teams identify the principal ART roles. ARTs
work only when the right people are given the right blend of responsibilities. After
all, the ART organization is a system that must be in flow. All the necessary
responsibilities of solution definition, building, validation, and deployment must be
realized for the system to function smoothly. Filling in the critical roles on the canvas
fosters these discussions and highlights the new responsibilities.

Special care must be taken to understand who the Business Owners are. They may
include internal and external customers and/or their Product Management proxies.
“Applying systems thinking,” however, means that others should often be included,
for example, leaders and executives of associated value stream business areas, data
center managers, enterprise and security architects, marketing and sales
representatives, and whoever else has the need, scope, and authority to steer the
ART. Only the right set of Business Owners can collectively align differing
organizational responsibilities and perspectives.
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Set the ART Launch Date and Cadence Calendar

With the ART definition in hand, the next step is to set a date for the first PI Planning
event. This creates a forcing function, a ‘date-certain’ deadline for the launch, which
will create a starting point and define the planning timeline.

The first step is establishing the ART cadence, including the PI and iteration lengths.
The SAFe Big Picture shows a 5 iteration PI, which consists of four regular two-week
iterations and one Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration. There is no fixed rule for
the PI cadence nor for how much time should be reserved for the IP iteration. The
recommended duration of a PI is between 8 to 12 weeks, with a bias toward the
shorter period (10 weeks, for example). Once the cadence is chosen, it should remain
stable and not arbitrarily change from one PI to another. This allows the ART to have
a predictable rhythm and velocity. The fixed cadence also allows a full year of events
to be scheduled on people’s calendars. The PI calendar usually includes the
following activities:

PI planning

System Demos
ART, Coach, and PO Sync events

Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop

For in-person planning, this advance notice reduces travel and facility costs. For
remote or hybrid planning, it helps ensure that most stakeholders will be able to
participate. Once the calendar is set, team events can also be scheduled, with each
team defining the time and place for their events, including team planning, demos,
and retrospectives. All teams on the train should use the same iteration start and
end dates, facilitating synchronization across the ART.

Train ART Leaders and Stakeholders

Depending on the scope and timing of the rollout, there may be several ART leaders
(Release Train Engineer, Product Managers, System Architects) and stakeholders
(Business Owners, managers, internal suppliers, operations, and so on) who have not
attended a Leading SAFe training session. They will likely be unfamiliar with SAFe,
unclear on expectations, and may need help understanding the need and benefits of
their participation. They must understand and support the model and the
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responsibilities of their role. In that case, SPCs will often arrange a Leading SAFe
class to educate these stakeholders and motivate participation. This is usually
followed by a one-day implementation workshop, where newly trained stakeholders
and SPCs can create the specifics of the launch plan. After all, it’s their ART; only they
can plan for the best outcomes. Essentially, this is the handoff of primary
responsibility for the change from the change agents to the stakeholders of the
newly formed ART.

Form Agile Teams

The next step is to form the Agile teams that will be on the train. One solution is to
enable the people on the ART to organize themselves into Agile teams with minimal
constraints. In other cases, management makes initial selections based on their
objectives, knowledge of individual talents and aspirations, timing, and other factors.
In most cases, a bit of back and forth between management and the teams will be
needed. Teams better understand their local context and know how they like to
work. Managers add perspective based on current individual, organizational, and
product development strategies.

Before PI planning, all practitioners must be part of a cross-functional Agile team,

and the initial roles of Scrum Master/Team Coach and Product Owner must also be
established.

The example team roster template shown in Figure 2 is a simple tool that can help
bring clarity and visibility to the organization of each team.

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Team Geographic
Team # Role Team member name
name location

1 Team A Scrum Master/Team Coach Last Name, First Name City, Country

1 Team A Product Owner Last Name, First Name

1 Team A Developer

1 Team A Developer

1 Team A Developer

1 Team A Tester

1 Team A Tester

1 Team A <role>

1 Team A <role>

© Scaled Agile, Inc.

Figure 2. An Agile team roster template

The simple act of filling out the roster can be quite informative, as it makes the more
abstract concepts of Agile development concrete. After all, the structure of an Agile
team is well defined; the question of who is on the team, and the nature of the
specialty roles, can lead to interesting discussions. Even the seemingly simple act of
dedicating an individual to one Agile team can be an eye-opening experience. But
there’s no going back. The proven success patterns of Agile, including ‘one person–
one team,’ are clear.

The geographic location column is also interesting, as it defines each team’s

collocation and distribution level. That may evolve, but at least everyone
understands where the current team members reside, so they can start thinking
about time zones for Team Sync times and other team events. It can also be helpful
to include the name and contact information of the direct supervisors for each
member of the ART. This helps ensure proactive communication and coordination
with managers before changes are announced (they should also be invited to attend
Leading SAFe!).

Organizing Agile Teams with Team Topologies

Good Agile team design is one of the main contributing factors to the success of the
ART in meeting its goal of continuously delivering value to the customer. Regardless
of whether the ART is organized around value, if the teams on that ART remain
siloed, then it will need help to meet this goal.
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To help with this, SAFe recognizes four team topologies from the work of Mathew
Skelton and Manuel Pais [1]. These four fundamental teams types enhance and
simplify this task of organizing around value:

Stream-aligned teams are end customer-aligned and are capable of

performing all the steps needed to build end-to-end customer value.

Complicated subsystem teams are organized around critical solution

subsystems. They focus on areas of high technical specialization, which limits
the cognitive load on all the teams.

Platform teams provide application services and APIs for stream-aligned

teams to leverage common platform services.
Enabling teams provides tools, services, and short-term expertise to other
teams.

The Agile Release Train article provides further information on each team topology,
when to apply them, and their associated behaviors and responsibilities.

Train Product Owners and Product Managers

Product Managers and Product Owners steer the
train together. They have the responsibility and
authority over features and stories, respectively.
These two roles are critical to the success of the
ART, and the people fulfilling these roles must be
trained to ensure optimal collaboration, learn the
new way of working, and understand how to fulfill
their specific responsibilities best. In addition, these
roles will be primarily responsible for building the
initial ART backlog, which is a crucial artifact for PI
planning.

Scaled Agile, Inc.’s two-day SAFe Product

Owner/Product Manager course is designed
specifically for this purpose. The course teaches Product Owners and Product (and
Solution) Managers how to drive value delivery in the SAFe enterprise. Attendees
get an overview of SAFe’s Lean-Agile Mindset and principles and an in-depth
exploration of role-specific practices. Attendees learn how to write Epics, Features,

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and User Stories, and establish the Agile Team and ART backlogs to manage and
improve their flow.

Train the Scrum Masters/Team Coaches

Effective ARTs primarily rely on the servant
leadership of the Scrum Master/Team Coach and
their ability to coach Agile Team members and
improve the team’s performance. It’s a specialty
role that includes traditional Scrum leadership
duties, new responsibilities to help the teams
achieve flow, and responsibilities to the larger
team-of-Agile teams that constitute the ART.
Scrum Masters/Team Coaches also play a critical
role in PI planning and help coordinate value
delivery through Coach Sync events. It’s incredibly
helpful if they receive appropriate training before
starting the first PI.

Scaled Agile, Inc.’s two-day SAFe® Scrum Master course teaches Agile Team
coaching fundamentals and explores a team’s role in the context of SAFe. It prepares
Scrum Masters/Team Coaches for how to facilitate team events, successfully plan
and execute the PI, participate in ART events, and measure and improve the flow of
work through the system using Kanban. This course benefits new and experienced
Scrum Masters/Team Coaches.

Train the Architects

Architects enable solution development by providing, communicating, and evolving
the solution’s broader technology and architectural view. In so doing, they enable
Agile teams to make effective, decentralized decisions that accelerate the creation of
business value while ensuring that the solution’s architecture remains robust and
sustainable. Individuals fulfilling these roles must be experienced technical experts
and influential Lean-Agile Leaders skilled at engaging across the organization.
Partnering with Product Management and the RTE, System, and Solution Architects
define enabler features in the backlog designed to maintain the architectural runway
necessary to sustain business value creation.

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Scaled Agile, Inc.’s three-day SAFe for Architects

course teaches senior technical contributors the
role of architecture in a Lean-Agile enterprise.
Attendees will explore the principles underlying
Lean-Agile architecture and release on demand,
learn to lead and support Solution Trains and Agile
Release Trains, extend the principles driving
continuous flow to large systems of systems, and
discover how to enable an improved flow of value
across an entire portfolio.

Assess and Evolve Launch

Readiness
Training people in their new roles and responsibilities is a vital part of ART readiness,
but it’s only one element of a successful ART launch. Additional activities are
required. However, since SAFe is based on the empirical Plan-Do-Check-Adjust
(PDCA) model, there is no such thing as perfect readiness for a launch. Even
attempting to achieve such a state is a fool’s errand, as the experience of the first PI
will inform future activities. What’s more, trying to be too perfect up-front will delay
learning, postponing the transformation and realization of its benefits.

That said, a certain degree of readiness will help assure a more successful planning
event the first time. Figures 3 and 4 provide a checklist for ART readiness
assessments and activities.

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Item Considerations

Is the scope (product, system, technology domains) of the planning process understood?
Planning scope and context
Have we identified our Value Stream(s) and Agile Release Train(s)?

Have we identified the Release Train Engineer? Do they understand the scope of the role
Release Train Engineer
in preparing the organization and preparing for the PI Planning event?

Planning timeframe, iteration

Have we identified the PI Planning dates, the iteration cadence, and the PI cadence?
and PI cadence

Agile Teams (SM/TCs, POs) Does each team have an identified Scrum Master/Team Coach and Product Owner?

Have we identified cross-functional Agile Teams? Are there dedicated team members on
Team makeup/commitment
every team?

Agile Team attendance Are all team members attending PI Planning, whether in person or involved remotely?

Do we know who will set and present the business context and strategy?
Executive, Business Owner
Do we know who will assign business value and accept the plans?

Is there reasonable agreement on priorities amongst the Business Owners and

Business alignment
Product Management?

Architecture Vision and

Do we know who will present the architecture vision and required development practices?
Development Practices

Product/Solution Vision Is there a clear vision of what we are building, at least over the next few PIs?
and ART Backlog Have we identified the top 10 or so Features that are the subject of the first PI?

© Scaled Agile, Inc.

Figure 3. ART readiness checklist: needed items

Item Considerations

System Team Has the System Team been identified and formed?

Shared Services Have the Shared Services (User Experiences, Architecture, etc.) been identified?

Other Attendees Do we know what other key business and technology stakeholders should attend?

Agile Lifecycle Management

Do we know how and where iterations, PIs, features, stories, measures, etc., will be maintained?
(ALM) tooling

Development infrastructure Do we have a strategy for using and improving the continuous delivery pipeline?

Quality practices Is there a strategy for applying built-in-quality practices?

© Scaled Agile, Inc.

Figure 4. ART readiness checklist: desirable items

Most would agree that most of the items in Figure 3 are required for a successful
launch. The things in Figure 4 are undoubtedly desirable, but depending on
circumstances, they can also be addressed over the first few PIs.

Prepare the ART Backlog

As previously mentioned, using the launch date as a forcing function increases the
urgency of determining the scope and Vision for the PI. After all, no one wants to
show up at PI planning without a solid sense of the mission. While it’s tempting to

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assume that should be the case before the event, experience often shows otherwise.
It’s more likely that there will be multiple opinions about what the new system is
supposed to do, and it might take some time to converge those points of view
before the launch date.

The scope of the PI, or ‘what gets built,’ is primarily defined by the ART Backlog,
which contains the set of upcoming features, NFRs, and architectural work that
define the system’s future behavior. To that end, SPCs and LACE stakeholders often
facilitate bringing the ART stakeholders together to prepare a common backlog. This
is typically done in a series of backlog refinement workshops and other activities, as
illustrated in the example preparation timeline shown in Figure 5.

ART Date
Backlog Backlog Backlog Backlog ready certain
refinement refinement refinement

Quick-start
PMs aligned

Content PO and Architect Backlogs Dry run with teams

coordinated with PMs

Cadence defined and socialized

Agile Team composition | System team composition | ART roles

Leadership discussion – Review of current commitments and flexibility

June 22 June 29 July 6 July 13 July 20 July 27 Aug 3 Aug 10 Aug 17 Aug 24

© Scaled Agile, Inc.

Figure 5. Preparing the ART backlog and related activities

It’s easy to over-invest in backlog readiness, so don’t let that bog the process down,
as the act of planning with the teams will sort out many issues. Experience shows
that a list of well-written features with initial acceptance criteria is sufficient. Many
tend to over-plan and create user stories ahead of time. But that tends to create
waste and disappointment when the vision changes.

Moving Forward
So far, it’s been quite a journey. Here’s what has been accomplished so far:

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Reached the tipping point

Trained Lean-Agile change agents

Created a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence
Trained executives, managers, and leaders
Prepared to Lead in the Digital Age

Organized around value

Created the implementation plan
Prepared for the first ART launch

It’s finally time to leave the station and launch this train! For more on the launch
events, read the following article in this series, Train Teams and Launch the ART.

This article serves as a launching pad to explore these steps in detail

and understand how to apply them to specific implementations.

Previous: Create the Implementation Plan

Next: Train Teams and Launch ART

Learn More
[1] Skelton, Matthew, and Manuel Pais. Team Topologies. IT Revolution Press, 2019.

Additional Resources
Leading SAFe®
SAFe® POPM
SAFe® Scrum Master/Team Coach
SAFe® for Architects
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Last update: 16 February 2023

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