SAFe vs. Scrum: which is best for you?

“The world is Agile.”

It’s a cliche by now, however that doesn’t make it much less of a motion.

Any firm not utilizing Agile processes in 2020 is liable to come back off as a little bit of a dinosaur (and never the enjoyable dinosaurs chasing Jeff Goldblum, however the previous ones lined in mud).

The paradox of Agile is that the longer you wait to undertake it, the tougher it will get. A software program improvement firm working at a big scale will discover the transition much more troublesome than a startup.

Cruise ships are tougher to steer than dinghies.

If you wish to undertake Agile software program improvement practices however your organization is simply too massive and interconnected to transform to Scrum, you’ve bought choices. You could possibly develop your individual product movement totally from scratch to function at scale.

Or (and that is what we advocate) you possibly can use the SAFe strategy — Scaled Agile Framework.

This text will clarify the distinction between SAFe and Scrum, and show you how to resolve which is the higher strategy on your crew.

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SAFe vs. Scrum: What’s the distinction?

Scrum is a straightforward, versatile strategy to adopting Agile that’s nice for small groups. SAFe is an enterprise-wide Agile framework designed to assist carry Agile past the crew and into the corporate as an entire.

Why are there two completely different approaches? Why can’t you simply scale up Scrum?

To reply these questions, we’d like to check out Agile as an entire and the way every framework suits into the image.

A quick Agile refresher

Earlier than Agile, each software program mission needed to be deliberate out in full earlier than anyone may begin work.

Mission timelines may final months or years. Usually, by the point a crew completed constructing one thing, no person wished it anymore.

The Agile Manifesto argued that software program couldn’t go on like this. Growth stored evolving, however mission administration didn’t. The engineers may as effectively have nonetheless been writing their code on punch playing cards.

Folks like us have written a number of phrases defining Agile, however the core concept is easy: Construct quicker, launch quicker, and let the client resolve what works.

What does Scrum must do with Agile?

Agile is a set of rules, not directions. It doesn’t inform you the way to put its concepts into observe. For that, you want a strategy. If Agile is an concept to bake a scrumptious cake, the methodology is the cake recipe.

Scrum is among the many hottest Agile methodologies — so standard that many individuals mistake them for synonyms. In actuality, the concepts behind Scrum originated a long time earlier than the Agile Manifesto, however these days they’re companions in crime.

Brief timeframes and common releases of working merchandise are the guts of Scrum.

Initiatives are damaged down into 1-4 week Sprints and on the finish of every Dash, there must be a product able to ship.

To study extra about how Scrum works, try our full information to the Scrum methodology.

Agile Scrum is extra standard than espresso. In a 2018 survey, 85% of Scrum adherents stated it made their work life higher, whereas 97% stated they deliberate to maintain utilizing it.

But Scrum has its limits. By emphasizing autonomy, self-organization, and dealing in parallel, it’s greatest suited to small groups.

However what for those who’re constructing an enormous product that requires dozens of groups working directly?

Otherwise you need extra than simply your initiatives to reap the rewards of being Agile?

That’s the place the SAFe framework is available in.

What’s SAFe?

Let’s return to our cake metaphor (and never simply because we skipped lunch).

If the Agile precept is the thought for the cake, and Scrum is the recipe, then SAFe is a bakery. It’s a course of for baking dozens of muffins a day.

One of the simplest ways to try this is an meeting line. You’ll want a batter crew, an oven crew, a frosting crew, and so forth.

Every crew must be artistic and adaptable, but when they’re all given an excessive amount of freedom, you’ll by no means get your scrumptious Agile improvement to work.

In SAFe, the meeting line known as an Agile Launch Practice (ART).

It’s principally a crew of groups, with a middle-management layer (referred to as this system stage) to direct their workflow towards disciplined Agile supply. A number of big-picture visionaries referred to as the portfolio stage work above this system stage.

By coordinating per Dash, an ART can get much more accomplished than a decentralized constellation of Scrum groups.

SAFe is wildly standard. There are about 600,000 folks worldwide with some sort of SAFe or agile mission administration certification — nearly one for each licensed scrum coach. Nevertheless it, too, can have a darkish facet.

So, which one is best for you?

Solely you may resolve. However we are able to provide the instruments it is advisable to select.

Is SAFe or Scrum proper for me?

How will you resolve between two elementary approaches to Agile — with the way forward for your organization on the road for those who fail to adapt?

Let’s break it down.

Scrum professionals

• Scrum is a incredible strategy for small, nimble corporations, particularly startups with just one or two groups.
• As a result of Scrum focuses on freedom and autonomy for workers, it results in enormous will increase in job satisfaction. A supervisor (Scrum Grasp) turns into an unblocker, relatively than a dictator.
• Scrum retains groups near their clients, enabling a speedy back-and-forth that advantages all people.

Scrum cons

• Scrum is troublesome to drag off at scale, particularly in case you have many groups engaged on the identical product.
• Scrum depends closely on the expertise and dedication of each Scrum crew member. One weak hyperlink can throw a whole mission off.
• It doesn’t work effectively for tackling enterprise processes exterior of initiatives.

SAFe professionals

• SAFe helps bigger organizations work easily collectively by putting particular person Scrum groups in a productive sequence.
• You probably have an enormous firm that’s been round for some time, SAFe is perhaps simpler to evolve towards than a pure Scrum implementation at scale.
• SAFe applies the Agile methodology to the entire firm, not simply to at least one crew at a time.

SAFe cons

• Including center managers can compromise the liberty of Scrum groups to be artistic and act autonomously. In case you implement it fallacious, SAFe can end up simply as problematic as an old-school Waterfall strategy.
• A SAFe product imaginative and prescient is much less adaptable. Choices are now not being made by the folks closest to the issue.
• A couple of Agile coach thinks SAFe doesn’t rely as an Agile strategy in any respect, because it doesn’t absolutely decide to the rules within the Agile Manifesto.

3 straightforward steps to get began with Agile

Whether or not you’ve chosen SAFe or Scrum adoption, listed here are some easy steps you may take to implement your new Agile framework.

#1: Get aware of the ‘why”

We all know it’s tempting to leap proper into SAFe or Scrum — you’re desirous to see the advantages. However earlier than you get into the ‘what’ it’s important you recognize the ‘why’.

In case your crew doesn’t perceive Agile rules and values, it’ll be tougher to get them on board with a number of the new processes and workflows coming their means.

Take into account that Scrum and SAFe even have their very own values and rules to embrace. (In case you’re leaning towards Scrum, try our plain English model of the Scrum Information.)

This step isn’t about studying and memorizing a boring manifesto. And also you don’t must get a Scrum Grasp certification to run an Agile crew.

However, you do have to get everybody on the identical web page with why it’s time for a change and the way your Agile transformation goes to make every part higher.

Attaining crew buy-in early will make all the remainder of this a stroll within the park.

#2: Don’t reinvent the wheel

This is perhaps your first time adopting SAFe or Scrum, however for those who suppose you’ve bought to start out from scratch we’ve bought excellent news.

Bear in mind how standard we stated every framework was?

Hundreds of individuals have been by way of this course of — Be taught from us.

We’ve got tons of free templates you should utilize to get you began. A few of them have been developed by our crew right here at monday.com. Others had been created by clients, like this motion board template from Kyle Ford from Ford Lab Media.

No matter framework you select, now we have templates that may get you off to a working begin.

#3: Adapt as you go

You’re not going to get it proper the primary time. That’s only a rule of life.

Agile is all about steady enchancment. So, don’t count on perfection.

In Scrum, every Dash ends with a retrospective. That is your likelihood to collect the crew collectively to debate what went effectively, what didn’t, and how one can enhance issues going ahead.

You may incorporate this strategy whether or not you select Scrum, SAFe, or one other framework altogether.

Use our Dash retrospective template to seize suggestions and actions for the long run. Then work on getting progressively higher.

Conclusion

You don’t have to decide on for those who’re undecided whether or not SAFe or Scrum would greatest fit your group.

You may at all times comply with the lead of Toyota, and construct a singular Agile course of from the bottom up on your personal firm.

Agile rules are common. To know that, look no additional than its instruments. The monday.com Course of Administration Template is a superb instance of how an Agile software may be useful irrespective of which Agile framework you utilize.