SAFe® Agilist Leading SAFe® 6.0 Certification

Leading SAFe differs from traditional project management in several ways. Here are some of the key differences:

• Agile mindset: Leading SAFe is based on agile principles and methods, while traditional project management often relies on waterfall models.
• Team orientation: Leading SAFe focuses on team collaboration and the responsibility of the entire team for project outcomes, while traditional project management methods often focus on individuals.
• Continuous delivery: Leading SAFe places a strong emphasis on continuous delivery and feedback loops, while traditional project management methods often focus on larger, less frequent deliveries.

Leading SAFe ensures the safe and effective delivery of products and services by taking an agile approach to project management supported by a combination of processes and practices. These include things like regular monitoring and adjustments to ensure the project stays on track, as well as an emphasis on collaboration and communication to improve collaboration between teams and facilitate information portability.

Leading SAFe helps organizations achieve their goals by providing a framework for coordinating and collaborating multiple teams in complex product and system environments. It promotes the transition from traditional hierarchical structures to an agile, lean approach and facilitates the integration of development and operations through the introduction of DevOps practices. This leads to improved flexibility, increased efficiency, and better alignment of project goals with business objectives, ultimately resulting in improved outcomes and achievement of organizational goals.

The SaFe® certificates are valid for one year and they have to be renewed every year with an exam.

Some of the observed effects of agility in companies are:

• Increased efficiency: Agile methods enable companies to respond to changes more quickly and make faster decisions, leading to higher efficiency and better business results.
• Improved collaboration: Agile working methods promote open communication and collaboration between departments and team members, improving the effectiveness and success of projects.
• Higher customer orientation: Agility focuses on the customer and their needs. Companies that work agile can adapt more quickly to changes in the market and develop better solutions for their customers.
• Increased motivation and engagement: Agile methods enable employees to take responsibility for their work and contribute their ideas, leading to higher motivation and job satisfaction.
• Better quality of results: Agile methods emphasize continuous review and improvement, leading to higher quality project results and better business outcomes.

Here are some best practices for using Leading SAFe:

• Introduction of agile mindsets and principles: It is important for the entire team to understand and apply the agile mindsets and principles of Leading SAFe.
• Strengthening team collaboration: Encourage a collaborative work environment and promote the responsibility of the entire team for the project outcome.
• Use of tools and technologies: Use tools and technologies suitable for implementing Leading SAFe to enable smooth collaboration and communication.
• Conduct regular retrospectives: Conduct regular retrospectives to gather feedback and monitor project progress.

The main goals of Leading SAFe are:

• Lean-Agile Mindset: Adopting the principles of Lean, Agile, and product development flow.
• Systems Thinking: Understanding the dependencies between solution elements and the impact of changes.
• Customer-Centric Perspective: Focusing on delivering value to customers and users.
• Shared Culture: Building a culture of trust, collaboration, and transparency.
• Execution at Scale: Scaling Agile beyond the team level to the enterprise level.
• Lean Portfolio Management: Managing the solution portfolio to maximize value delivery potential.
• Continuous Learning: Encouraging a culture of continuous improvement and learning.
• Integrating DevOps: Integrating development and operations to deliver value faster.
• Practice-Based Approach: Adopting a practice-based approach to solving complex problems.

Some of the main challenges in implementing Leading SAFe are:

• Cultural change: Introducing Leading SAFe often requires a change in organizational culture and adaptation to agile methods and principles.
• Team collaboration: It can be difficult to get teams to collaborate and take joint responsibility for project outcomes.
• Scalability: The scalability of Leading SAFe can be a challenge, particularly in larger projects with many teams and dependencies.

Completing the course gives you access to the certification exam and access to the study material as part of your individual Learning Journey within the SAFe® Community Platform.

You can find all further information about the exam here: Leading SaFe - scaledagile.com

Leading SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is most effective in large organizations or enterprises with complex products and systems where coordination and collaboration of multiple teams is required. It is particularly useful in organizations transitioning from traditional hierarchical structures to an agile, lean approach. Leading SAFe has been successfully applied in various industries such as software development, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and government, among others. It is also suitable for organizations looking to adopt DevOps practices as it provides a framework for integrating development and operations.

Dean Leffingwell is the creator of Leading SAFe. He is an experienced software developer and agilist who developed Leading SAFe as a framework for applying agile methods in large enterprises. Since its introduction, Leading SAFe has become one of the leading agile frameworks for implementing large-scale projects.

Whether Leading SAFe is right for you depends on several factors. Here are some considerations that can help you decide if Leading SAFe is suitable for you:

• Larger projects: Leading SAFe is particularly well-suited for larger projects where multiple teams need to work together to achieve the overall goal.
• Agile projects: Leading SAFe follows an Agile approach and is suitable for projects that rely on Agile methods.
• Enterprise environment: Leading SAFe is best suited for companies that manage a portfolio of projects and want to implement enterprise-wide Agile management.
• Team collaboration: Leading SAFe focuses on collaboration and communication between teams and is therefore suitable for projects where interdisciplinary collaboration and close collaboration with the customer are important.

The target group of Leading SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) are organizations and companies that want to implement an agile framework for scaled product development and delivery. It is intended for organizations that have multiple teams on complex projects and are looking for a structured and efficient approach to managing their development and delivery process.

CEOs, programme and project managers, team leaders, business analysts, agile coaches, consultants, release train engineers, scrum masters, CIOs, portfolio managers, change agents, solution or system architects.