Who’s on First? A Practical Guide to Evolving SAFe Roles To Fit Your Context

“WHO’'s on first, WHAT’s on second, I DON'T’ KNOW is on third…”
Does your SAFe implementation read like an Abbott and Costello script? Are people stepping into each other's dance space? Are the PMO threatening to reintroduce RACIs?!
With every SAFe implementation comes a new vocabulary, new roles, with funny names that no one understands. Then there is work that just needs to be done, but there is no “SAFe Role” to do it…. Can you invent your own? Could you? Should you? What are others doing? Who IS on first?!
If you are struggling with role delineation or looking to plug role gaps in your SAFe implementation, then you are going to want to put on your best baseball cap and join us for a little banter about where WHO should be and WHAT they should be doing instead of saying I DON'T KNOW.

Learning Objectives
1. Attendees will be able to differentiate between related SAFe roles, such as Business Owner, Epic Owner and Product Management.
2. Attendees will be able to resolve role clarity debates between key SAFe roles like the RTE, Product Manager and System Architect.
3. Attendees will be able to evaluate the need for additional roles to support specific contexts such as complex government environments and heavily regulated financial institutions.

Transcript

1. 1 Who’s on First? A Practical Guide to Evolving SAFe Roles To Fit Your Context © Scaled Agile, Inc. - 1 -
2. 2 Em Campbell-Pretty CEO & SAFe® Fellow Pretty Agile Adrienne Wilson COO & SAFe® Fellow Pretty Agile
3. © Scaled Agile, Inc. - 3 - WHO is on first? WHAT is on second? I DON’T KNOW is on Third
4. - 4 -
5. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 WHO is on first?
6. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 We tried baseball, and it didn’t work. “The fanatical proponents of baseball tell us that it is a very exciting game, fun to play and fun to watch. They are clearly either stupid or evil or both, because we tried baseball and it didn’t work.” –Ron Jefferies https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/jatbaseball/
7. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 “Without theory, experience has no meaning. Without theory, one has no questions to ask. Hence, without theory, there is no learning.” –W. Edwards Deming Essential SAFe Roles
8. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 •Does every team need a Product Owner? •What if the team works on more than one “product”? •What if more than one team works on the “product”? •What if the team is a component team not a product team? •Is Product Owner a full-time role? Product Owner
9. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 The SAFe Product Owner is a Team Centric Role One per team is ideal. However, less time from the right person is better than more time from the wrong person. Good Product Owners are subject matter experts and/or know who to ask to quickly get answers to team questions. Products Owners must be empowered to make decisions.
10. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Watch out for foul balls! Product Owners that are new to your business will need to be full time on one team while they learn.
11. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 •Does Scrum Master have to be a full-time role? •Does every team need a Scrum Master? •Can I share the Scrum Master across teams? •Can the Product Owner be the Scrum Master too? •What does a Scrum Master do all day?!? Scrum Master
12. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 The SAFe Scrum Master is a Team Coach & Facilitator Facilitate • PI Planning • Iteration Planning • Team Sync • ART Sync • Backlog Refinement • Feature Disco/Definition • Iteration Review • Iteration Retrospective • Inspect & Adapt Coach • Flow • Collaboration • Teamwork • Estimation • Feature Breakdown • Story Splitting • Acceptance Criteria • PI Objectives • Definition of Done Enable • Continuous Improvement • Discipline • Team Flow • Predictability • Built-in Quality • Transparency • Real Teams • Business Results • Business Agility For more information check out: https://prettyagile.co/ScrumMaster
13. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Don’t get caught off base! A Scrum Master shared across two teams is the perfect example of “Who’s on first?”, especially at PI Planning!
14. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 The ART Leadership - Triad, Troika, Trifecta, Trio, Trinity, Trilogy….. System Architect Lay the tracks to enable the ART to move at pace Release Train Engineer Get the Train to the station on time Product Management Get the right stuff on the train
15. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 “…responsibility bias is a major source of failed collaborations.” –Adam Grant RTE Product Manager System Architect How does each role contribute to the ART? The ART Leadership – What do you do all day?
16. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Watch how and when you swing. Three strikes and you’re out! More than one Product Manager or System Architect is ok, but more than three is a recipe for chaos!
17. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Who owns what?!
18. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Backlog Centric Hat (not role) Epic Owners ART Centric Hat (not role) Business Owners ART Centric ART Role Product Manager Team Centric Team Role Product Owner AGILE RELEAS E TRAIN A GILE R ELEAS E TR A IN Agile Teams
19. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 WHAT is on second?
20. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 “Epic Owners are responsible for coordinating Epics through the Portfolio Kanban system. They collaboratively define the epic, its Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and Lean business case, and when approved, facilitate implementation.” © Scaled Agile, Inc From Epic Owner to Epic Shepherd & Epic Sponsor ?
21. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 “The chapter is your small family of people having similar skills and working within the same general competency area, within the same tribe.” “The chapter lead is line manager for his chapter members, with all the traditional responsibilities such as developing people, setting salaries, etc. However, the chapter lead is also part of a squad and is involved in the day-to-day work, which helps him stay in touch with reality” –Henrik Kniberg & Anders Ivarsson Chapter Lead For more information check out: https://prettyagile.co/Chapters
22. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Technical Lead/Lead Engineer A dedicated member of the agile team and trusted source of technical guidance. A member of the Tech Lead/Architecture Chapter. Helps foster T-shaped skills and technical agility.
23. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 ART Coordinator Larger ARTs require a lot of coordination. Prevent the trifecta from drowning by providing some logistical support.
24. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Two Kinds of Shared Services A Shared Services Team on the ART Skills needed by the teams on the ART, where the demand is suffice to warrant a full time specialist on the ART. Other Supporting Services Skills needs by the ART on a part- time/ad-hoc basis.
25. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 I DON’T KNOW is on Third
26. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Project Managers “I have looked everywhere, and I can’t find any Project Managers in SAFe!” Do you still have projects? If yes, you might still need some Project Managers! For more information check out: https://prettyagile.co/ProjectMgrs
27. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 A backlog centric hat (not role) ~5 hours a week while the Feature(s) they own are being implemented. Useful pattern in some scenarios: • Work is project funded • ARTs with component teams • ARTs with large complex stakeholder groups contributing to the backlog eg. Enterprise data warehouse Feature Owner For more information checkout: https://prettyagile.co/FeatureOwner
28. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Full time role for an ART with no logical Product Manager. Provides a single coordination point across an enterprise-wide stakeholder group. Ensuring the ART has: •a ready and prioritised Feature Backlog for PI Planning; and, • the right stakeholders engaged in refinement, planning and implementation. Pipeline Manager For more information check out: https://prettyagile.co/PipelineMgr
29. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 What do you do when the Enterprise Executives are insisting on being Business Owners and follow through?! Creating a Product Advisory Group is a way to give voice to senior leaders, while, allowing the Enterprise Executives to be more actively involved with the ARTs. Product Advisory Group (PAG) Business Owners WSJF WSJF Product Advisory &
30. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 So how do you hit a home run?
31. @AgileCanuck @PrettyAgile #notrainwrecks Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. –Bruce Lee
32. © Pretty Agile Pty Ltd 2023 Remember if you go too far the umpire can eject you! “We have master scheduler on our Agile Release Train. Where do they fit?” –genuine question from a curious learner in a SAFe class…..
33. Em Campbell-Pretty CEO & SAFe®Fellow @PrettyAgile linkedin.com/in/ejcampbellpretty/ ecp@prettyagile.com Adrienne Wilson COO & SAFe® Fellow @AgileCanuck linkedin.com/in/adriennelwilson awilson@prettyagile.com