Safe Agile Ceremonies: Your Ultimate Guide

In the dynamic world of Agile methodologies, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) stands out as a leading approach for enterprise-scale software development. SAFe Agile ceremonies are pivotal elements within this framework, orchestrating collaboration, alignment, and delivery for teams and stakeholders. As a certified SAFe Agilist and having facilitated numerous SAFe ceremonies, I'll share insights and practical experiences to guide you through these scaled agile ceremonies. Whether you're eyeing a SAFe Agilist certification or looking to enhance your skills through online Agile courses, understanding these ceremonies is crucial.  

In this guide, we'll explore the various SAFe Agile ceremonies, such as the scaled agile framework ceremonies, safe scrum ceremonies, and more, providing a clear, concise roadmap for effectively implementing them in your agile journey. 

“Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating.” ― Denis Waitley

What are SAFe Agile Events (or) Ceremonies?  A Brief Overview

Before we jump into the topic, could I just take you a step back and remind you what SAFe is all about? SAFe is a way of taking any iterative Agile way of working (normally restricted to a team or few teams) and scaling it up at various levels of the organization, whilst applying a mindset of Lean manufacturing. It also deals with scalability at various levels. Beginning from Essential SAFe right up to Full SAFe, the framework caters to all organizational levels of scaling agility. As part of this, it broadens the core idea of an agility mindset beyond just projects/development teams right up to executives/CXOs, who must prepare for enterprise-level uncertainties. In a sense, it provides valuable enterprise-level scaling insights helpful for the executives to tackle any uncertainties/risks associated with a project. Click here to know more about SAFe Agile certification.   

As you start applying SAFe in your organization, you need to understand how each level works in conjunction with the other, depending on how mature your SAFe enterprise is. The key link between these levels is the SAFe-specific events which help with smooth value delivery facilitation. The events help with alignment across teams, ARTs, etc thus helping in managing risk by providing a level-based cadence and synchronization.

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Essential SAFe - Your First Level of Scaling Using an Agile Release Train (ART). Courtesy © Scaled Agile, Inc. Source: Scaled Agile

Why Do We Need Level-based Ceremonies?

While it is important to go through your team-level events (like the 4 sprint events if you are doing scrum etc.) it is important to have the scaling events that help with bridging gaps and unblocking dependency between teams. The most important part of these SAFe-specific events is for ‘Business Stakeholders’ to get a look (demo) at a proper incremental product and thus the value arising out of it. Makes sense? It did for me and let me tell you why.

I was once associated with 3 feature teams, who were working towards a common product goal. They all had the same business stakeholders but were working on individual features. Team A was working on developing a Login page, Team B was working on a landing dashboard while Team C was hopping along, trying to provide search functionality for the user. All of them were applying the Scrum framework and were running their own events. Sprint demos were happening individually and were being represented by the Product owner separately along with his business analysts. All seemed fine but there was a nagging problem. The product owner was worried because he couldn’t bring any business stakeholders to view the demos, as they were being run in silos and there was no visibility on the incremental product. Well technically there was, but they would have to sit through three or four-hour events individually to get bits and pieces of the product demo. In the real world, it's not a possibility simply because your business stakeholders will not have that much time to spend on multiple demos. It is not a good use of their time either. So, what’s the solution? Simple, it’s SAFe classes to the rescue! Let’s try and understand how the SAFe specific events help with this.

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Prescribed PI Cadence for Various Levels of Scaling. Courtesy © Scaled Agile, Inc. Source: Scaled Agile

How Do the Events (or) Ceremonies Help to Scale Up According to the Levels in SAFe:

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A. Essential Program Level

As you start to scale up one level up, you will be working with anywhere between 5-12 agile teams who will all be collectively working towards a common goal which is the program increment or PI. The anchoring catalyst that brings them all together is your ART (Agile release train). Before getting into the events, let's understand the various roles involved at this level because this is the common denominator across all levels of SAFe and across organizations. This is where you need to get it right without which there is not much use in scaling higher. 

Key Roles involved: 

• Release Train Engineer (RTE) 
• System Architect/Engineer 
• Product Management   
• Business Owners

Prescribed events on a typical Agile release train (ART). Courtesy © Scaled Agile, Inc. Source: Scaled Agile

1. PI Planning

According to me, PI planning (hands down) is THE most significant aspect of executing this framework. This is where all the magic happens. It is sometimes referred to as the heart of the framework as it offers a clear vision of what the program increment needs to be, what the cross-team dependencies are and how they bring together the cultural sustainability much needed within the release trains. It is so important, that if carried out incorrectly it could lead to several ambiguities, development challenges and mostly a disastrous product increment. However, when it works well, the iterative cycle serves to flesh out the crucial elements of the plan and the processes ensure buy in from the stakeholders.

Duration: A normal PI planning is a 2-day activity, which is a face to face cultural get together of the various ART teams. However, a new 3-day distributed PI planning has been introduced to help with geographically distributed teams (across various time zones), very apt for the current pandemic situation.

“There is no magic in SAFe® except maybe for PI Planning”. – The authors of the SAFe framework.

 

In big organizations with multiple distributed teams across multiple vendors, work streams etc. it is almost impossible to run these teams independently, whilst still having to deliver an incremental program. SAFe via the PI planning exercise mentioned above, helps with sorting out these issues by recognising cross team dependencies upfront, constantly negotiating & visualising them. This doesn’t just stop with the PI planning but the framework also proposes a cadenced way of continuing this via the scrum of scrums. The Program Board is an ideal way to showcase the cross-team dependencies.

A sample SAFe Program board. Courtesy © Scaled Agile, Inc. Source: Scaled Agile

2. Inspect and Adapt (I&A)

An inspect and adapt event is scheduled after every PI. This event is dedicated to aligning to the principles of Kaizen, which simply means to change for the better. The events contain self induced thought processes to revalidate your assumptions that everything is working OK. The I&A event consists of three sub-parts as below:  

• PI System Demo
• Quantitative and qualitative measurement
• Retrospective and problem-solving workshop

3. ART Sync 

Agile release trains tend to apply a cadenced synchronization process to help manage the ability to focus on continuous value delivery. An ART sync will typically comprise of the below sub-events.  

a. Scrum of Scrums

This event is for representatives from all the teams on a release train to come together in a regular cadenced manner, especially on large ARTs. This is normally facilitated by the release train engineer (RTE) and will involve scrum masters of the individual teams and a few selected team members (authorised by the team). The sole purpose of the SoS calls are to understand progress towards the common goal, validate cross team dependencies and unblock impediments that may arise out of them. 

Duration: The length and frequency of the meeting will depend on a few factors like the size of the ART, the release frequency, type of features being worked on, ability to decouple releases etc. For e.g an ART which releases features into production every 4 weeks might want to have an SoS call every 2 weeks for about an hour. Again, if this doesn’t work for you, just inspect and adapt to what works well for your organizational needs. 

Just make sure that the SoS is utilised for its sole purpose and not just status updates as depicted in the below comic representation.

Scrum of Scrums 

b. PO Sync

This event is represented by the Product Owner, business analysts and the product management group. This is used mainly to level up the product backlog refinement and for clarifying PI (Program Increment) scope, reviewing roadmaps and grooming for the upcoming PIs.

Duration: Very similar in concept to the SoS, so just follow what works for the group. 

4. System Demo

As part of a common understanding towards delivering incremental software, shortly after each iteration in the PI, there is a system demo scheduled. Work completed across all teams from the release train are compiled in a stable environment before it is reviewed by the business stakeholders and other important sponsors who may have a keen interest in the product. This is on top of the individual team level demos that happen after each iteration.

Duration: Anywhere between 2-3 hours that will allow time for a demonstration of the program increment in a collative manner, on top of what has been delivered from the previous PIs as well.

In case your ART is pretty small, then you may want to have just have some of the events combined into a more generic ART sync, where all roles come together to collaborate towards the program increment. This can sometimes occur if the ART is focusing on a particular value stream, confined to limited business functionality, rather than elaborate features.

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B. Essential – Team Level

As an expert in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), I have facilitated various SAFe Agile Ceremonies at the team level. These ceremonies are crucial for project success and team synergy. 

1. Iteration Planning 

Iteration Planning is the heartbeat of the Scaled Agile Framework. In this ceremony, teams outline the work and objectives for the upcoming iteration. It’s a collaborative effort where every team member, from developers to product owners, aligns on the iteration goals. My firsthand experience in these sessions has shown how effective planning can significantly improve team performance and project outcomes. 

2. Daily Stand-up (now Team Sync) 

Team sync is a quick, time-boxed event for the team to synchronize activities and plan for the next 24 hours. Here, team members discuss progress and challenges. As a Scrum Master, I've seen how this safe scrum ceremony fosters transparency and identifies roadblocks early, keeping the team on track. 

3. Iteration Review 

At the end of each iteration, the Iteration Review allows the team to demonstrate the work done. This ceremony, integral in ceremonies in SAFe Agile, encourages feedback from stakeholders and ensures alignment with the project goals. It’s a moment of reflection and celebration of the team's achievements. 

4. Iteration Retrospective 

This ceremony focuses on continuous improvement. In the Iteration Retrospective, the team reflects on the iteration process to identify areas for improvement. My role in these retrospectives has always been to encourage open, constructive discussions, crucial in SAFe ceremonies scaled agile. 

C. Solution/Portfolio Levels

a. Solution Level:  

This level deals with the coordination and delivery of complex solutions that typically require collaboration across multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs).  It involves: 

• Solution Management: Focused on defining needs and ensuring the solution meets them and providing sustainable large-scale business solutions. 
• Solution Architect/Engineering: Responsible for the overall technical design and consistency. 
• Solution Train Engineer (STE): Facilitates the process and ensures smooth collaboration among teams all ARTs and suppliers in the value stream. 

b. Portfolio Level:  

This is the strategic level, aligning the enterprise's larger objectives with the execution work. It includes: 

• Lean Portfolio Management (LPM): Connects the portfolio to the broader enterprise strategy. 
• Epic Owners: Oversee large initiatives that span multiple ARTs. 
• Enterprise Architect: Ensures that the portfolio's solutions align with the company's strategic direction. 

c. Ceremonies: 

At the Solution Level, key ceremonies include: 

• Pre- and Post-PI Planning: These meetings help set objectives for the upcoming Program Increment and review the outcomes of the last increment. 

At the Portfolio Level, important ceremonies are: 

• LPM Meetings: These sessions focus on strategy, investment funding, and portfolio prioritization. 
• Portfolio Sync: A regular meeting to ensure alignment and address portfolio-level issues. 

What are the Benefits of SAFe Agile Ceremonies?

1. The Magic of PI Planning: Well, the more I talk about this, the more excited I am. A PI planning event when carried out to its truest purpose, gets half the job done. Here is where most of the brainstorming occurs and business value gets determined and, in some cases, gets assigned in a quantifiable manner to user stories and helps with the prioritization.

PI Planning  

2. Synchronisation towards a common goal: The events are a constant reminder that all teams are working towards delivering incremental value either on a particular value stream, or feature or program. An RTE and Product Management will help reiterating the need to focus on the larger goal whilst helping sorting out inter team dependencies.

3. Less prescriptive: As is the framework itself, SAFe events/ceremonies are less prescriptive. An SPC would recommend, apply the principles but inspect and adapt as to what works for your organization. As per the example I provided earlier w.r.t to the duration of the SAFe events, start with something reasonable and then validate its effectiveness. Then leave Kaizen to do the rest.

4. Visualization of incremental value delivery: Opportunity for Business stakeholders and sponsors to have a look at the overall program increment every iteration, thus helping them evaluate the progress and provide timely feedback on market trends. 

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What are the Common Mistakes?

• Lack of a shared product vision: Things can go wrong if there is not enough representation in the product management group, say for e.g at the PO Sync event. This can lead to a blurred product vision with each team working out of sync. This may ultimately get detected too late, probably at the time of the system demo, and lead to a whole lot of unwanted rework.
• SoS as a status update: The Scrum Of Scrum event should be used as an event to unblock cross team impediments or dependencies and not to just update what each team has been doing or is doing in its current sprint. 
• Timeboxing: Given the scale at which these events will be conducted, it is critical that the associated events are facilitated in a timeboxed manner or else the participants could end up sitting and talking for hours. Roles like RTE, SPC Coaches etc will be critical in addressing this issue.
• Remote facilitation: Lack of effective collaboration tools could lead to some disastrous situations whilst facilitating the SAFe events. Given that most teams are running virtual ceremonies/events at the moment, its crucial to establish a working distributed model. This will then ensure that the platform is set up for the most effective collaboration and cross-functional work to take place.

While you try to scale, as per the implementation roadmap, its essential that you solidify the process around which your ARTs will be functioning. It’s like setting the railway tracks with the correct track gauge matching the configurations of the wheelsets of the trains that will run on them. If not, they will just derail. As your ARTs pass through your set process, they will only benefit by sustaining focus and pace while moving towards a successful incremental product delivery.

Thanks for your patience and wish you all the very best in your Agile journey. In case you want me to write about any specific topic, please feel free to comment below and I’ll be more than happy to add them to my ‘Blog Backlog’. If you liked the article, please do share it among your agile community to help spread the word.  

Hope to see you soon, with more such interesting topics.

Conclusion

To encapsulate, the SAFe Agile Ceremonies are more than mere protocols; they are the lifeblood of effective Agile implementation. In my journey, each ceremony, from Daily Stand-ups to System Demos, has proved instrumental in fostering teamwork, ensuring alignment, and facilitating continuous improvement. These ceremonies, critical in the Scaled Agile Framework, are not just about following a set of actions; they represent a commitment to Agile principles and a dedication to excellence. My guidance, influenced by my expertise and knowledgeHut SAFe Agilist certification, has helped numerous teams navigate these ceremonies successfully. Embracing these ceremonies wholeheartedly is essential for anyone aspiring to excel in Agile environments, ensuring not just the success of projects but also the growth and development of Agile teams.