Leading SAFe® 5 Certification Training

ABOUT LEADING SAFE (SA)

This two-day course teaches the Lean-Agile principles and practices of the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFE®). You’ll learn how to execute and release value through Agile Release Trains, how to build an Agile Portfolio, and how to lead a Lean-Agile transformation at enterprise scale. You will gain an understanding of the Lean-Agile mindset and how to apply the principles and practices of SAFE to support Agile teams programs, portfolio management, and to coordinate large Value Streams.

Module 1—Introduction

• Added back the “Create your name tent” slide in both the SA and SPC versions of this module

Module 2—Lean Thinking

• 3 – Understand and Exploit Variability – added formula for EMV based upon student feedback
• New Slide: “Fast Feedback Requires Frequent Integration” fixed spelling of author’s name for the Lean Machine to “Dantar P. Oosterwal”

Module 3—Scaling Agile

• The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFE®) slide – changed order of the SAFE core values to match the website guidance article

Module 4—Agile Release Train

• Release Planning Simulation:
• Updated Simulation so it can be completed on Day 1 without skipping exercises or decreasing the size of the time-boxes allocated for the exercises
• Updated the Sprint Planning Simulation to have three stories as required. One of them has a dependency factor too.
• Added a new exercise for assigning Business Value since the Team Breakout #2 and Final Plan Review exercises were replaced with Lecture slides in version 8.0 of the courseware.
• Moved the Program Board lecture slide back into the flow of the simulation based upon customer feedback. In the previous version, the Program Board was moved to the “Implementing SAFE - Launching Release Train” module as an advanced topic.
• Made various updates to make it easier to understand the flow of the simulation, update the exercise slides to provide better guidance for the students and instructor, update non-compliant exercise slides to match the template, update the time-boxes of the exercises that were too short or too long, consolidated duplicate information (e.g. Planning Acceptance slide was removed since this information was mentioned on the acceptance criteria for Team Breakout #1 exercise)
• Updated the simulation’s handout of “Features and Starter Stories” to use the same nomenclature for priority. The slides and handouts used different terminology (priority and WSJF). Priority is being used since WSJF does not get introduced until after the simulation.
• A fix was made to the Features and Starter Stories handout for reference to the correct Feature numbers. Example: book list (see feature 7). The Feature descriptions in the handouts now match the descriptions in the slides.
• Updated the graphic on the “Program Execution” slide to clarify the concept of the “Closed Loop” and show the relationship between program and team events
• Updated Problem Solving Workshop slide graphics to match SAFE
• Updated the Sprint Planning and Sprint Execution exercises to reflect the new 8.0 courseware pedagogy – the Sprint exercises now come after the Release Planning Simulation. These exercises had to be updated to create a situation where there are no Scrum Masters and not enough POs to serve the teams. It is an important lesson for managers to understand the importance of Product Owners and Scrum Masters and to have the right number of people to serve these roles.
• Removed the “Release Planning Flow” appendix (22 pages) that has now become redundant with the Release Planning Simulation. Students complained that there were too many appendices and overlapping content.
• Moved Stretch Objectives from “Implementing SAFE - Launching Release Trains” into Release Planning to reduce confusion during the simulation
• Updated Scrum of Scrums to state “weekly or more frequently conditions required”

Module 5—Portfolio

• Agenda and Appendix – removed the appendix and moved the slides from the appendix to the main section of the module (i.e. Epic Owner and Enterprise Architect) to improve the flow of the Portfolio Module
• Updated the Lightweight Business Case graphic to match the new version of SAFE . The Lightweight Business Case was updated after SAFE 3.0 was released.
• Added Architectural Flow (Kanban) slide

Module 6—Scaling Leadership

• Haka exercise and video is now in Leadership. Also, be sensitive to cultural issues around this video.
• The appendix has been renamed to “Post Class Learning: Your Journey Continues.” This is to clarify that these exercises are a part of the learning journey, but are not required in class or to pass the certification exam.