Scaled Agile Framework 6.0 Essential process template
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) methodology is an industry standard framework for helping organizations scale agile and lean practices to an enterprise level. Use this template to establish an Agile Release Train (ART) level and team level tooling environment for the Essential SAFe® 6.0 configuration.
Iterations
The template assumes an ART that delivers features in regular planning intervals (PIs). Each PI contains five sprints. The template timeline has a matching iteration structure.
The template creates a category for the ART and a category for two teams. Rename these categories to match the name of your ART and teams. Associate the team categories with the appropriate team areas. Add more teams and categories for your ART, as needed.
Roles
The following roles are for SAFe® 6.0 Essential process roles: ART flow:
- Business owner
- The business owner is responsible for the value delivered by a specific ART. This person understands the strategic themes that influence the train, knows about the current business context, has decision making influence on epics moving through the Kanban systems, is involved in driving or reviewing the ART vision and roadmap, and has a significant role in release planning.
- Epic owner
- The epic owner defines initiatives or business epics and determines the impact on the internal and external value streams of the enterprise. In the non-SAFe® world, business analysts are typically epic owners.
- Product manager
- The product manager defines and prioritizes the ART backlog, develops the vision and roadmap, works with product owners to optimize feature delivery to the customers, and sets PI objectives. This person has content authority.
- Release train engineer
- The release train engineer facilitates the ART processes and execution, escalates impediments, manages risk, and drives continuous ART level improvement. This person also facilitates ART events, such as release planning, inspect and adapt, and the scrum of scrums.
- System architect
- The system architect defines a technological vision and implementation scenarios with architectural epics that support the business strategy. This person maintains a high level understanding of user needs, system requirements, and business benefits for a release train.
The following roles are for SAFe® 6.0 Essential process roles: team flow:
- Product owner
- The product owner defines and prioritizes the requirements backlog, helps to elaborate those requirements with the team, and accepts completed stories into the baseline. A team has only one product owner, who might be dedicated to one or two teams.
- Scrum master or team coach
- The scrum master or team coach facilitates team interactions and meetings, enforces the rules of the team, and helps drive the team's efforts to continuously improve. A team member or a scrum master/team coach might have a full or part-time role that is shared across two or three teams.
- Team member
- The team member is usually a developer or tester, but this role might include other roles as well, such as a technical lead, a system architect, or a technical writer. A team normally has five to nine members.
- UX designer
- The UX designer works with stakeholders to understand the specific business targets of the user system interaction. The responsibilities include UI design, UX guidelines, design elements, and the validation of user experience through user experience testing.
Work item types
- ART epic
- A work effort constrained to a single ART, delivered by multiple teams, and spanning multiple iterations of a single PI. ART epics can represent business capabilities that address various user needs.
- Feature
- Functionality that meets specific stakeholder needs. Features are sized and targeted for a PI. Features bridge the gap between stories and epics. Like ART epics, features can represent business or enabler work.
- Story
- A small behavior that can be implemented in an iteration. Like ART epics and features, stories can represent business or enabler work.
- PI objective
- Describes a specific goal with planned and actual business value assessed for a feature or story. The PI objective can be at the ART or team level.
- Task
- Defines a unit of work planned for a sprint and is estimated in hours. Tasks are typically linked to a story by using a parent or child link.
- Defect
- A bug, error, flaw in the implementation. Defects can be associated with a story by using a parent or child link. The defects and tasks associated with the story are shown on the task board.
- Risk
- Identifies an uncertain event, which can negatively affect the project. It includes an assessment of its probability of occurrence and impact.
- Retrospective
- Used to capture the findings of a sprint retrospective meeting, or an inspect and adapt workshop
- Milestone
- Marks specific progress points on the timeline and can be used to measure and monitor the progress and risk of an ART.
Plans
The template provides the following plan types and associated plan views:
- ART backlog
- Provides plan views in support of the key SAFe® activities:
Plan type Plan views ART Kanban Implements the feature Kanban system and helps the ART enforce WIP limits and visualize the flow of work. ART epic Kanban Implements the ART epic Kanban system, and helps the ART enforce WIP limits and visualize the flow of work. ART roadmap High-level roadmap displayed as a parent-child tree view that can be used to communicate delivery proposals and commitments across multiple teams within an ART. WSJF ranked list Flat list of WSJF-ranked features that comprise the SAFe® ART backlog. Risk ROAMing board Enables the risk ROAMing activity prescribed by SAFe® to be performed during PI planning. Architectural runway Used to plan and manage the enablers required to support delivery of value through implementation of near-term features with minimal redesign and delay. - Product backlog
- Provides plan views to view the work items in a ranked flat list, in a hierarchical work breakdown structure (WBS), and in the iteration structure.
- Release backlog
- Provides plan views to view the work items in a ranked flat list, in a hierarchical work breakdown structure, in the iteration structure, and in the team structure. The iterations view mode shows how the work items are planned across the sprints.
- Sprint Kanban board
- The Kanban board enables you to visually manage work by organizing work items (cards) into columns that are based on status. It is similar to the task board, but you can set limits on the number of work items that are allowed in each column.
- Sprint backlog
- Provides plan views to view the work items in a ranked flat list, in a hierarchical work breakdown structure, on a task board, and as planned time. The planned time view shows how the team members schedule their work.
Project area initialization
When you create and initialize a project area based on the SAFe® 6.0 Essential process template, a work item with the summary of post project initialization is created. Two team areas are also created within the project area.
Work item templates
- ART initiation
- Use this work item template when initiating a new SAFe® ART.
- PI planning
- Use this work item template at the start of each PI to create work items for typical events.
- Team innovation and planning
- Use this work item template before each innovation and planning iteration to create work items for typical iteration events.
- Team iteration
- Use this work item template to create work items for a SAFe® team iteration.
Work item calculated values script
Project areas that are based on the SAFe® 6.0 Essential process template include the weighted shortest job first (WSJF) calculated values script, which is used to calculate the WSJF value for ART epics and features. The template also includes exposure provider, calculated achieved value, and calculated story points calculated value scripts. For more information, see Configuring calculated value attribute customizations.
For more information on the SAFe® 6.0 Essential process template, click
Templates tab in the web client. Click the Edit Process
Description icon (
) icon in the Actions column for SAFe® 6.0 Essential template. For
more information, see Scaled Agile Framework.