Scaled Agile Framework
Presentation and Real World Example
Richard Brenner
Zühlke Engineering (Austria) GmbH
Vienna, Austria
richard.brenner@zuehlke.com
Abstract — This case focuses on the applicability of the Scaled
Agile Framework (SAFe) founded by Dean Leffingwell. Modern
organizations often work with agile software engineering teams
using traditional single team-level methods like Scrum, but
multiple teams and the program or portfolio level are not part of
methods like Scrum. SAFe tries to apply agile methodologies to
the whole organisation. The real world example focuses on a key
element of SAFe, the Program Increment (PI) planning meeting
and how it can improve multiple team collaboration.
I. INTRODUCTION
The foundation of all agile methods is the agile manifesto
[1] which defines the key values and principles of modern
software project management methods:
• Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
• Working Software over Comprehensive
Documentation
• Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
• Responding to Change over Following a Plan
Various methods evolved around the agile manifesto, like
Scrum, Kanban, XP and others. Takeuchi and Nonaka [2] used
the term Scrum the first time to explain how Rugby teams
work together to conquer the ball. Later, Jeff Sutherland and
Ken Schwaber created Scrum as project management method
[3] which became an essential part of modern software
engineering practices.
Scrum became very popular among software development
teams but it does not describe how large projects can scale or
how program level or portfolio level management can handle
their requirements together with agile teams. Dean
Leffingwell [4] described, how agile software requirements
can be handled throughout the company and created the
“Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)” that can be viewed
publicly on the homepage of the scaled agile framework [5].
2015 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Software Testing,
Verification and Validation Workshops (ICSTW)
10th Testing: Academic and Industrial Conference - Practice and
Research Techniques (TAIC PART)
978-1-4799-1885-0/15/$31.00 c 2015 IEEE
Stefan Wunder
AVL List GmbH
Graz, Austria
stefan.wunder@avl.com
Multiple teams are grouped into an “Agile Release Train
(ART)” which is defined as a team of teams, working together
on a common value stream for the company.
The case study focuses on how an agile release train can be
managed in terms of resolving team interdependencies and
creates a streamlined plan for all involved teams and business
stakeholders.
II. EXPOSÉ
SAFe introduces three levels in its big picture:
1. Portfolio Level
2. Program Level
3. Team Level
Program and Team Level all work together in a so-called
release train (50-124 people) on the same value stream. A
value stream should deliver value to the business. All teams,
having dependencies to each other to deliver the value, are
part of the train.
The Team Level works with traditional agile methods but the
team meetings are synchronized and iterations called sprint
have a fixed length of two weeks. In addition to the Scrum
events (sprint planning, sprint review, sprint retrospective),
SAFe introduces the “release planning” meeting [6] to
synchronize teams after every five iterations.
This team event is an essential part of SAFe and has been
installed to reduce the coordination overhead between teams
and foster a common direction and commitment of all
participants. Further, team dependencies are highlighted and
solved during the planning. Risks are being addressed
(ROAM: Resolved, Owned, Accepted, Mitigated) during the
meeting. The final part of the planning meeting is a confidence
vote of all participants thus leading to a common vision and
higher motivation for all participating people. In this case
study, we give an insight to a real life scenario to show if the
theory can be applied in actual companies and projects.
III. INSUTRY CASE STUDY AVL
AVL List GmbH uses an adopted version of the Scaled Agile
Framework (SAFe) in their business unit “Integration
Software Products” to coordinate about 40 development teams
with about 350 engineers within 4 release trains.
The business unit started in 2010 with the introduction of REFERENCES
Scrum. With the expansion of agile methodologies, the need
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business unit best. AVL’s agile framework is named
[3] J. Sutherland and K. Schwaber, “Scrum Guides,”
ALASKA (AVL’s Lean and Agile Software Development
2014. [Online]. Available:
Process with Kaizen).
http://www.scrumguides.org/.
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even could not imagine that a meeting with 100+ people could Enterprise". Addison-Wesley Professional; Edition: 1,
be productive at all. 2010.
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AVL List GmbH, with more than 7000 employees worldwide planning/. [Accessed: 05-Mar-2015].
and an annual revenue of 1.1 billion EUR, is the world's
largest independent company for development, simulation and
testing technology of powertrains (hybrid, combustion
engines, transmission, electric drive, batteries and software)
for passenger cars, trucks and large engines.