With the recent unveiling of SAFe 5.0, the world’s leading framework for Agility at scale (the Scaled Agile Framework) has acknowledged in the theory what leading organizations have been pioneering in practice: to spread Lean/Agile principles far beyond digital development and IT. From Finance to HR and from Sales to Facilities, SAFe 5.0 is where Agile means Business.
The new version of SAFe contains several major improvements and redesign, making the 5.0 version number very much in order. What we currently see as the most striking improvements:
- Team and program levels have been combined into a single ‘Essential SAFe’ level;
- Two new Lean/Agile competences have joined: Organizational Agility and Continuous Learning Culture;
- Business Agility as a focus for Portfolio and Full SAFe;
- Customer centricity and creativity with Design Thinking;
- ‘Organize around value’ as a new SAFe principle #10;
- Increased clarity with new ordering.