The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 was released on March 15th, introducing several changes. Among these, the six most relevant themes include:
1. Strengthening the foundation for Business Agility
2. Empowering teams and clarifying roles and responsibilities
3. Accelerating Value Flow
4. Enhancing Business Agility with SAFe across the business
5. Building the future with AI, Big Data, and Cloud
6. Delivering better outcomes with Measure and Grow and OKRs.
Detailed information about each theme can be found on the Scaled Agile website, but this article will highlight the second theme, focusing on the roles of the Release Train Engineer and Scrum Master, and how they relate to flow: Just as we call Product Owners and Product Management “value maximizer”, Scrum Masters and RTEs are “flow optimizers”.
The Scrum Master role in SAFe has changed and is now broader in scope, becoming that of a team coach. This change makes sense, as they are expected to have a deep understanding of various methods, frameworks, and practices beyond just Scrum. These can include SAFe, Kanban, XP, built-in quality, flow, and much more. One of the critical challenges for this team coach is to promote transparency among team members, which is a core value in SAFe and a Scrum pillar. The team coach has several important responsibilities, such as:
SAFe is already highly focused on flow, and it now becomes even more evident that the Scrum Master/Team Coach plays an important role in that. Establishing a team Kanban board, to help the team visualize, understand, and measure this flow of value is key. Creating this Kanban system is key for any team to foster continuous delivery. It is important for teams to visualize their work and how it flows – or not. The team coach can then focus on measuring and optimizing flow by establishing metrics, such as understanding it and improving performance.
Knowing flow metrics is essential to perform it:
The Release Train Engineer is a servant leader and ART coach who facilitates ART events and processes, and supports teams in delivering value. Therefore, RTE is also concerned with flow. Knowing the flow metrics, Kanban, WIP limits, and how to help the Agile Release Train to have a continuous flow of value and continue performing is part of the RTE responsibilities. Optimizing the flow by establishing pull systems, ART flow metrics, facilitating value stream mapping and reducing or eliminating cross-team dependencies should be points of attention for any Release Train Engineer.