Agile Authority, Author at Agile Authority

Reinvigorate Your SAFe Transformation with a Product Operating Model Concept

Many SAFe transformations stall or fail to deliver the promised benefit of business agility. One prominent reason for these failures is SAFe’s insistence on using the Feature Factory approach. Let's reinvigorate your SAFe transformation with a Product Operating Model concept. The Dreaded Feature Factory A Feature Factory is where someone other than the Agile development team defines what to do. For example, SAFe describes the [...]

Agile Authority2026-01-15T00:24:45+00:00Categories: General, SAFe, Team Greatness, Transformation|

Stop the Madness – Technical Tasks as Backlog Items

Stop the madness! In my 20+ years of coaching Agile Teams and orgs, this is one of the most pervasive and disheartening aspects I have seen. The Pervasive Situation Take a good look at your Team backlogs. Chances are they are replete with technical tasks. The work item name typically gives it away – “Implement the ABC method”, “Code the retry API”, “Insert the new [...]

Agile Authority2025-12-03T15:47:30+00:00Categories: General, Team Greatness|

Leveraging AI in the Product Operating Model: Accelerating Discovery and Delivery

In today's fast-paced product development landscape, the Product Operating Model (POM) emphasizes close collaboration between the Product Trio - Product Manager, Designer, and Engineer - and the Customer to solve real problems efficiently. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming this model by supercharging creativity, planning, and execution. While there are countless ways of leveraging AI in the Product Operating Model, let's explore three standout ways that [...]

Agile Authority2025-10-15T17:58:16+00:00Categories: General, Team Greatness|

A Leaner Alternative to SAFe for Agile Transformation

Considering SAFe for your Agile transformation? Pause and explore a more tailored, effective approach - a leaner alternative to SAFe. Having led successful large-scale SAFe rollouts, I’ve seen its strengths and weaknesses. SAFe can work, but its success hinges on flexibility rather than rigid adherence. Here’s a streamlined, four-step alternative that prioritizes value, empowerment, and lasting results. Step 1: Define Clear Business Objectives Start by [...]

Agile Authority2025-09-29T22:15:30+00:00Categories: SAFe, Transformation|

SAFe’s Feature Factory vs. Product Operating Model Empowered Teams

SAFe’s emphasis on writing Features and waterfalling them into the Agile Teams is unfortunate. This approach can easily result in what is commonly known as a “Feature Factory”. In a Feature Factory, the focus is on discovering and writing Features. Unempowered teams are handed Features to go off and build. This makes the Agile Team accountable for delivering Features (an output), instead of true business [...]

Agile Authority2025-09-24T14:24:36+00:00Categories: SAFe, Transformation|

It’s Not About Launching ARTs!

I’m often asked, “When will my team join an ART?” My typical go-to answer is, “Maybe never! It’s more about finding the leanest operating model than it is about launching ARTs.” SAFe does a great job introducing us to the notion of a Development Value Stream (DVS). SAFe also does a great job describing the Agile Release Train (ART) as a virtual structure of 5 [...]

Agile Authority2025-02-02T15:24:02+00:00Categories: SAFe, Transformation|

Book Review and Quotes: “Empowered Agile Transformation – Beyond the Framework”

Empowered Agile Transformation – Beyond the Framework, by Alexandra Stokes, 2023 What a great book! Alexandra Stokes has written the book many of us Agilists wanted to write. Her approach to Agile transformation is logical, empathetic, goal-oriented, and dare I say it "frameless". She includes over 30 personal stories of her Agile transformation successes and failures. One theme that really resonated with me was to [...]

Agile Authority2023-11-20T20:04:58+00:00Categories: SAFe, Transformation|

Making the Case for Value Stream Identification

We’ve all been there before, right? On one hand, we live in a classic siloed organization that is slow to respond to the market. Cross-org dependencies are the norm. The flow of value to the customer is slow. Painfully slow. Value stream identification is non-existent. On the other hand, we understand the power of “alignment to value” and its potential impact on the flow of [...]

Agile Authority2023-07-10T15:52:47+00:00Categories: SAFe, Transformation|

Rethinking Agile Transformations

Imagine. Let's start rethinking Agile transformations. What if Leaders would issue an “Agile statement of intent” instead of attempting another costly framework-driven transformation? How would our life at work be different? Can you imagine the agility innovation that this would spark? For example, what if a Leader made the following statement: “For our company to be successful, our teams really need to have a desire [...]

Agile Authority2023-06-11T00:22:07+00:00Categories: Team Greatness, Transformation|

Fake Agile Release Trains (FARTs)

True story - I once did some consulting at a Fortune 50 company where the SAFe transformation success was measured by "number of ARTs launched". You can guess what happened... Fake Agile Release Trains (FARTs). Entire VP and Director organizations were now calling themselves an "Agile Release Train" and going through the motions of a cadenced PI Planning event. When I asked one of the [...]

Agile Authority2023-06-03T04:20:20+00:00Categories: SAFe|

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