Its a little scary but some companies want an easy solution to a complex set of issues – “Tell me what to do so I can do it and be Agile”.
There are Agile framework providers who portend to provide an all encompassing solution by prescribing all the needed roles and processes to effectively navigate a transition to Agile. With each revision, major and minor releases, they include additional complexity by adding more processes and diagrams to account for things that were missing, identified through retrospection and review of new implementations and initiatives across companies and industries. Then collectively sigh and say, oh good, now we are complete in our vision on how to make your organization Agile.
Experience tells me 2 things in relation to devising a completely encompassing set of rules to follow:
- The more complex a series of processes, the less likely they will be adhered to over time
- The less input a group or team has in customizing their guidelines the less likely they will be followed; everyone needs skin in the game to make new ways of working stick.
Unfortunately nothing is completely SAFe.
No two companies, business units, product teams, or projects are the same and each will require a framework that allows for fine tuning and adaptability for all of the their unique cultural patterns, strengths and weaknesses.
There is an old saying “If something seems too good to be true, it usually is”.
A sustainable Agile transformation requires an all-in, hands-on approach with top down and bottom up involvement following the basic values and principles as laid out in the original Agile Manifesto starting with “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”.