That fact that the IT industry incurs constant change has become cliché. Trending technologies and methodologies have evolved to help IT professionals adapt. Methodologies include the use of Agile tools to help generate high-performance teams and DevOps to help the Operations manage the changes right to the hands of the customer. In some cases, managers needed to keep tighter controls and documented decisions, so they’ve developed hybrid methodologies. But all of these tend to have success in smaller organizations with fewer teams. As the teams and products grow in number, CIO’s and executives are starting to find that having a myriad of individual, high-performance teams has left the organization inflexible, not agile.
Leadership decisions of today are made on current, live data. What happened a month ago is history, no longer relevant for fact-based decisions. The most successful businesses adapt and evolve their data gathering on-the- fly. Reporting in real time. And gathering more data as required. Reporting shows trends, highlights outliers, and points out opportunities. The leaders of an IT group need the ability to make quick changes across all teams simultaneously. [Reporting. Rebranding. Reacting to potential security threats. Changing customer demands (what was once an aggressive customer demand may now be an assumed service).] The teams need to be able to adapt to sudden changes in strategic direction (in architectural/ infrastructure direction or in business focus). Teams racing each in their own direction can be difficult to steer.
Even if you carry a big enough stick to get people to change, you have probably noticed that some changed processes or procedures tend to edge back to the “old way” soon after. Agile teams can be demoralized if they lose their momentum – so they gravitate back to what was working for them. With all of this in mind, the industry has once again reacted with a new trend: Scaled Agile (see related articles at https://intland.com/blog/agile/safe/scaling-agile- in-large- enterprises-less- dad-or- safe/). So popular is this new trend that there are even classes forming to help people scale and blend methodologies (http://www.alctraining.co.nz/course/emerging-it- frameworks/course-overview/). I’ve heard that of the top 100 fortune 500 companies, 70% are implementing SAFe (though I haven’t been able to find a reliable source for that fact. I do know that Deere & Company is one of the early adopters). To stay in the Fortune 500 listing, you have to be good at reacting to change.
SAFe was originally created in 2010/2011, but version 4.0 came out in 2016. The information – much like the Agile Manifesto – is publicly available (see ScaledAgile.com or ScaledAgileFramework.com). Through independent study and adherence to the concepts outlined in SAFe, or by hiring a professional in SAFe to assist with the implementation, you will enhance your organization. SAFe help you realize the importance of a vision; the need to include wider participation in Agile (eg: immersing your architects, security experts and marketing); the effective use of tools and resources to enhance a current Agile implementation; and the infectious excitement for further experimentation in the field of IT.