As an experienced agile coach who has worked with numerous organizations, I've seen many well-intentioned leaders place excessive faith in broad scaling frameworks like SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) without ever truly grasping the underlying depth behind many of the concepts, tools and practices encapsulated within these systems. This false sense of fluency breeds dangerous overconfidence without actual skill.
The appeal of frameworks like SAFe is they attempt to codify a comprehensive set of agile principles, mindsets, and mechanics into one neatly packaged, commercialized system. This structure can help initially guide teams seeking to scale beyond small standalone agile teams. However, in pursuit of complete end-to-end coherence, the teaching of each specific embedded agile practice or technique within SAFe is often extremely cursory, lacking the nuance needed for contextual application.
For example, SAFe broadly incorporates Team Topologies and cumulative flow diagrams but only at a superficial level. The immense richness behind why and how these instruments can be thoughtfully leveraged when scaling agile gets stripped away, missing the depth required to truly understand tradeoffs and translate the concepts into sustainable capability.
The predictable result is teams of leaders who perhaps attended a two-day SAFe course yet then arrogantly believe they now holistically comprehend all the intricate dynamics and mechanisms of the dozens of practices loosely enveloped under the SAFe umbrella. But in reality, their knowledge ends up being a mile wide but only an inch deep.
Of course, no single scaling framework could ever adequately teach every agile practice to a level of genuine proficiency within a short seminar. But exponential problems arise when leaders mistake this surface familiarity with SAFe's broad vocabulary for deep proficiency in the actual craft of agile delivery. Unwarranted confidence metastasizes in the absence of hard-won experience.
The risk is they then adamantly adhere to the prescriptive SAFe playbooks without tailoring approaches to their unique culture and delivery challenges, learning through experimentation, or investing in the gritty hands-on experience and skill development required to internalize agile concepts fully. SAFe becomes a hammer and all problems look like SAFe-compliant nails. But improvement doesn't stem from frameworks alone.
To be clear, when applied judiciously rather than dogmatically, scaling frameworks can offer tremendous value in getting large organizations aligned to a consistent foundational language and basic starting tool set. But sustainable agile transformation relies upon so much more than any one-size-fits-all framework can possibly encapsulate.
True mastery stems from understanding the situational tradeoffs of practices, and that necessitates rolling up your sleeves, testing approaches, and committing to deep lifelong learning tailored to your organization's specific needs far beyond any static playbooks. Agile fluency marks the starting line, not the finish line, of the continuous improvement journey.
Coaching to Move from SAFe Fluency to Agile Excellence
As an enterprise agility coach, I'm happy to advise teams seeking to move beyond SAFe fluency into truly internalizing world-class agile skill sets and evolving best practices tailored for their unique culture and environment.
Please reach out anytime if you'd like help building real capabilities that outlast trends, rather than just aligning to framework checklists. Let's connect if you want to discuss how to nurture the learning organization required to sustainably thrive beyond the surface. Your team deserves world-class coaching.