Darren Wilmshurst and Radtac had the great chance to run a Q&A session with Dean Leffingwell, creator of the Scaled Agile Framework. Dean’s answers on SAFe updates, implementation advice, challenges, and more are captured in a series of blog posts and short videos.

In the first video of the series, Deans answers questions on the future of the Scaled Agile Framework, and in the second episode Dean talks about the major impediments to implementing SAFe and the Leadership Challenge. In the third episode Darren and Dean talk about projects, project managers, Scrum and Kanban in SAFe environments.

This is the fourth and final part of the series - view the first part here, the second part here, and the third part here.

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In this fourth and final episode of our ‘10 Questions with Dean Leffingwell’ series, I’m talking to Dean about the appropriateness of using Agile and SAFe for legacy developments, compared to green field developments.

Darren Wilmshurst and Radtac had the great chance to run a Q&A session with Dean Leffingwell, creator of the Scaled Agile Framework. Dean’s answers on SAFe updates, implementation advice, challenges, and more are captured in a series of blog posts and short videos.

In the first video of the series, Deans answers questions on the future of the Scaled Agile Framework, and in the second episode Dean talks about the major impediments to implementing SAFe and the Leadership Challenge.

This is the third part of the series - view the first part here and the second part here.

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In this third episode of our ‘10 Questions with Dean Leffingwell’ series, I’m talking to Dean about the role of Projects and Project Managers within the Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®).

Darren Wilmshurst and Radtac had the great chance to run a Q&A session with Dean Leffingwell, creator of the Scaled Agile Framework®. Dean’s answers on SAFe® updates, implementation advice, challenges, and more are captured in a series of blog posts and short videos. This is the second part of the series - view the first part here.

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In this second episode of our ‘10 Questions with Dean Leffingwell’ series, I’m talking to Dean about what he sees as the major challenges for implementing SAFe in an organisation.

Dean Leffingwell, Entrepreneur, Author, CEO of Scaled Agile Inc. and creator of the Scaled Agile Framework® makes a rare visit to the UK. I’ve had the great chance to spend a day with Dean and Radtac, where we engaged in a series of events.

Dean Leffingwell Executive Briefing by Radtac

If you are in any way familiar with SAFe®, then the name 'Dean Leffingwell' will surely resonate with you. Creator of the Scaled Agile Framework®, Dean is a fantastic author and speaker - and we had the honour to spend an exciting day with him in London on June 12th. More below on how the day unfolded, what Dean taught us, and why you won't want to miss Darren's SPC class in August.

We are pleased to announce that Radtac now has a SAFe® Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT) - Darren Wilmshurst - who will be able to provide you with SAFe® Program Consultant (SPC) training.

SPCT Certification is the highest level of certification provided by Scaled Agile, and gives certified trainers the opportunity to run courses for you towards an SPC certification status.

Achieving the SPCT status is a culmination of a 12-month journey – read Darren’s blog post here about becoming an SPCT.

Scaled Agile Inc. established the SPCT program to provide a means of recognising individuals who demonstrate superior knowledge, competency, and in-depth field experience in adopting Agile across an enterprise with the Scaled Agile Framework®.

Just in case you missed any of them, or would like to refresh your learnings reading them again, here are our top six blog posts of 2016 from the Radtac Blog.

1. Organisational Culture and Agile Frameworks: How to Create an Alignment

Can you map a certain type of organisational culture against an Agile framework? Is a certain Agile approach better suited to a certain culture? How can various culture types affect the success of your chosen Agile approach?

As 2016 is almost over, we want to take a moment and look back at the Agile Awards 2016, where, with great honour, we have received the ‘Agile Consultancy of the Year (Enterprise)’ award.

The Agile Awards ceremony is a ‘celebration of global Agile talent and achievement’,  recognising the merits of individuals, teams, and organisations who have had outstanding results with Agile. We’ve been extremely honoured to receive the award, and would like to thank Barclays for giving us the opportunity to work together on their Agile transformation. Thanks to a great collaboration, we are now both in a place where our achievements together have stood out among a notable competition.

We’d like to congratulate all winners and participants of the 2016 Agile Awards: thank you for all your contribution to the Agile community, and for helping keep up great professional standards!

This year’s awards ceremony marks the third consecutive time Radtac has been awarded in the last three years, directly or in collaboration with our clients, which makes us turn around to you and thank you. Thank you for choosing us and thank you for achieving excellent results together.

Whether you a.) heard something about SAFe and are not sure what it is, b.) want to learn more, or c.) just need to refresh your knowledge, here is a list of resources that will come in handy.

1. The Book

The seminal book “Agile Software Requirements – Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs and the Enterprise” by Dean Leffingwell was first published in December 2010. This was one of the first books to address the specific needs of multiple collaborating Agile teams, and then extending to the program and portfolio levels. It was based on proven enterprise adoptions - none more so than Nokia.

I guess the inspiration for the Scaled Agile Framework® came from this book. The Scaled Agile Framework is now at version 4.0, and, when you first look at the ‘big picture’, it’s not unusual for your reaction to be ‘ Wow – that looks complicated’.

Culture impacts all areas of our lives. Some are obvious such as religion, family values. Many, however, fall below the radar but still have lasting effects. In this article we will look how you could create an alignment between your organisational culture and the Agile framework you choose to adopt.

What is Culture?

I don’t think you can go far wrong with William Schneider’s definition of Culture: How we do things around here to succeed.

Schneider describes four distinct cultures summarised below in his model, as illustrated by Michael Sahota in his book ‘An Agile Adoption and Transformation Survival Guide’.