Reflecting on the 2017 SAFe Leadership Retreat

Earlier this week, I spent a few days at the very picturesque Dalmahoy Hotel in Edinburgh attending the 2017 SAFe Leadership Retreat.  This was our 3rd gathering, having travelled to Banff (Canada) in 2016 and Crieff (Scotland) in 2015.

If I had to describe the retreat in one word, it would be “community”.  Given the general application of SAFe in large enterprise and the prevailing “partner consultancy” based model, creation of an environment where both consultants and practitioners come together to transcend boundaries and share is no mean feat.  Full credit must go to +Martin Burns and his better half Lucy for their tireless efforts in this regard.

As always, the retreat was attended by +Dean Leffingwell  along with a number of other representatives from SAI.  Also in attendance were a mix of SAFe Fellows, SPCTs, consultants and practitioners along with a “chaos monkey” in the form of +Simon Wardley.

Having now had a few days to reflect on the experience, I’d like to share some of the key themes that emerged.

SAFe “next”

In the opening session, Dean spent a couple of hours running us through the soon-to-be-released next version of SAFe.  Whilst we’re under NDA when it comes to specifics,  I can say that the changes were enthusiastically received – with much improved guidance in some critical areas and best of all for the first time ever a simpler big picture!

SAFe beyond technology

Whilst the framework is squarely focused on the HW/FW/SW side of “Lean Product Development”, those with a truly lean mindset know that there’s a lot more than technology involved in the creation of a Lean Enterprise and optimization of the flow from Idea to Value.  I’ve long held the belief that great ARTs extend beyond technology into Sales, Marketing, Business Enablement and Business Change Management and it was great to see many others not just talking about this but doing it.

HR as an enabler rather than an impediment in a Lean-Agile transformation

We were lucky to have a number of attendees who were either practicing HR professionals or came from an HR background, and numerous open-space sessions devoted considerable attention to Lean|Agile and the world of HR.  Whilst Fabiola Eyholzer’s guidance article last year made a great start on this front, many are grappling with the practical realities of such questions as how to address career progression in the ScrumMaster/RTE and Product Manager/Owner spaces.  Hopefully in the coming months we’ll see some of the outcomes of those discussions synthesized and in the public domain.

SAFe for Systems of Record

When it comes to true Business Agility, there are always Systems of Record involved.  A number of sessions and discussions focused on this, with a particularly robust session on SAP.   The general conclusion was that whilst it’s a lot more convoluted than digital, many are doing it successfully and common patterns are emerging.

Active Learning in SAFe courses

Many of the attendees were passionate believers in experiential and/or active learning who have struggled with the orientation of the SAFe courseware towards “lecture-style” training.  The great news for all of us is that this is becoming a significant focus area for SAI.  The newly introduced RTE course is a radical departure from the past, and the preview we were given of the new Leading SAFe course shows marked improvement in this direction.

SAFe is taking off in Europe

I’ve been coming to Europe every few months in a SAFe context for a couple of years now (starting with Crieff in 2015), and it has clearly been lagging the US and Australian markets in enterprise adoption.   But it appears the time has come.  Of the roughly 50 attendees at this year’s summit, perhaps 40 were European based and the vast majority were actively involved in significant SAFe implementations – a radical departure from 2015.

Closing Thoughts

Great agile is all about collaboration, relationship and learning.  The manifesto expressed it beautifully with the words “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it”.   This year’s retreat lived the philosophy, and I enjoyed deepening existing relationships, forming new ones, sharing my experiences and learning from others’.  Bring on 2018!