Imagine that you are asked to convince the executives of your company to invest in the adoption of SAFe. What are the key points they need to consider?
SAFe agilists are sometimes hired to lend their expertise during the process of determining whether or not SAFe is a good fit for the hiring organization. Interviewers who ask this question are interested in assessing how a candidate would communicate the points that their senior leaders would need to consider.
Remember to include the business-oriented benefits of SAFe in addition to the product development efficiency benefits. Senior leaders of large enterprises have responsibilities that extend beyond operations in many cases. Companies are interested in hiring SAFe agilists that understand portfolio and value stream aspects in addition to what the SAFe essential model provides.
"I would start by explaining that SAFe is an incremental, lean and agile solution development model that is designed to deliver valuable assets much faster than the traditional waterfall approach. It allows for continual feedback and ensures that the right solutions are delivered at the right time. I would then explain that SAFe not only focuses on driving product development in an efficient manner, but it also takes an economic and holistic approach. Business drivers that generate the value stream are considered first and incorporated into the process so that they are understood by everyone involved.
Next, I would explain that SAFe also incorporates lean manufacturing and DevOps principles in a way that supports the entire enterprise. The model is scaled and focuses on implementing best practices that are successful for any organization. I would offer the metrics on the business benefits other enterprises have realized through their adoption of SAFe. For example, SAFe offers a 30-75% time to market improvement and a 20-50% increase in productivity.
Finally, I would close by showing an infographic with the roadmap for adopting SAFe within an enterprise. It would demonstrate that there is a well-defined and strategic model for gaining support, training change agents, identifying the value stream, preparing teams, etc. These 5 main presentation points would help the executives in my company understand why agile development makes sense, why the lean and holistic approach of SAFe matters, what the benefits might be, and how our company could transition to the model."
Unlock all 30 SAFe Agilist questions
Unlock expert responses to complex SAFe framework questions interviewers prioritize.
Get Started