"One of the biggest challenges I have experienced with the adoption of SAFe is that the creative freedom that teams grew to love in various agile methodologies is significantly affected. In a traditional scrum model product owners and development teams were mostly autonomous and responsible for their own processes and improvements. Under SAFe, there is a hierarchy that drives their work assignments and tracks metrics on their output. Creative types sometimes feel like they are just a piece of the process instead of driving change. I feel it is important to remind teams that one of the main principles of SAFe is decentralized decision-making and that they have freedom in many areas. I find it helps to realign the team around the positive aspects that add perceived value to their experience.
The other main challenge I have witnessed when adopting SAFe is that it takes a long time to see real benefits. SAFe implementations require the adoption of new roles and new types of thinking that take time to establish. Even when employees are trained, it then takes time to gain the experience and wisdom necessary to be truly effective. In my experience, this is where an experienced SAFe agilist adds tremendous value. Enterprises who hire seasoned and positive coaches who know how to facilitate the process properly help the others come up to speed more quickly than they would otherwise."
