SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is the standard for agile development that has spread widely around the world with about 30% market share (source: Wikipedia). It is sometimes criticized for being too hierarchically structured and inflexible - something we choose not to comment on. But precisely the hierarchical structure makes it easier to compare SAFe with traditional EA frameworks.
In this article, the focus is on meta-objects in the Implementation dimension, and then it is SAFe's requirements model that is the best starting point.
The core of the requirements model above can be summarized as follows:
- There are four types of "Backlog Item": Epic, Capability, Feature and Story
- These four form a hierarchy where "Epic" is greatest and is realized by "Capability" which is realized by "Feature" which is finally realized by "Story"
- All "Backlog Items" are available in two variants: "Business" and "Enabler". Simply put, it is about functionality that provides direct benefit to the business or if it acts in the background as an enabler.
- "Epic" is also available in three variants: Portfolio, Solution and Program
SAFe is an international standard found in version 5.1 and all terms used in the framework and in different methods are described in a glossary. A selection of concepts from the requirements model provides the following definitions:
As these variants of "Backlog Items" form a hierarchy, it is easier to turn the requirements model 90 degrees.
By modeling the objects as information entities, you clearly see four levels and that "Enabler" is a type of "Backlog Item" that exists at all levels:
Our conclusion for this analysis is that the four terms "Epic", "Capability", "Feature" and "Story" are central to describe the hierarchy, while "Enabler" is rather a type of these with a certain focus.
In addition to the requirements model, there is another object that can be seen as part of the hierarchy: "Strategic Theme".
The reason we stuck to this concept is that "theme" also appears in Atlassian's framework (read more about this in "Atlassian and Prime Arch")
However, it is clear from the definition that this object does not represent a deliverable of a larger scale, but instead this is to be regarded as "S21 Goal".
It gives us the following meta-objects as a basis for further analysis:
To proceed further in the analysis, a comparison of other established standards such as Atlassian and Scrum is required. The result of the overall analysis is described in the article "Implementation hierarchy in different standards".
Links
SAFe 5.0 Glossary (PDF)