Release Train Engineer (RTE) — A Synopsis

What is the role of Release Train Engineer (RTE) all about?

Agility continues to evolve, and today we are witnessing the emergence of Businesses Agility. Scaled Agile Framework ® (SAFe®) has enabled business agility and improved business outcomes for organizations of all sizes worldwide.

SAFe provides a well-described set of values, principles, and practices based on four primary bodies of knowledge: Agile development, systems thinking, Lean product development, and DevOps.

Businesses implementing SAFe are achieving dramatic improvements in time to market, employee engagement, higher quality, higher customer satisfaction, and overall improved economic outcomes.

SAFe has also helped in creating cultures that are more productive, rewarding, and fun.

At the heart of SAFe is Agile Release Train (ART), a virtual construct that spans across the functional boundaries eliminating unnecessary handoffs and steps that accelerates value delivery by implementing SAFe Lean-Agile principles and practices.

This Agile Release Train’s (ART) effectiveness is the Release Train Engineer’s (RTE’s) accountability. The RTE uses their knowledge to apply Agile & Lean at scale to address the unique challenges and opportunities when facilitating and continuously aligning a large development program.

In short, it is the RTEs are effective leaders who drive and steers the train.

RTEs have a comprehensive view of people, work, quality, and community spirit. They focus on providing the environment and support needed by the teams and the ART to be self-managing.

RTEs help configure SAFe to the organization’s needs and leads the transformation by –

• Teaching, mentoring, and coaching leaders, teams, Scrum Masters, and other relevant stakeholders in Lean-Agile practices and mindset.
• Establishing and communicating the Iteration and Program Increment calendars.
• Ensuring strategy and execution alignment.
• Encouraging the collaboration between teams, Product Management, Solutions architects, and the system team.
• Facilitating the PI planning event — including the planning readiness, crafting the vision, roadmap, and backlogs.
• Summarizing the Team PI objectives into Program PI Objectives
• Facilitating the periodic Program level events — Art Sync, System Demos, I&A workshops.
• Help manage risks and dependencies, escalate and track impediments.
• Improve the value flow by continuously assessing and improving the practices associated with DevOps and Release on Demand.
• Understand Lean Budgets, work on program execution and operational excellence and ensure adherence to Guardrails.

A Release Train Engineer is an Agilists first and foremost, knowledgeable, and with a deep understanding of SAFe’s Lean-Agile principles. They live and embody the SAFe value and principles. RTEs and displays the following characteristics –

Serving Mindset — Mindset is a set of beliefs, a lens that the human brain uses to simplify, categorize, interpret data to make sense of the world. It influences how you feel, think, and respond in any given situation.

RTEs should lead the team not just by words but also by actions and example. RTEs serve the Program level roles and stakeholders to achieve optimal productivity and astonishing results.

Courage & Integrity — RTEs hold themselves accountable for their job and any failures on their part. They are courageous enough to deliver the truth and hold other members accountable for their jobs and deliverables.

Critical & System Thinkers — RTEs think beyond the day-to-day activities and the immediate challenge or impediment. They can quickly analyze a situation and facilitate reflective thinking resulting in long-lasting solutions.

The stances of a Release Train Engineer –

Teacher — A RTE should possess the skill to teach in a way that helps everyone in the ART to grow both technically and personally. They could be teaching Agile, Lean, SAFe, DevOps, or problem solving or tools specific training if need be.

Mentor — A RTE helps the ART by mentoring the roles with tactical and practical ways of doing things based on their past experiences. They should be able to draw from the patterns they have seen when working in similar situations.

Facilitator — When working in a team of Agile teams, making decisions can be a real challenge. A core strength an RTE must possess is helping the teams arrive at a consensual decision, especially when different interests are at stake.

Coach — Partnering with people on the ART in a creative and thought-provoking process inspiring them to maximize their professional and personal potential is critical when working towards transformation and high performance.

To sum up, the Release Train Engineer (RTE) is part of the trio of leaders that includes product managers and system architects playing a critical role in leading the Agile Release Train in delivering value.

RTEs create the right environment, have the right conversations, facilitate the right meetings and help people make the right decisions based on the right metric or data.