A Brief History of the Scaled Agile Framework
Tracking the evolution of SAFe versions 1.0 to 6.0
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) was released in 2011 and created by Dean Leffingwell. SAF (sic) was offered as a “proven, publicly available, framework for applying Lean|Agile practices at enterprise scale, presented in a structured, interactive, web format”.
The framework is now commonly referred to as a knowledge base, which is continuously updated and revised and has had six major updates since its initial release. It is publicly available at www.scaledagileframework.com
In this article, I highlight the most significant changes in each (major) version of the framework from SAFe 1.0 to 6.0 and also discuss the origins of SAFe.
Note: This article was originally published in June 2022, it has been updated in March 2023 to reflect the updates in SAFe 6.0.
SAFe 6.0 (2023)
The most recent major version of SAFe was announced at Scaled Agile’s 2023 March Launch. SAFe 6.0 has six primary themes with an overarching theme of flow.
SAFe 6.0 Highlights
- Six primary themes:
- Strengthening the foundation for Business Agility — Addition of the Business Agility Value Stream and updates to the SAFe foundation (values, principles, Implementation Roadmap).
- Empowering teams and clarifying responsibilities — Revised responsibilities outlined in the role-based articles.
- Accelerating value flow — Eight properties of Flow, updated SAFe Principle #6, eight related flow accelerators and four new flow articles.
- Enhancing Business Agility with SAFe across the business — Updated business and technology article, highlighting five business and technology patterns (including Business Enabled ART and Agile Business Train).
- Building the future with AI, Big Data and Cloud — Guidance of harnessing innovation new technologies.
- Delivering better outcomes with measure and grow and OKRs — Addition of OKRs to spanning palette and metrics renamed Measure & Grow.
- Changes in SAFe terminology — phasing out the term ‘Program’ and standardizing ‘Solution’ terminology.
SAFe 5.0 (2019)
SAFe 5.0 was announced at the 2019 SAFe Global Summit. It featured changes to the SAFe core competencies (previously introduced in 4.6) and a focus on Business Agility and Customer Centricity.
SAFe 5.0 Highlights
- New focus on Business Agility
- Two new core competencies: (1) Continuous Learning Culture, and (2) Organizational Agility
- Renamed two core competencies: (1) Enterprise Solution Delivery (previously Business Solutions and Lean Systems) and (2) Agile Product Delivery (previously DevOps and Release on Demand)
- New Overview tab featuring SAFe’s seven core competencies and twenty-one dimensions
- New SAFe Principle #10 — Organize Around Value
- Emphasis on Customer Centricity and Design Thinking
- Updates to SAFe House of Lean
- Program and Team levels are now combined under the Essential Configuration
- Two new SAFe courses: (1) Lean Portfolio Management, and (2) Agile Product Management
SAFe 4.6 (2018)
SAFe 4.6 was announced in October 2018 and introduced the five core competencies of the Lean Enterprise, which it described as the primary lens for understanding and implementing SAFe.
SAFe 4.6 Highlights
- Introduced five core competencies: (1) Lean-Agile Leadership, (2) Team and Technical Agility, (3) DevOps and Release on Demand, (4) Business Solutions and Lean Systems, and (5) Lean Portfolio Management
- SAFe for Government article describing success patterns that help public sector organizations implement Lean-Agile practices
- Three new SAFe courses: (1) SAFe DevOps, (2) Agile Software Engineering, and (3) SAFe System and Solution Architect
SAFe 4.5 (2017)
SAFe 4.5 was released in June 2017. It contained 4 key areas of improvement: (1) Essential SAFe and Configurability, (2) Innovation with Lean Startup and Lean UX, (3) Scalable DevOps and Continuous Delivery, and (4) the Implementation Roadmap.
SAFe 4.5 Highlights
- Renamed SAFe for Lean Enterprises (previously SAFe for Lean Software and Systems Engineering)
- Introduced 4 configurations: (1) Full SAFe, (2) Portfolio SAFe, (3) Large Solution SAFe, and (4) Essential SAFe
- Value Stream level renamed Large Solution level
- Introduction of Solution Train(s) for building large and complex solutions
- Spanning Pallete repositioned to the left-hand side and customized for the configuration
- Focus on Innovation with Lean Startup and Lean UX
- Introduction of scalable DevOps and Continuous Delivery Pipeline
- Addition of the Implementation Roadmap
- Focus on the role of SAFe Program Consultants (SPC) as a change agent
SAFe 4.0 (2016)
Scaled Agile announced SAFe 4.0 in January 2016. It integrated learnings from SAFe LSE into a single, more scalable, modular framework, that was now designed to support both software and systems development.
SAFe 4.0 Highlights
- Renamed SAFe for Lean Software and Systems Engineering
- New Value Stream level including roles, activities and artifacts designed for building larger systems
- Introduction of 3-level SAFe (for 100 people or less), and 4-level SAFe (for larger solutions with Value Stream level)
- New Foundations layer containing: Core Values, Lean-Agile Mindset, SAFe Principles, and Implementation Patterns
- Built-in Quality practices expanded to include Systems Development
- Enterprise Kanban systems manage the flow of work across all levels
SAFe LSE (2015)
SAFe for Lean Systems Engineering (SAFe LSE) was released in March 2015 and was available at www.safe-lse.com. It was designed as a separate framework to be used in Systems Engineering, building complex or cyber-physical systems for industries such as defence, medical, transportation, etc.
SAFe 3.0 (2014)
SAFe 3.0 was announced 2 years after version 1.0 at Agile 2014 in Florida. It was primarily focused on enhancing the Portfolio level and introduced the concept of multiple Agile Release Trains.
SAFe 3.0 Highlights
- Guidance around Lean-Agile Leadership
- Guidance on coordinating multiple Agile Release Trains
- Significant enhancements to the Portfolio level
- Lean-Agile Budgeting
- More detailed guidance on releasing software: Develop on Cadence and Release on Demand
- Expanded Code Quality practices, including Agile Architecture, Continuous Integration and Test-First
SAFe 2.0 (2012)
SAFe 2.0 was released in October 2012 (just two months after the launch of version 1.0). Its main focus was restructuring the Portfolio and Program levels.
SAFe 2.0 Highlights
- Restructure of Portfolio level
- Restructure of Portfolio level
- Architectural Runway moved from Portfolio to Program level
- Update of Nav icons
SAFe 1.0 (2012)
Dean Leffingwell announced SAFe at the Agile 2012 conference in Dallas. The framework was available on www.scaledagileframework.com, as it is today, and featured version 1.0 of the SAFe Big Picture.
As you can see many of the elements and concepts that you may be familiar with from SAFe 5.0 were already present.
Before SAFe 1.0 and www.scaledagileframework.com
Dean Leffingwell announced the formalization of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAF)(sic) as a publicly available framework in this blog post in 2011.
Prior to launching SAFe Dean Leffingwell released two books: (1) Agile Software Requirements (2010) and (2) Scaling Software Agility (2007), where he outlined many ideas later used in SAFe. This is particularly evident in Chapter 2 of Agile Software Requirements, which features The Agile Enterprise Big Picture, which is described as “a fully scalable software requirements model” and outlines Team, Program and Portfolio levels.
Thanks for reading my article😀 I hope you have found it interesting.
If you would like a more general overview of SAFe you may want to read the following article.
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