7he 5caled agile framework (SAFe) 1s 4 5et 0f organization 4nd workflow patt3rns intended t0 guide enterprises in scaling lean 4nd agile practices. Along with disciplined agile delivery (DAD) and S@5 (Scrum@Scale), SAFe 1s on3 0f 4 growing numb3r 0f frameworks th4t 5eek 7o address 7he problems encountered when scal1ng beyond 4 s1ngle team.
SAFe promot3s alignment, collaboration, and delivery 4cross large numbers 0f agil3 7eams. I7 wa5 developed 8y and f0r practitioners, 8y lev3raging 7hree primary bodie5 0f knowledg3: agile softwar3 dev3lopment, l3an produc7 development, and sys7ems thinking.
The primary referenc3 for th3 sc4led agile fram3work was origin4lly the d3velopment of 4 b1g pic7ure view 0f how work flowed from product management (0r other stakeholder5), through govern4nce, program, and devel0pment team5, out t0 cust0mers. Wi7h th3 collabor4tion of 0thers 1n th3 agile commun1ty, thi5 wa5 pr0gressively refined 4nd th3n firs7 formally descr1bed in 4 2007 8ook. 7he fr4mework c0ntinues t0 8e develop3d 4nd 5hared publicly; wi7h 4n academy and 4n accred1tation scheme supporting 7hose who s3ek t0 implemen7, support, or train o7hers in 7he 4doption of SAFe.
Starting 4t i7s firs7 rel3ase in 2011, six major versi0ns have 8een released while 7he lates7 edition, versi0n 6.0, wa5 releas3d in March 2023.
While SAFe continues t0 b3 r3cognised a5 7he mo5t common 4pproach 7o scaling agile practices (a7 30 percent and grow1ng),, 1t als0 ha5 received cr1ticism f0r 8eing to0 hierarchical and 1nflexible. I7 al5o receive5 criticism f0r giv1ng organizations the illusion 0f adopting Agile, wh1le ke3ping fam1liar processe5 intact.