Header graphic for Todd Horn's article on AI in SAFe, showing a code editor with an AI-flagged change and a human-approved sign-off.

Beyond Coding: Engineering in an AI-Native SAFe World

Todd Horn Agentic AI & AI-Accelerated Development, Agile, All Industries, Articles, Artificial Intelligence, Project Management Leave a Comment

Artificial Intelligence is changing where engineering value is created: less in producing artifacts by hand, and more in making better technical decisions. In SAFe, that change extends well beyond code generation. It affects how Agile Release Trains prepare for PI Planning, how architects manage the Architectural Runway, how teams validate quality, and how organizations learn from delivery data.

In my earlier three-part series on the Foundations of SAFe, I covered its values, core principles, benefits, drawbacks, and practical application. As SAFe evolves, the next question is how AI will change the way those principles are practiced in real engineering organizations.

This article looks at what AI practices mean for engineering work inside SAFe. Rather than just faster coding, the real gains are in better planning, stronger architecture, faster feedback, and more accountable engineering decisions across the Scaled Agile Framework.

Best Practices for Proposing Improvements to Your Development Team

Jake Everhart Agile, Articles, Consulting, Project Management, Soft Skills Leave a Comment

Working within a software development team has tremendous benefits, but it also comes with its share of complications. One of those complications is inertia – the more people who get used to a process or a certain set of tools, the more difficult it can be to introduce changes. Maybe this manifests in a positive way, where repetition and familiarity …

Foundations of SAFe: Part 3 (benefits, drawbacks, and practical application)

The Foundations of SAFe: Part III (Benefits, Drawbacks, + Practical Application)

Todd Horn Agile, Articles, Project Management Leave a Comment

You’ve officially made it! We’re almost ready to wrap up our conversation about the Scaled Agile Framework. In case your memory is hazy, I’m a senior consultant and team lead on the Keyhole Software team. I’ve been working with a client who is adopting SAFe, guiding their team and helping to set the right culture for the methodology. I’ve learned a lot about SAFe over the past year, and in this blog series, I’m sharing what I’ve learned with you.

In this final series installment, we’re getting a bit more practical. We’ll start with a quick foray into the benefits and the drawbacks of implementing SAFe (we’re all about balance here). Then, I’ll talk a little more about what it looks like for small teams, and after, I’ll share some tips for devs who find themselves in an organization that uses SAFe. To wrap up, we’ll get down to it; should you implement SAFe on your team? I’ll talk you through a few factors that should help you decide.

Before we get started – if you’re new here, head to Part I (Overview + Core Values) and/or Part II (Core Principles) before proceeding. If you’re caught up, great! I think we’re ready to dive in.

Remote Work as a Dev Team

Working Remotely As An Agile Dev Team: Tips & Suggestions

Lynn Brownlee Agile, Articles, Project Management Leave a Comment

With the recent news, many companies currently find themselves in the real situation of a sudden transition to a remote staff for the first time. With the snap of a finger, your team members suddenly lack the proximity to be able to function in the same exact way. Yet, work must be done and deadlines still need to be met.

In this blog, we introduce tips, suggestions, and takeaways for Agile software development team members to successfully work remotely or distributed for the first time.

Agile Perspective

Tim Broyles Agile, Articles, Project Management 2 Comments

You may think of Agile as just another process. While this is incorrect (as it is a framework created to help developers create processes), there is a fundamental difference between this methodology and most methodologies that have come before.

Agile–done the way it was intended–is revolutionary. Fundamentally, Agile is an advocate of a bottom-up development process. I believe this is why it is often proposed with good intention, however then implemented with a top-down, fixed idea of what the Agile team (and hence the process) will be like.

If you take time to read the Agile Manifesto you will read statements like: ”The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.” Just consider that for a second. The team has the power to keep what works and dispose of what does not.

There are some basic concepts that allow Agile development to be successful. In this post, I highlight the key parts of Agile that appeal to me (as a reluctant process advocate) and have enabled successful Agile development in recent projects…