SAFe

SAFe is a process framework that aims to extend agile practices across entire organizations, incorporating elements of lean and agile methodologies to align teams towards common goals. It includes predefined roles, events, and artifacts to provide a structured approach to scaling agile across multiple teams and layers of management. While intended to harmonize development and operations at scale, SAFe’s rigid guidelines often clash with the fluid and adaptive nature of agile principles, leading to criticisms that it promotes a top-down, process-heavy approach rather than fostering true agility.

SAFe is primarily used by large organizations seeking to standardize agile practices across diverse teams, providing a structured way to manage complex projects and align business strategy with execution. It can help coordinate work across large-scale initiatives, offering visibility and alignment through standardized roles and ceremonies. However, its heavy emphasis on process and control can undermine team autonomy, decision-making, and genuine customer-centric innovation, making it a controversial choice among agile practitioners.

SAFe was developed in 2011 by Dean Leffingwell and has since become one of the most widely adopted frameworks for scaling agile in large enterprises. Originally conceived as a way to bring agile and lean principles to enterprise-level planning and execution, it gained traction as companies sought a prescriptive model for managing large, cross-functional teams. Despite its popularity, SAFe’s reliance on hierarchical structures and predefined workflows has sparked debates about its effectiveness and alignment with core agile values.

The future relevance of SAFe in product design will likely hinge on the growing disillusionment with its one-size-fits-all approach. As organizations increasingly prioritize flexibility, innovation, and customer focus, frameworks like SAFe may face pushback for their perceived rigidity and misalignment with agile’s foundational principles of collaboration and continuous improvement. There is a rising trend towards more adaptive and less prescriptive models, suggesting that SAFe may need significant adaptation or risk becoming obsolete in the evolving landscape of product development.