X : What do you think of SAFe?
Me : It seems ok but it has a context in which it works in. I don't think people have truly defined its context.
X : What do you mean?
Me : Ok, take any large project. Map it ... I've added a very simple (and old, circa 2005) map below ...
Me : It seems ok but it has a context in which it works in. I don't think people have truly defined its context.
X : What do you mean?
Me : Ok, take any large project. Map it ... I've added a very simple (and old, circa 2005) map below ...
... now in the genesis / early custom phase where we don't know what we're building then I tend to use XP (eXtreme Programming) because though costly in some aspects it reduces the cost of change and change is the norm here ...
... by the time we get to late custom / early product then we have an idea of what we're building. It's here I switch to SCRUM, starting with a MVP. There are more metrics I can use and my focus is now on learning and reducing waste ...
... as it evolves to more late product / early commodity then I now know what we're building. Deviation and change become my bugbears and I switch to a more six sigma approach. Each method had its context (see below) ...
... obviously, a lot of the industrialised components I will outsource, the more uncharted genesis then I have to build myself. I tend to break the map into small teams and generally find that Kanban as a good general communication tool across those teams.
But the point is ... with any large system I usually have to use multiple methods at the same time, whether project management, finance or purchasing. For me, this was standard practice circa 2006. I have yet to find a single technique (project mgmt etc) that spans the lot ...
... I have however found several project techniques that claim to do this. They normally explain failure through "people using the wrong bit of the method" but never tell you what the right bit is up front ...
... in other words, they are usually multiple methods mashed together and you're supposed to know what bit to use where without anyone discussing context and to add insult to injury it's always the person's fault, not the method.
It's a great wheeze for endless hours spent on consultancy and certification porgrams. I'm not a fan.
So when it comes to SAFe ... well, it has that one size fits all, know when to use the right bits feel about it - kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/uns…
That doesn't mean it's wrong. I just don't believe its context is known.
