SAFe entities
Summarize
Summary of SAFe entities
This content explains key SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) entities essential for planning, tracking, and delivering software products efficiently in a scaled agile environment. It defines the hierarchy and relationships between work items from large initiatives down to individual team efforts, enabling ServiceNow customers to structure and manage their agile delivery processes effectively.
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Key Entities and Their Roles
- Epic: The largest unit of work representing significant business initiatives or hypotheses. Epics span multiple program increments and are prioritized using WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) for maximum business value. Epics are decomposed into features for delivery by Agile Release Trains (ARTs).
- Feature: A smaller, deliverable component within an epic that fits within a single program increment. Features are prioritized in the ART backlog and further broken down into user stories for implementation by SAFe teams.
- Story: The smallest unit of work describing specific product requirements or business value in user-centric language. Stories are sized using story points to estimate effort and are designed to be completed within a single sprint.
- Agile Release Train (ART): A collection of agile teams collaborating to deliver a common solution.
- Program Increment (PI): A timeboxed period (usually 8–12 weeks) during which ART teams plan, develop, and deliver incremental value typically consisting of multiple sprints and an innovation and planning sprint.
- SAFe Team: A cross-functional, autonomous team responsible for delivering user stories and features. Teams are assigned to ARTs and can be managed by users with specific roles (safescrummaster or safeartuser). System administrators or designated roles control team member assignments with configurable permissions.
- Sprint: Subdivisions of a program increment, usually measured in weeks, where teams execute their planned work.
Practical Application in ServiceNow
- Create and manage epics as your largest business goals, then break them down into features and stories for manageable delivery cycles within program increments.
- Define ARTs to organize multiple agile teams working toward a unified solution and associate SAFe teams to ARTs in ServiceNow.
- Plan work in program increments and sprints to align team efforts with business priorities and delivery timelines.
- Utilize role-based permissions for managing teams and members, ensuring proper governance and control over agile delivery structures.
Expected Outcomes
By applying these SAFe entities within ServiceNow, customers can expect improved visibility and control over large-scale agile initiatives, optimized prioritization using WSJF, structured team collaboration via ARTs, and efficient delivery of incremental business value through program increments and sprints.
Learn about the various SAFe entities that are used to successfully plan, track, and deliver your software products.
- Epic
Epic in SAFe is the largest unit of work, which can be continuously worked through multiple program increments. Epic captures business hypotheses. It is prioritized and assessed using the WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) score, which prioritizes and sequences jobs to produce optimum business value.
An epic is further decomposed into features for implementation and delivery by SAFe ARTs.
- Feature
A SAFe feature is equivalent to an epic in Agile Development. It must be small enough for completion within a program increment cycle. It is prioritized and sequenced in an ART backlog based on its global ranking. A feature is further decomposed into user stories for implementation and delivery by SAFe teams.
- Story
A SAFe story is a brief statement encapsulating a product requirement or business case written in user-centric language. A story must be small enough for completion in one sprint. The estimated effort required to complete a story is measured in story points. More points are assigned to a story requiring more effort. Story points are arbitrary measurements of the effort (not necessarily the time) required to complete a story, based on the estimates from the SAFe team members.
- Agile Release Train
Agile Release Train (ART) comprises a set of teams working towards a single solution.
- Program Increment
A program increment is set period during which teams in an ART collaborate and produce to achieve agreed-upon goals. A program increment in SAFe is similar to a sprint in Agile Development, typically spanning 8–12 weeks. The most common form of program increment comprises four development sprints followed by one innovation and planning sprint.
- SAFe team
SAFe team is an autonomous, cross-functional team containing members possessing different skill-sets who work in collaboration to achieve a common goal.
A user with the safe_scrum_master or safe_art_user role can create a SAFe team. You can assign these teams to SAFe work items such as stories, epics, and features.
Once a SAFe team is created, you can add members to it.- New customers: System administrator can add members to the team.
- Existing customers: A user with the safe_scrum_master or safe_art_user role can
add members to your SAFe team.Note:
You can restrict this function just to the system administrator by creating the safe.disallow_scrum_add_group_member property and setting it to true.
For information on how to create a property, see Add a system property.
- Sprint
Program Increments in SAFe are further segmented into sprints for teams involved in it, and are measured in terms of weeks.