1. Scaled Agile Hot Topics
Lean Kanban & Lean Portfolio Management
Craig Cockburn SAFe SA and SPC4

2. New Emphasis Was SAFe 4.0 for Lean Software and Systems Engineering
Now in 4.5
SAFe for Lean Enterprises
It’s not just about software, it’s about business agility
Reminder: SAFe Lean and Agile Principles
Principle #6 – Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths

3. 1
Lean Kanban

4. What’s different in 4.5? SAFe 4.0 (supported until June 2018)
Team, Program and Portfolio (3 level)
Team, Program, Value Stream and Portfolio (4 level)
SAFe 4.5 :
NEW: Essential SAFe: Team and Program levels
Portfolio SAFe: Team, Program and Portfolio levels
NEW: Large Solution SAFe: Team, Program & Large Solution levels
Full SAFe: Team, Program and Large Solution levels

5. 4 Configurations in SAFe 4.5
Essential SAFe - one agile release train (ART). One solution.
Large Solution SAFe - more than one ART. One solution
Portfolio SAFe - more than one solution
Full SAFe - both portfolio and large solution needed
Each ART is a long-lived, self-organizing team of Agile Teams, a virtual organization (5 – 12 teams)
Effective Agile Release Trains typically consist of 50 – 125 people

7. Kanban in SAFe 4.5
Portfolio Kanban: for epics – largest developments in a portfolio (require a lean business case, epic hypothesis). WSJF (cost of delay/job size)
Solution Kanban: for capabilities – solution behaviour. Fit in a PI.
Program Kanban: for features – system services to meet user needs. Benefits hypothesis + acceptance criteria.
Team Kanban (alternative to Scrum)
Epics -> Capabilities -> Features -> Stories
Enablers at all levels in SAFe support functionality for: Exploration, Architecture, Infrastructure and Compliance

8. SAFe 4.5: New Program Kanban

9. Focus on continuous Lean flow of value
Identify bottlenecks and balance the amount of WIP against the available development and operations 
Decrease the batch sizes of the work
Manage and reduce, queue lengths
Lean is not a black and white. There is a connection between the transaction and holding costs. You can see how the transaction cost changes by the size of the batch.
The more items I transfer at once, the lower the overall transaction cost is. On the other hand, the more items I have in a batch, the larger my inventories are, which increases the holding cost.
The optimal batch size is at the minimum of the aggregation of the transaction and holding costs. The aggregated values form a U-Curve, and it’s not an exact science, rather, a sweet spot.
More Examples:
U-Curve illustrates the number of batch sizes
U-Curve Optimization is a common effect in Lean, it highlights trade-offs which vary by context. Must understand transaction and holding costs.
Applies to collocation since there are greater holding costs due to batching and lower transaction costs. Want the intersection.
Applies to Iteration length, number of stories in a Iteration, number of features in a PI, amount of code developed before check in etc. etc.

10. Lean Portfolio Management2
Lean Portfolio Management

11. Lean Portfolio Management
Full - both portfolio and large solution needed
Portfolio - more than one solution
Large Solution - more than one agile release train. One solution
Essential SAFe - one agile release train (ART). One solution

12. Lean Portfolio Management
(was Program Portfolio Management in 4.0)

13. Seven Transformational Patterns

14. Lean Agile Budgeting

15. Further Reading Lean portfolio
Small teams – core practices for getting started

16. Published
11th April 2017

18. Questions ?

19. Extra slides for further reading!
Extra slides for further reading

20. SAFe Lean and Agile Principles
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities

21. Full SAFe configuration
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities

22. Portfolio SAFe configuration
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities

23. Large Solution SAFe configuration
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities

24. Essential SAFe configuration
Lesson 1: Exploring the RTE Role and Responsibilities

25. 12 new articles
Links to courseware