My friend and colleague Mike Hall inspired me with a recent article he shared on Choosing a SAFe Training Partner.
To be clear, I was once an SPC but I fell away from being an active practitioner of SAFe. That being said, I’m often quite opinionated about it, but over time, I have less and less direct experience.
Mike is the opposite. He’s incredibly experienced with it. So, when Mike tells me something from a SAFe perspective, I know that’s not based on opinion but on hard-won experience. And I respect that.
I really appreciated his questions about engaging a SAFe training partner. But I felt there might be some additional questions to add. Not only for a training partner but for a consultant who is prescribing SAFe as the scaling solution for my organization.
Additional Questions
I’d like to add the following questions to Mike's list:
1. What other scaling approaches are you experienced with? To what level, and don’t just speak to your certifications…what about your direct experience?
2. When was the last time you recommended to a client NOT to leverage SAFe, and why? If the client resisted, how did you convince them it wasn’t right for them?
3. What are SAFe's biggest weaknesses? Challenges? Could you please share some stories about how you’ve helped your clients to overcome them?
4. SAFe gets a lot of heat from agile purists who focus on simplicity, principles, team-focused approaches, etc. Why do you think that is?
5. If there wasn't a SAFe...what would you do in scaling contexts? What would you tell me to do?
Wrapping Up
Mike inspired me around the power of questions or interviewing as a way to explore context and nuance. And I appreciate him for that.
He also brought up the notion of “due diligence” and I think we ought to be more serious when we’re engaging our scaling consultants and trainers because of the impact they can have on our broader organizations.
Here, there be Dragons…
What questions did Mike and I miss that you feel should be asked?
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.