Last week I attended a 4-day Scaled Agile Framework class with a result of sitting for my SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) test. A few days after the class, I received an email telling me I passed the exam. I am now a proud and newly minted SPC. This enables me to teach several SAFe courses, to kick-off and coach Agile Release Trains (PSI’s), and to generally coach organizations that are adopting SAFe.
But to be honest, I’m still digesting SAFe. It’s not that I’m having trouble with the concepts or approaches. It’s more so that I’m having a challenge fitting them into my own experience in a useful way. You see much of what I learned in the class I’ve been using and doing for a long time in my own agile journey. But I’ve couched those techniques under Scrum of Scrums for agile scaling—and with fairly good success.
I just registered for the Scaled Agile Framework, SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) class.
I’ll be taking the course April 22-25 in Boulder. One of the reasons I picked this class is that Dean Leffingwell, the creator and prime instigator of SAFe, is teaching it. Much as I did in 2004 when I took my CSM certification with Ken Schwaber, I want to get it “from the horses mouth” so to speak.
I’ve been sitting around far too long observing it from the sidelines or peripherally and feeling quite apprehensive about the implications that SAFe has across a variety of agile principles.
Another driver is that many of my coaching colleagues have taken this course and are recommending & leading SAFe initiatives. I respect them and their balanced judgment, so I want to approach the class with as few preconceptions as I can. I’ve long respected Dean for his work in RUP and software requirements, so I want to give it (and him) a fair shot.
