This lesson examines how the digital age is reshaping businesses and highlights the need for agility to succeed in a software-driven world. Students will gain insights into overcoming the hurdles of outdated systems, rapidly advancing technologies, and shifting customer demands. They’ll explore how innovations like AI, cloud computing, and big data can drive creativity and maintain a competitive edge. The lesson also introduces SAFe as a robust framework for achieving business agility by synchronizing teams, optimizing workflows, and aligning strategies to consistently deliver value to customers.

Topic One: Thriving in the Digital Age

• What You’ll Learn: Explore how organizations must adapt to thrive in the digital age. Learn about the challenges of legacy systems, rapid technological advancements, and shifting customer expectations. Discover how leveraging trends like AI, cloud computing, and big data can provide opportunities to innovate and remain competitive.
• This topic delves into the challenges and opportunities of the software-driven economy. It emphasizes how businesses must evolve their operations, solutions, and customer interactions to remain competitive. Key challenges include overcoming legacy system constraints, managing cultural shifts, and addressing cybersecurity threats. Opportunities arise in enhancing customer engagement, streamlining operations, and innovating business models to meet the demands of the digital economy.

Topic Two: SAFe as an Operating System for Business Agility

• What You’ll Learn: Understand how SAFe serves as a framework to achieve business agility. This includes exploring the seven core competencies and how SAFe integrates Agile, Lean, and systems thinking to create a cohesive operating model.
• SAFe provides a structured framework for achieving business agility, enabling organizations to swiftly respond to market changes and customer needs. You’ll learn how SAFe helps align teams, streamline workflows, and balance stability with innovation.

This lesson builds the essential cultural and conceptual framework for a successful Agile transformation. Students will delve into the Lean-Agile mindset, which fuses Lean thinking and Agile values to encourage adaptability, continuous improvement, and a focus on customer needs. They will examine SAFe’s core values—alignment, transparency, respect for people, and relentless improvement—and how these values create a foundation of trust and collaboration. Finally, this lesson covers SAFe’s ten guiding principles, showing how they support streamlined workflows, minimize delays, and improve customer satisfaction across various organizational settings.

Topic One: The Lean-Agile Mindset

• What You’ll Learn: Dive into the principles of Lean thinking and Agile values. Learn how these concepts form the cultural foundation for driving business agility, empowering teams to deliver customer-focused solutions.
• This topic highlights the beliefs, assumptions, and practices that shape the Lean-Agile mindset. By encouraging continuous learning and adaptability, students will explore how to lead organizational change effectively and foster a culture of innovation.

Topic Two: SAFe Core Values

• What You’ll Learn: Discover the foundational beliefs that guide behaviors within SAFe portfolios: alignment, transparency, respect for people, and relentless improvement. See how these values shape a culture of trust and collaboration.
• Core values ensure that teams remain aligned with shared objectives, promote openness and honesty, and continuously strive for better outcomes. Students will analyze real-world examples and actionable strategies for embedding these values into organizational culture to support Agile practices.

Topic Three: Applying SAFe Principles

• What You’ll Learn: Learn the ten guiding principles of SAFe, such as taking an economic view, applying systems thinking, and organizing around value. These principles will help you create workflows that maximize efficiency and impact.
• This topic introduces SAFe’s ten principles, which are grounded in real-world applications. Students will discover how to implement these principles to optimize workflows, minimize delays, and enhance customer satisfaction, ensuring that Agile initiatives deliver tangible results.

Lesson 3 takes a closer look at the essential skills and practices that drive team excellence in a Lean-Agile environment. Participants will learn how to build and manage cross-functional teams that work collaboratively to deliver value efficiently. The lesson emphasizes the importance of built-in quality, providing insights into integrating quality assurance into every step of the development process. Additionally, students will explore how to structure Agile Release Trains (ARTs) to maximize the flow of value and align team efforts with broader organizational objectives. This lesson equips participants with the knowledge and tools to foster high-performing teams and achieve technical excellence.

Topic One: Forming Cross-Functional Agile Teams

• What You’ll Learn: Understand how to structure and form cross-functional Agile teams to enhance collaboration and deliver value efficiently. Explore the roles, responsibilities, and key characteristics of Agile teams.
• Agile teams are designed to be self-organizing and cross-functional, bringing together individuals with diverse skills to collaboratively define, build, test, and deploy value increments. This topic focuses on breaking down silos to promote seamless communication and efficiency. Participants will explore the roles of the Scrum Master/Team Coach and Product Owner, along with strategies for aligning teams to value streams and ensuring their full engagement in Agile practices.

Topic Two: Built-in Quality

• What You’ll Learn: Learn the importance of integrating quality into every step of the development process. Explore practices and techniques that ensure high-quality deliverables.
• Built-in quality is a core principle of Lean-Agile practices, ensuring that quality is prioritized throughout the development lifecycle rather than addressed retrospectively. This topic introduces participants to practices such as test-driven development (TDD), behavior-driven development (BDD), and automated testing. By embedding quality at every stage, teams can minimize defects, reduce rework, and consistently deliver solutions that meet customer expectations.

Topic Three: Organizing Agile Release Trains Around the Flow of Value

• What You’ll Learn: Understand how to organize Agile Release Trains (ARTs) to deliver value continuously and align with business objectives. Learn about the key roles and interactions within ARTs.
• Agile Release Trains (ARTs) consist of multiple Agile teams working in sync to deliver large-scale, customer-centric solutions. This topic emphasizes the importance of structuring ARTs to optimize the flow of value, align with value streams, and reduce delays. Participants will learn how to manage dependencies, foster collaboration between teams, and ensure alignment with organizational goals, enabling continuous delivery of value at scale.

Lesson 4 dives deep into the practices that empower Agile Product Delivery. This lesson equips students with the tools and strategies to deliver high-value solutions efficiently by focusing on customer needs, effective planning, prioritization, and streamlined workflows. Through topics like customer-centric design thinking, Program Increment (PI) Planning, backlog prioritization, and robust Continuous Delivery Pipelines, participants will learn to apply these principles within their organizational contexts. The lesson emphasizes achieving both customer satisfaction and operational excellence through adaptable and practical Agile practices.

Topic One: Customer Centricity and Design Thinking

• What You’ll Learn: Understand how to place the customer at the center of your development process using principles of customer centricity and design thinking. Learn techniques for empathy mapping, defining customer needs, and iterating on solutions that align with both user expectations and business goals.
• This topic emphasizes the critical role of understanding customer behaviors, motivations, and challenges. Students will explore tools like user personas, journey mapping, and rapid prototyping to design solutions that are innovative, user-friendly, and practical. The balance between customer desirability and technical feasibility is also addressed to ensure solutions meet real-world needs without overextending resources.

Topic Two: Prioritizing the ART Backlog

• What You’ll Learn: Learn how to prioritize the Agile Release Train (ART) backlog using Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) and other prioritization frameworks. Understand how to make informed decisions to deliver maximum value quickly and effectively.
• This topic provides a deep understanding of backlog prioritization, helping students evaluate work items based on urgency, value, and effort. Through techniques like WSJF, participants will learn to quantify the cost of delay and align teams on high-priority features. Real-world scenarios highlight how strategic prioritization enhances alignment and focuses teams on delivering impactful outcomes.

Topic Three: PI Planning

• What You’ll Learn: Gain hands-on experience with Program Increment (PI) Planning, a cornerstone activity in SAFe that ensures teams are aligned and objectives are clear. Learn how to set achievable goals, resolve dependencies, and create a collaborative roadmap for success.
• This topic walks students through every phase of PI Planning, from pre-planning preparation to post-planning follow-ups. Participants will engage in activities like dependency identification, iteration planning, and team alignment. The benefits of PI Planning—such as improved communication, synchronized workflows, and a shared understanding of goals—are emphasized, ensuring students leave ready to lead or contribute effectively to this critical SAFe event.

Topic Four: Develop on Cadence; Release on Demand

• What You’ll Learn: Discover how to synchronize development activities through cadence while retaining the flexibility to release value on demand. Learn strategies to manage variability, optimize workflows, and deliver value when the market demands.
• This topic highlights the role of predictable development cycles in driving efficiency and collaboration. Students will learn strategies to decouple development from deployment, leveraging tools like feature toggles and dark launches to incrementally release value. Case studies will illustrate how successful organizations balance cadence with on-demand releases to respond dynamically to customer and market needs.

Topic Five: Building a Continuous Delivery Pipeline with DevOps

• What You’ll Learn: Understand the practices and tools necessary to build and sustain a Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) using DevOps principles. Learn how to achieve continuous exploration, integration, deployment, and release.
• In this topic, students will explore the components of a Continuous Delivery Pipeline, including automated testing, build automation, and continuous monitoring. Participants will also gain insights into fostering collaboration between development and operations teams through DevOps practices. Techniques for pipeline efficiency measurement and operational stability are covered, ensuring students can build and maintain pipelines that deliver consistent value.

Lesson 4 equips participants with the knowledge and skills to implement Agile Product Delivery effectively. By focusing on customer-centric design, backlog prioritization, and efficient planning, students will be prepared to lead teams toward delivering high-impact solutions. The emphasis on synchronized workflows, on-demand releases, and Continuous Delivery Pipelines ensures adaptability in dynamic market environments. With practical tools and actionable insights, this lesson prepares participants to achieve operational excellence and customer satisfaction in Agile delivery systems.

Lesson 5 delves into Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) as a crucial capability for driving business agility within enterprises. Participants will explore how to design and implement SAFe portfolios that align with organizational goals and enterprise strategies. This lesson focuses on defining clear portfolio visions, leveraging strategic themes, managing investments through lean budgets, and optimizing portfolio flow using Kanban systems. By mastering these techniques, participants will learn how to balance strategic objectives with operational excellence, fostering continuous value delivery and sustained growth.

Topic One: Defining a SAFe Portfolio

• What You’ll Learn: Understand what a SAFe portfolio is and how it differs from traditional project-based portfolios. Learn how to define portfolios based on value streams, aligning development efforts with organizational goals.
• A SAFe portfolio consists of value streams designed to deliver sustainable solutions that support the organization’s mission. Participants will learn how to structure portfolios around Agile Release Trains (ARTs), ensuring alignment with strategic themes and enterprise objectives. This topic emphasizes the shift from project-centric to value-driven approaches, enabling organizations to deliver high-impact results.

Topic Two: Connecting the Portfolio to the Enterprise Strategy

• What You’ll Learn: Discover how to align portfolio objectives with the overall enterprise strategy through strategic themes, mission, and vision.
• This topic explores the importance of collaboration between business leaders and portfolio stakeholders to define strategic themes that guide the portfolio’s direction. Participants will learn how strategic themes influence budgeting, portfolio vision, and operational alignment, ensuring that all efforts contribute to achieving the enterprise’s long-term goals.

Topic Three: Maintaining the Portfolio Vision

• What You’ll Learn: Explore techniques to create and sustain a clear portfolio vision that reflects the current state and future aspirations of the organization.
• Using tools like the portfolio canvas, students will map out critical elements such as customer relationships, value propositions, and revenue streams. This topic emphasizes the need to align vision components with enterprise strategies and adapt them over time to meet changing market demands and business priorities.

Topic Four: Realizing the Portfolio Vision through Epics

• What You’ll Learn: Learn how to use epics as vehicles for achieving the portfolio vision. Discover how to structure, prioritize, and implement epics effectively.
• Participants will follow the lifecycle of an epic, from ideation to implementation, using the portfolio Kanban system. This topic covers writing Lean business cases, defining Minimal Viable Products (MVPs), and applying prioritization techniques like Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF). By focusing on epics, students will learn to drive the realization of strategic objectives through manageable and high-value initiatives.

Topic Five: Establishing Lean Budgets and Guardrails

• What You’ll Learn: Understand the principles of lean budgeting and how guardrails provide structure and accountability for spending.
• This topic introduces participants to lean budgeting practices that balance short-term needs with long-term investments. Students will explore methods for managing the architectural runway, funding value streams, and ensuring alignment with business priorities. Techniques such as participatory budgeting and business owner engagement are also covered, emphasizing collaboration and transparency in financial decisions.

Topic Six: Establishing Portfolio Flow

• What You’ll Learn: Discover how to visualize, manage, and optimize the flow of work across the portfolio using portfolio Kanban systems.
• In this topic, students will learn to use portfolio Kanban to enhance strategic alignment, reduce work-in-process (WIP), and prioritize epics effectively. They will gain practical insights into identifying bottlenecks, optimizing efficiency, and maintaining transparency across the portfolio. This approach ensures that resources are allocated to initiatives with the highest potential for value delivery.

Lesson 5 provides participants with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage portfolios in a Lean-Agile enterprise. Through structured frameworks and practical tools, participants will learn how to define and align portfolios with enterprise goals, create and sustain a clear portfolio vision, and deliver value through prioritized epics and optimized flow. The emphasis on lean budgeting and guardrails ensures financial accountability, while portfolio Kanban systems enable teams to visualize and improve work efficiency. By mastering these competencies, participants will contribute to organizational success by fostering agility, strategic alignment, and continuous value delivery.

Lesson 6 focuses on empowering leaders to drive Lean-Agile transformations with confidence and purpose. Participants will explore the essential traits and behaviors needed to lead by example, cultivating a culture of trust, courage, and growth within their teams. This lesson also delves into proven methodologies, such as Kotter’s 8-step process, to help leaders implement and sustain organizational change effectively. By emphasizing the role of leaders as catalysts for both cultural and operational transformation, this lesson equips participants with actionable tools to guide their organizations toward achieving business agility.

Topic One: Leading by Example

• What You’ll Learn: Understand the importance of modeling desired behaviors to inspire teams and drive change. Learn to cultivate skills such as authenticity, courage, emotional competence, and decentralized decision-making.
• This topic emphasizes how leaders set the tone for organizational transformation by embodying key traits and behaviors. Participants will learn to foster a culture of innovation and trust by demonstrating insatiable learning, authenticity, and emotional intelligence. Decentralized decision-making is explored as a strategy to empower teams, enabling faster and more effective responses to challenges. Practical examples and tools are provided to help leaders instill these behaviors, ensuring teams feel supported and motivated to contribute to shared goals.

Topic Two: Leading the Change

• What You’ll Learn: Master techniques for driving organizational change using structured approaches like Kotter’s 8-step process for leading change. Learn how to create urgency, build coalitions, and sustain momentum during transitions.
• This topic provides a detailed walkthrough of Kotter’s 8-step process for managing large-scale transformations. Participants will learn how to:
  1. Create a Sense of Urgency: Align teams around a compelling reason for change to spark motivation.
  2. Build a Guiding Coalition: Assemble a committed group of leaders to champion and drive the transformation effort.
  3. Form a Strategic Vision: Craft a clear, inspiring vision to guide the organization and align efforts.
  4. Empower Teams to Act: Identify and remove barriers to change, enabling teams to take ownership and innovate.
  5. Generate Short-Term Wins: Plan and celebrate early successes to build momentum and maintain enthusiasm.
  6. Sustain Acceleration: Continue building on achievements by driving continuous improvement efforts.
  7. Institute Change: Embed new practices and cultural shifts into the organization’s processes to ensure long-term success.
• Real-world scenarios and examples illustrate how these steps can be adapted to diverse organizational contexts. Participants will leave with a robust framework for leading transformative change, ensuring sustained progress and alignment with business agility objectives.

Lesson 6 provides leaders with the knowledge and skills to drive meaningful transformation within Lean-Agile organizations. By focusing on the behaviors required to lead by example, participants will learn to build trust and empower their teams to take on greater responsibilities. The structured approach to implementing and sustaining change ensures that leaders can guide their organizations through complex transitions with clarity and purpose. With practical tools, real-world examples, and proven methodologies, this lesson positions participants as effective change agents capable of fostering both cultural and operational excellence.

In the final lesson, students will see SAFe in action through real-world case studies showcasing its implementation across various industries. They will learn how organizations have achieved improved time-to-market, product quality, and team collaboration by adopting SAFe practices. The lesson concludes with a focus on fostering a culture of continuous improvement, teaching students how to identify opportunities for innovation and sustain momentum through retrospectives, metrics-based reviews, and iterative enhancements.

Topic One: SAFe in Action

• What You’ll Learn: See real-world examples of SAFe implementation and learn how organizations have achieved success with improved time-to-market and team collaboration.
• Explore case studies that demonstrate the practical application of SAFe principles across diverse industries.

Topic Two: Continuous Improvement

• What You’ll Learn: Learn techniques for fostering a culture of ongoing improvement, ensuring that processes, teams, and solutions continue to evolve.
  
• Discover methods like retrospectives and metrics-based reviews to identify opportunities for innovation and sustain long-term success.