Amy Silberbauer, our resident expert on Scaled Agile Framework®(SAFe™) contributed this update on our latest CLM support for scaling agile.  Let us know what you think about our new SAFe 3.0 process template we have included in the CLM 6.0 Milestone 10 build on jazz.net!

Now that InterConnect 2015 is behind us, we’ve been busy incorporating some of your feedback into the latest beta, Milestone 10. New in M9 and updated with M10 is a new capability that supports software development and delivery in a team-of-teams environment based on the Scaled Agile Framework®(SAFe™). We’ve received great feedback from many of you who have already taken the new process template for a spin, and we’ve heard from many others about what you expect to find in a SAFe template. Some of your feedback is already incorporated into the latest version of the template. Starting with M10, the SAFe 3.0 Process Template is part of the CLM package so you won’t need to do anything except download the beta to start using it.

So what do you get with this template and how does it help you with SAFe? By using the template to create an RTC project area, you will get out-of-the-box support for Programs and Teams wanting to incorporate agile and lean practices into the development and delivery of software to help you drive SAFe adoption. A skeleton SAFe Program project area is created that includes:

• SAFe Teams as RTC Team Areas within the SAFe Program Project Area
• An Agile Release Train timeline
• Work Area categories for the Program and Teams
• SAFe-based Program and Team roles with appropriate permissions
• Work item types with attributes and a work flow consistent with SAFe
• Plan Views for the Program and Team backlogs
• Work item templates to help you drive some of the most typical SAFe activities

For those of you already familiar with team-based agile development, you will see that support in the SAFe template is consistent with what is provided by the Scrum template — but with a SAFe twist. The template establishes a SAFe Program project area in RTC along with a skeleton environment that you configure for your Program. A nifty Post Project Initialization Tasks work item is created as part of the project area creation, reminding you about specific configuration steps along with instructions. The task is assigned to the project area creator.  These steps include:

1. Add members to the Program and assign appropriate process roles
2. Rename Team Areas and create additional Team Areas as necessary
3. Rename Categories, associate them with Project / Team Areas, create new Categories as necessary
4. Rename backlog plans
5. Use the Program Initiation Activities work item template to create work item tasks that guide you on the activities required to initiate your SAFe Program
6. Use the Program Increment work item template to create work item tasks that guide your team to lead a first Release Planning Event through delivery of the first Program Increment

A third work item template, Development Iteration, includes the tasks required to help teams plan development iterations through delivery of functionality. All of the work item tasks describe activities consistent with those prescribed by SAFe and include in-context mentoring via a direct link to the topic described by the task on the SAFe web site. This enables you to learn as you go and helps ease adoption of the new SAFe process, step by step.

Coming soon are the Program and Team dashboards as well as reports based on SAFe guidance but also supplemented by our own subject matter expertise derived by working with all of you.

As always see the “New and Noteworthy” pages for the latest news. The CLM N&N and RTC N&N are good places to start. And if you’d like to know more about our SAFe support, please bookmark the external SAFe landing page and check back often for updates!