SDLC blueprint

Handbook

Disciplined Agile (DA)

**Disciplined Agile (DA)** is a **process-decision toolkit** originally developed by Scott Ambler and Mark Lines, now owned by the **Project Management Institute (PMI)**. Rather than prescribing a sin

Disciplined Agile (DA)

What it is

Disciplined Agile (DA) is a process-decision toolkit originally developed by Scott Ambler and Mark Lines, now owned by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Rather than prescribing a single process, DA provides a goal-driven approach: it presents process goals (e.g. "Explore Scope," "Address Changing Stakeholder Needs") and offers decision points with multiple options drawn from Scrum, Kanban, XP, Lean, SAFe, and other sources.

DA is designed for organizations that want guided choice rather than a single mandated framework. It covers the full delivery lifecycle and extends into Disciplined Agile Enterprise (DAE) for organizational transformation.

Process diagram (handbook)

DA — goal-driven process decision

Process goals → decision points → options (from multiple frameworks). Teams choose options based on context.

Authoritative sources (external)

Resource Executive summary (why it's linked here)
PMI — Disciplined Agile Official DA body of knowledge — goal diagrams, lifecycles, and process options (PMI-owned).
Wikipedia — Disciplined agile delivery Stable overview of DA's approach, lifecycles, and relationship to other Agile methods.

Core concepts

Concept Meaning
Process goals Named outcomes a team should achieve (e.g. "Produce a Potentially Consumable Solution").
Decision points Within each goal, choices the team must make (e.g. "How will we coordinate work?").
Options Concrete practices drawn from Scrum, Kanban, XP, Lean, SAFe, etc. that satisfy a decision point.
Context Team size, regulatory environment, organizational culture — what makes one option better than another.
Lifecycles DA offers multiple lifecycle templates: Agile (Scrum-based), Lean (Kanban-based), Continuous Delivery, Exploratory (Lean Startup), and Program (for large efforts).

DA lifecycles

Lifecycle Based on When to use
Agile Scrum Iteration-based delivery; most common starting point
Lean Kanban Flow-based delivery; variable demand
Continuous Delivery DevOps + Lean Continuous deployment; mature CI/CD
Exploratory Lean Startup New products; hypothesis-driven; build-measure-learn
Program SAFe-like coordination Multiple teams; coordinated delivery

Mapping to this blueprint's SDLC

DA idea Blueprint touchpoint
Process goals Phases A–F: each phase has implicit process goals that DA makes explicit.
Decision points Methodology selection: DA formalizes the choices this blueprint leaves to teams.
Options from multiple frameworks The methodology guides in this blueprint (Scrum, Kanban, XP, etc.) are DA "options."
Context-driven selection The "choosing a primary rhythm" table in Agile (umbrella) is a simplified DA decision.

DA vs SAFe

Dimension DA SAFe
Approach Toolkit of options; guided choice Prescribed framework; configurations
Prescription level Low — teams select from options High — roles, events, artifacts defined
Scaling Covers team to enterprise; lighter touch Strong multi-team coordination (ART, PI Planning)
Ownership PMI Scaled Agile, Inc.
Best fit Orgs wanting flexibility with guidance Orgs wanting structured multi-team alignment

Agentic SDLC: DA + agents

Topic Guidance
Process selection Agents can analyze team context (size, domain, maturity) and suggest DA options. Humans make the process decisions.
Goal tracking DA's explicit process goals are useful for agentic audit: has the team addressed each goal this cycle?
Multi-framework DA's multi-framework nature means agents working with DA teams must understand which practices were selected, not assume Scrum defaults.

Further reading

Canonical source

Edit https://github.com/autowww/blueprints/blob/main/sdlc/methodologies/disciplined-agile.md first; regenerate with docs/build-handbook.py.