Handbook
SAFe — process and flows
Purpose: Visual and narrative description of SAFe process flows at team, program (ART), and portfolio levels. KS diagram templates for key lifecycle patterns.
1. PI lifecycle (program level)
A Program Increment (PI) is the primary planning and delivery cadence in SAFe — typically 8–12 weeks containing 4–5 iterations plus an Innovation & Planning (IP) iteration.
IP iteration
The final iteration in a PI is typically reserved for: - Innovation and exploration (hackathons, spikes) - Infrastructure and tooling improvements - PI-level System Demo and I&A - Preparation for next PI Planning - Training and cross-team knowledge sharing
Teams should not plan feature work into the IP iteration.
2. Iteration flow (team level)
Within each iteration, team-level flow follows standard Scrum/Kanban patterns:
SAFe-specific addition: team iterations feed into the System Demo every iteration, ensuring continuous cross-team integration.
3. ART coordination flow
4. Portfolio Kanban flow
Epics flow through the portfolio Kanban system before reaching ARTs:
| Stage | Activity |
|---|---|
| Funnel | Capture epics from strategic themes, stakeholders, teams |
| Reviewing | Lightweight evaluation; filter out low-value or duplicate items |
| Analyzing | Develop Lean business case (benefit hypothesis, MVP scope, cost estimate) |
| Go / No-Go | LPM decides based on Lean budget, strategy alignment, capacity |
| Portfolio Backlog | Approved epics awaiting ART capacity |
| Implementing | Epic decomposed into features on ART program backlog |
| Done | Benefit hypothesis validated or invalidated |
5. Release on demand
SAFe decouples release from PI cadence. Teams can release at any point when:
- Features meet Definition of Done and acceptance criteria
- Continuous delivery pipeline is green (build, test, stage)
- Business decides to release (business value, market timing)
The continuous delivery pipeline spans all four activities. PI cadence provides alignment; release cadence provides value delivery. They need not be the same.
6. Dependency management
Dependencies are first surfaced at PI Planning and tracked throughout the PI:
| When | How |
|---|---|
| PI Planning | Teams identify dependencies during breakouts; visualized on the program board as strings between teams/iterations |
| ART Sync | RTE and SMs review dependency status; escalate blocked items |
| Daily Stand-up | Teams surface intra-team blockers; cross-team items go to SM → ART Sync |
| I&A | Review dependency-related delays; improve architectural runway to reduce future dependencies |
ROAM model for risks identified at PI Planning:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Resolved | Risk no longer exists |
| Owned | Someone accepted responsibility and has a mitigation plan |
| Accepted | Impact understood and accepted; no further action |
| Mitigated | Actions taken to reduce probability or impact |
7. References
https://forgesdlc.com/methodology-safe.html— SAFe methodology summary- SAFe — ceremonies (prescriptive) — event detail with inputs/outputs
- SAFe — roles — who does what
- SAFe — connection to the SDLC foundation — SDLC phase mapping