The Scaled Agile Framework distilled

and how it is working for SKA

Valentina Alberti
TETIS workshop
29 October 2020
https://www.skatelescope.org/
Usage Restrictions
• The slides in this pack come from three sources and are subject to three different copyrights and
restrictions.
• Slides that are formatted similar to this one (SKA template) are subject to:
• © Copyright 2020 SKA Organisation.
• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
• The other slides are also distinguishable by their formats and are:

Scaled Agile Inc slides: Ivar Jacobson International Slides:

3
Agenda
• Agile, Scrum and SAFe
• Some data form SKA

4
PMBOK – Agile metodologies
• Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge distinguishes between definable work
to high-uncertainty work when introducing the chapter on Agile methodologies.
• High-uncertainty projects have high rates of change, complexity, and risk. These
characteristics can present problems for traditional predictive approaches that aim to
determine the bulk of the requirements upfront and control changes through a change
request process. Instead, agile approaches were created to explore feasibility in short
cycles and quickly adapt based on evaluation and feedback.
• Agile approaches and agile methods are umbrella terms that cover a variety of
frameworks and methods, referring to any kind of approach, technique, framework,
method, or practice that fulfills the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto.

PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-62825-184-5
What is Agile?
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and
helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

Teams execute iterations with Scrum
Scrum is built on transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

Daily Stand-up

PO
Iteration
Planning
SM
Dev Team Iteration Review

Iteration Retro
What is Lean?
https://bit.ly/2IY8b01
SAFe Big Picture

https://www.scaledagileframework.com/
Plan Do Check Adjust (PDCA)
SAFe: Another Perspective
8 -12 week

Backlog
Solution
Program Increment (PI)
Solution

Fits In Capability
Solution STE PI
Manager

Architects

1..n
Backlog
Program

8 -12 week
Program Increment (PI)
Program

Fits In
Feature
Product RTE
PI
Manager

Architects

2 week Sprint 1..n

Backlog
Team
Team

Product Scrum Fits In Story

Owner Master Sprint

Dev / Tester
The PI Planning process
SAFe at SKA
Why did SKA choose an Agile
approach?
• Designing phase
• partitioning the SKA system on different subsystems or elements.
• and different consortia have developed a design for different subsystems
of the telescope.
• Very specialised domain knowledge

• System level issues

• lack of a view of the system and inconsistencies between the interfaces
between elements.
• Document based, no prototypes.

• Need for:
• System Approach.
• Validation by prototyping.

https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2019-WEPHA011
16
Why did SKA choose an Agile
approach?
• Individuals and interactions
• are needed to take a system approach
• More efficient than Interface Control Documents to communicate
info across elements
• Working software
• Is needed to validate our assumption
• Foster the adoption of an integrated approach to SW development
• Customer collaboration
• Involve the users of the telescope from the beginning
• Develop software iteratively and gather feedback
• Responding to change
• Essential for a complex system with many unknowns like SKA
• Evolving system
https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2019-WEPHA011
17
Where does SAFe fit in?
PI8 Outlook

In PI8 we see a further increase in the number of teams (18 now)

2 ARTs: Observation Management and Control (OMC) and Data Processing (DP)
~170 individuals ~5 FTE per team
16 Consultants
Tools we are using
Confluence Content Collaboration
MIRO Visual Collaboration
Agile Release Trains and Teams
Program Increments DP ART Program Board
Vision and Roadmaps OMC ART Program Board
System and PI Demos
Training Events SKA Developer Portal
Developer Portal
JIRA Issue Tracking
Solution Backlog Source Code Repository
Program Backlog
SKA-Telescope Repository
Team Backlogs

Exchange Calendar World Wide Web

Slack Scaled Agile Framework

SAFe Community Platform
Trello

20
Quality Metrics: Commits

21
GitLab pipeline
SKAMPI - SKA Minimum Viable
Product

23
Planning and I&A artifacts
SKA Definition of Done
https://confluence.skatelescope.org/display/SE/Bridging+Vision+and+Roadmap
SKA SAFe Solution Roadmap

https://confluence.skatelescope.org/display/SE/Bridging+Vision+and+Roadmap
How have we been doing?

28