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Software Testing - Agile Testing

Software testing is guided by SAFe methodology in order to streamline the agile process. The SAFe stands for the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe) and was first worked upon by Dean Leffingwell and Drew Jamilo in the year 2011.

What is a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?

The SAFe is an open source and reliable online framework used for adopting agile methodologies in business. It gives all the necessary information to the enterprises for streamlining their agile process. It is a lightweight framework that helps to transform a small organization to become a big, and complicated enterprise.

History of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The SAFe concept was first proposed by Dean Leffingwell in the year 2007. It was then incrementally improved, and finally released again in the year 2011. Till now the SAFe framework has undergone a lot of improvements, and its current version five is released in the year February 2021. It is available online and does not require additional costs to be adopted by an organization. In the current industry, this framework is considered most useful and trustworthy to adopt agile practices in the projects.

Why is Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Used?

The SAFe is used for the reasons listed below −

It streamlines the agile process and system development.
It helps to align roles and responsibilities to every team member.
It develops a transparent working environment and improves the overall product quality.
It encourages an environment of cooperation among team members and also focuses on their upskilling.
It makes the decision process faster thereby reducing delay in the software development process.
It helps to build the future roadmap for the company.
It comprises the three levels, namely team level, program level, and portfolio level.
It is guided by the principles, namely agile development, system thinking, and streamlining of the software development process.

Foundation of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?

The foundation of SAFe is listed below −

It introduces agility in the efficient delivery of the system. It streamlines the agile practices by dividing the entire software development process into multiple stages, thereby reducing the potential risks, and quickens the product development activities.
It reduces the probability of encountering bugs, and wastages. It primarily focuses on customer requirements, and satisfaction. It also empowers the developers with more decision making skills.
It encourages an environment of continuous learning, and upskilling for all the team members.
It focuses mostly on the end users problems, and their needs. It involves the customer inputs at almost every stage of development so that they are aware of the progress of the team, and can intervene if they are not satisfied at any point in the middle. This ultimately helps to bring the overall success of the project.

Principles of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The principles of SAFe are listed below −

An organization should plan and allocate a budget.
Before beginning the development process, the team members should be aware of what the product is all about, and its functions.
There should be a plan, along with alternate plans so that if one of the plans fail, the other ones can be adopted immediately.
The software should be developed incrementally.
The entire product development process should be broken down into smaller work packets for efficient progress.
Team members should be encouraged to go for learning, and upskilling for their continuous self improvement.
There should not be any concept of a boss, and every member in the team should be motivated to work and take decisions independently.

Core Values of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The core values of SAFe are listed below −

Alignment
Built in Quality
Transparency
Program Execution

Why is Agile Framework Used?

The Agile framework is used for the reasons listed below −

It helps to manage the principles of agile development.
It enhances faster delivery by dividing the development process into multiple sprints.
It gives visibility to the team on the pending work items which need to be taken up in the form of whiteboards, notes etc.
It gives a fair and transparent communication among all the team members regarding the progress of development.
It is an easy, and understandable process of product development.

When Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is Used?

The SAFe is used in the scenarios listed below −

It is adopted at a time when an organization wants to scale up the agile development process across numerous teams, and at multiple levels.
It is adopted if the lean agile practices are being taken up by the non technical teams, namely finance, admin etc.
As the count of the team increases, it is adopted for effective assignment of roles and responsibilities to every team member.
It is adopted when the organization aims to improve its efficiency, make the development process faster etc.
It is adopted to empower the team for more decision making, thereby encouraging a centralized decision making approach.

Levels of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The levels of SAFe are listed below −

Team Level

It is at the lowest level of SAFe which helps in passing the values of Agile Release Train(ART). It consists of the scrum master, product owner, and the development team. All of them strive towards achieving a successful product development. The values are generated by creating stories under epics(a collection of stories). A story is taken up and developed in a sprint for delivery. The process of Pi is monitored continuously till every value has passed.

At this time, the product owner creates a backlog of items(stories, epics, requirements, sprints etc) which are taken up for development in any agile frameworks namely Scrum, Kanban etc. The scrum master is responsible for a specific agile team. He takes care of organizing the meetings, stories, and handles any bottlenecks that the team faces. The development team takes care of the entire development process.

Program Level

It is at a level higher than the Team Level and it utilizes the values of ART passed by the Team level. It is driven by ART which is an effective pipeline for the product delivery. At this time, the entire ART process is managed by a dedicated engineer. The system architect is responsible for incorporating the Pi, and the product management, and DevOps take care of the product deployment.

Portfolio Level

It points to the creamy layer of the SAFe which is responsible for planning, and strategizing the lean agile activities. The purpose, objective, method etc taken up at this time is solely focussed on producing great results at a short time span. The epic owners create the epics and prioritize them in the backlog. The enterprise architect takes care of the design and the complete workflow, and the lean portfolio manager is responsible for taking up effective budget plans and its usage.

Value Stream Level

This level was introduced from SAFe 4.0 and is used in complicated projects. It has various ART(Solution Art) and helps to handle difficult, and complicated problems. To manage effectively between numerous ART, some of the roles namely the value stream engineer, solution engineer, and solution management are available at this level.

Configurations of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The configurations of SAFe are listed below −

Essential SAFe

It is the most primary, and simple configuration for the SAFe. It is based on the lean agile methodologies, and ART. The working of this configuration relies on ART. By taking up ART, the whole team works towards a faster product development without compromising on quality.

Large Solution SAFe

It is mostly adopted for complicated systems in the organization. It uses numerous ART and passes value with their help. As this configuration holds true for big solutions, so the roles and responsibilities of the team members are also more. It is mostly adopted in the areas namely automobiles, aerospace, army, government etc.

Portfolio SAFe

It is the most primary, and simple configuration for the SAFe and is obtained by extending the features of the Essential SAFe. It takes care of upskilling the team members in an agile environment. It is adopted at a portfolio level and works towards taking up the enterprise strategies along with development of solutions by utilizing multiple value streams. It describes the usage of artifacts, and events in a portfolio configuration. It is mostly applicable for small to medium sized organizations.

Full SAFe

It is an exhaustive configuration adopted by very large organizations of more than hundreds of employees having very complicated systems. It incorporates the advantages of the Essential, Large Solutions, Portfolio configurations.

How does the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Work?

The working of the SAFe are listed in the below steps −

Planning

In the planning phase of the SAFe, the organization's future roadmap and objectives are identified. It also includes going through the client requirements, assigning the roles and responsibilities of the team members, introducing the values of the SAFe etc.

Configuration Selection

In this phase, the correct configuration for the SAFe is selected as per the organization’s and customer’s requirements. The Essential SAFe is the most primary, and simple configuration and is applied for small to medium sized solutions. The Large SAFe is suitable for big enterprises, while the Portfolio SAFe is applied at the portfolio level, and the Full SAFe is made up of all the steps from the other configurations.

Level Working

In this phase, the system development of the levels begin with the working on team and program level since they form the basics levels of all the SAFe configurations. At the team level, a value stream is moved by the agile team. It is generated by the epics and stories to be covered by the scrum team. The value streams are utilized for ART at the program level. The ART helps in producing continuous solutions, which are then deployed with the help of the DevOps.

System Release

In this phase, the complete integrated system is handled over to the customers. The entire product is developed by following all the development and testing phases of the software development life cycle(SDLC).

Advantages of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The advantages of the SAFe are listed below −

It helps to develop a product with utmost quality and customer satisfaction.
It makes the decision making process faster by following a de-centralised system.
It makes the delivery process quicker.
It helps to prepare the future roadmap for the organization.
It encourages a transparent working environment among the team members.
It brings a culture of collaboration and cooperation within the team.

Disadvantages of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The disadvantages of the SAFe are listed below −

There is no scope for long term planning and strategizing as the client requirements keep on changing.
The activities involved with project management come with a cost.
As the user requirements keep changing, there is no clarity on the requirements, objectives, budget etc.
There is no documentation involved, and a lot of communication is conducted verbally, hence if any of the members join or leave midway, it becomes difficult to gather all the information about the working of the product.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Testing - SAFe Methodology. We’ve started with describing what is a Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), what is the history of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), Why is the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe) used, what is the foundation of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), what are the principles of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), what are the core values of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), why the Agile framework is used, when the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe) is used, what are the levels of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), what are the configurations of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), how does the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe) work, what are the advantages of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe), and what are the disadvantages of the Scaled Agile Framework(SAFe). This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Testing - SAFe Methodology. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.

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