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5 Essential Skills Every SAFe Leader Should Have

Updated: Sep 27, 2023

5 essential skills for every SAFe leader

Every designation is attached with a bunch of responsibilities which have to be handled efficiently. For justifying their role and responsibilities, they have to acquire a set of skills. A SAFe Leader plays an important role for the success of any project worked upon by their team. The 5 essential skills that a SAFe leader should acquire are-

Decision-making 

Leaders are Decision makers when it comes to completing projects efficiently. Although, there are higher authorities who make crucial decisions but a SAFe leader needs to decide a lot of things on a daily basis on their level as every single detail cannot be communicated to the higher officials. In tight situations where the success of the project depends on the next step a précised decision is required. The leadership quality of taking touch decisions without biasness is undoubtedly the most important skill to acquire.


Critical thinking/analysis

No matter how well planned a project is, during execution there are times when things may require change at the spot. Here, the leader has to step up and think critically for the alternatives and changes real quick. The skill of critical analysis prepares a leader to make decisions under pressure so it is a must have.

Motivation/influence 

One of the greatest traits of a leader is the ability to keep their team motivated and inspired at all times. The process of developing a product or service can be pressurizing, tough, monotonous and challenging for the teams and the leader is the one who they look up to in tough situations. The leader should have the ability to influence the team to work efficiently and deliver best results.

Integrity 


In a competitive world, a workplace that follows the work ethics and has honesty in all levels of hierarchy has greater chances of success. A leader is a role model for the employees working under them so possession of integrity in their acts, thoughts and communication is utmost necessary. It helps to build credibility in the organization and can also help shape the career.

Team building/managing

A leader is like the roots of a tree. The stronger the hold the taller a tree grows; similarly, the strength and capability of a leader to manage the team and hold them together decides their success. A leader has a responsibility to maintain harmony, motivate the team members, continuously communicate with them and guide them throughout the project. If a leader has the capability to handle the team, accomplishing the project becomes a lot easier.

Conclusion The increasing demand of SAFe in the business world is also increasing the opportunity of career growth for Certified SAFe professionals. There are many platforms that provide courses for becoming a SAFe Leader. One such platform is Acekube that avails a number of SAFe certifications for professionals who want to accelerate their career in project management and software development.



What is Agile Model?

The Agile Methodology is a group of various frameworks that prioritize customer satisfaction through the continuous delivery of valuable goods via an iterative approach. These frameworks implement Agile practices in projects based on a set of values and principles. Specifically, the Agile principles that guide these frameworks are:

  • Customer satisfaction is a priority

  • Welcome changes as and when required

  • Frequent delivery of working software

  • Collaboration between developers, customers and stakeholders

  • Trust and motivation build strong projects

  • Communication is the key

  • The primary parameter of progress is working software

  • Sustainable development is important

  • Good design

  • Simplicity is essential

  • Self-organizing teams can be a game changer for success of a project

  • Reflecting upon the progress and adjusting accordingly

There are many frameworks that use the aforementioned principles in a project for its completion and growth of the business value. Few of the frameworks that are part of the Agile Model are as follows-


  • Adaptive Software Development

  • Agile Modeling

  • Agile Unified Process

  • Scrum

  • SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework

  • Kanban

  • Lean startup

  • Feature-driven Development

  • Extreme programming

  • Rapid Application Development


What is meant by SAFe?

SAFe or Scaled Agile Framework is one of the frameworks that follow Agile values to manage a project. SAFe is a set of workflow and organizational patterns for implementation of Agile practices at a large scale. It is one of the most popular and common agile framework in recent times due to its flexibility and adaptability to different projects. SAFe promotes collaboration, communication, alignment and delivery across large number of self-organizing agile teams. It is a result of leveraging three primary bodies of knowledge-

  • Lean product development

  • Agile Software development

  • Systems Thinking


Roles in a SAFe team

There are levels in this framework which has a variety of roles with different responsibilities-

  • SAFe Leader

  • Scrum Master

  • Agile team

  • Product owner

  • Product manager

  • Customer

  • Release Train Engineer

  • Business Owner

  • System Architect

  • Solution Manager

  • Epic owners

  • Enterprise Architects

  • SAFe Program Consultant


FAQs

1. Are SAFe and Scrum the same?

No, SAFe and Scrum are different although they are based on the same fundamentals of Agile.

2. What are the certifications under SAFe?


3. Are SAFe courses beneficial for career growth?

SAFe is one of the most popular frameworks used to scale Agile values at enterprise level. So, SAFe courses can help professionals in acquiring leadership qualities as well as act as a catalyst for their career.

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