Software development communities have noticed the rise of agile project management. Agile’s adaptability is a major selling point. You can select an Agile framework that best fits your specific requirements or advantages because of its variety of tactics. Because of this, a lot of organizations decide between the SAFe and Scrum approaches.
Despite their popularity, both frameworks have distinct ways of changing the structure of your company. Thus, your goals and available resources must be taken into account when choosing between Scrum and SAFe. We’ll go over both strategies, their advantages and disadvantages, and the types of teams for whom they perform best in order to assist you in selecting the ideal framework.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is an Agile framework that facilitates the rapid delivery of high-quality software by small, autonomous teams. Scrum development emphasizes simplicity and builds flexible teams that fulfill commitments in response to feedback from stakeholders. Scrum developers divide big projects into smaller ones in order to make this work.
Through the creation of cross-functional teams, Scrum enables developers to work on a variety of problems and projects. As requirements change, its small team structure also keeps costs down and productivity high. Smaller teams also make sure that each developer is aware of who to contact for particular difficulties. This simplified configuration encourages teamwork and enables members to go over their work more carefully.
Scrum development relies on three key roles:
- Product Owners align a Scrum team’s goals with customer and stakeholder expectations. They can also provide feedback or insight on product requirements.
- Scrum Masters oversee a Scrum team and Scrum processes. They remove dev obstacles, keeping team members productive and on task.
- Scrum teams work with the above two roles to complete the goals outlined in each sprint planning phase. They’re the boots-on-the-ground employees who build a product.
Cons and advantages of Scrum
Here are the key benefits and cons of Scrum so that you may better comprehend it.
Advantages:
enhanced development procedures
focus on the needs and desires of the final user
Quick delivery
Simple cooperation in small groups
Cons:
challenging to scale for bigger projects
needs team-wide instruction
Project deadlines may not always coincide with development cycles.
Who is Scrum best for?
Scrum works well with autonomous teams and small businesses. Scrum should be used in particular if your developers encounter:
regular feedback from clients and stakeholders
Teams must change their deliverables in order to
Quick turnaround times prior to providing superior products
What is SAFe?
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) assists businesses in establishing goals and satisfying client needs. SAFe is more broad than Scrum, which depends on small teams and a focused emphasis. In order to deliver products that are too big or complex for Scrum, it organizes numerous teams and leaders.
Scrum’s flexibility is traded for a more strict structure in SAFe. Although SAFe promotes continual development, each team’s goals are different. Nonetheless, these disparate groups support one another and strive toward the same objectives. Three fundamental principles of SAFe are used to run this organization:
- Lean Product Development reduces waste and optimizes processes. This cost-effective approach maintains productivity during continuous development.
- Agile Software Development involves incremental changes made on the fly. This iterative approach accounts for feedback and new demands. While less flexible than Scrum, SAFe still makes room for fast adaptations in development.
- System Thinking is a dev approach that builds solutions holistically. When designing a product, teams would incorporate all aspects of the system. This approach highlights how all parts of a system relate and fit into larger systems.
Cons and advantages of SAFe
Similar to Scrum, some teams are more suited for SAFe’s advantages and disadvantages than others.
Advantages:
For enterprises, agility and a competitive edge
improved teamwork across teams
Increased obstacles to stop product problems
increased enterprise-wide operations
Cons:
Unsuitable for startups and small enterprises
Teams need to acquire common Agile terminology.
depends on a top-down, more inflexible framework
Who is SAFe best for?
Businesses who use Agile at an enterprise level find that SAFe performs best. It is especially appropriate for companies that:
Manage several teams
Adopt a top-down leadership style.
Create intricate, multi-team solutions.
Key differences between SAFe vs. Scrum
Before going over each section at length, here are the major differences between Scrum and SAFe.
| Category | Scrum | SAFe |
| Organization structure | Small organizations with independent teams | Enterprises with interconnected teams |
| Development philosophy | Fast, continuous development | Goal setting with organizational commitment |
| Implementation | Small teams with straightforward goals | Organizations tackling complex projects across teams |
| Processes | Lightweight, flexible, and iterative software delivery | Clear objectives set with a predetermined schedule |
| Framework requirements | A whole team must embrace Scrum | An entire organization must embrace SAFe |
| Team roles | Less than 12 members broken into three roles | Dozens of employees working within several roles |
| Dependencies | Coordination within teams | Alignment between teams |
| Timeframe | Sprints last one to four weeks | Sprints last two weeks |
How to choose the best framework for your team
The objectives, structure, and procedures of an organization determine whether Agile methodology is best. The following aspects should be considered when choosing between Scrum and SAFe.
Organization structure
SAFe and Scrum work well for different kinds of enterprises. Scrum works well for startups or businesses with separate teams. Conversely, SAFe is applicable to larger businesses with interconnected teams that collaborate.
Development philosophy
Scrum aims to offer affordable, ongoing development. Self-contained teams are able to set themselves up to produce high-quality software fast and continuously improve over time. Without this sense of project ownership, Scrum teams risk failing.
With SAFe, big corporations and organizations can be quick and adaptable while yet providing stability and structure for their people. A more structured approach of defining specific goals based on the requirements of a client is employed by SAFe. Teams then rigorously work toward those objectives under predetermined parameters. SAFe development requires greater supervision and structure even if it allows for flexibility and upgrades. Changes in requirements, after all, ripple across multiple independent groups.
Implementation strategy
How and why you implement Scrum or SAFe should tie into your overall strategy:
- Implement Scrum when you need a small team to operate cohesively on projects with straightforward goals.
- Implement SAFe to tie your whole organization together. Keep in mind this necessitates cooperation between teams.
Processes
Scrum is based on flexible, lightweight techniques that divide more complex tasks into manageable chunks. You must routinely evaluate your deliveries in order to avoid problems. However, this strategy keeps things moving forward on challenging tasks. It also simplifies changes made in response to input from stakeholders.
SAFe uses more distinct roles that don’t rely on adaptable, small teams. SAFe procedures guarantee excellent output and collaboration throughout the entire company. Although it requires more preparation, there are more resources available.
Framework requirements
Scrum implementation only requires one team. This team should ideally function with a great deal of autonomy and self-management. SAFe, however, requires a higher level of organizational dedication. Teams must be willing to share objectives and procedures in a more coordinated manner.
Team roles and structure
Scrum can be adopted by small teams with twelve or less workers. Scrum assigns responsibilities to the Scrum team, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. Scrum can sometimes even organize a tiny or fledgling company from the ground up.
Multiple teams within an organization are covered by SAFe. Managers, senior engineers, and entry-level workers collaborate. It involves positions such as:
- Release train engineers
- Program managers
- Value stream engineers
- Solution architects
- Epic owners
- Product owners
Team dependencies
While both frameworks come with team dependencies, the amount varies. With Scrum, teams can self-organize and independently manage their work. In a SAFe context, you need coordination between many teams. As a result, dependencies increase with the need for alignment.
Timeframe
The two Agile frameworks function in short production cycles called sprints. These sprints are among the most significant of the Agile ceremonies.
Cycle length varies by approach:
- One to four weeks within Scrum teams
- About two weeks within SAFe teams
Similarities between Scrum vs. SAFe
Although they differ, there are many similarities between Scrum and SAFe. They both share a similar base as Agile frameworks. Below, we’ll outline the key areas of overlap:
- Team-based development: Both Scrum and SAFe rely on teams more than individual devs. Coordinated efforts within one or more teams move production along.
- Incremental approaches to high-quality deliveries: Agile methods deliver the best products in smaller increments. While Scrum breaks steps into increments within one team, SAFe does so across more than one.
- Cooperation with stakeholders: Agile teams cooperate with stakeholders. Together, they can assess requirements, share feedback, incorporate customer suggestions, and make adjustments before or after deploying a product.
- Inspect and adapt strategies: Regular inspections and direction adjustments play a role. In Scrum, a review follows each sprint. In SAFe, these checks come throughout the release train. Development priorities may change based on these inspections.
- Timeboxing: Both approaches use timeboxing for time management. Timeboxing entails setting aside the maximum amount of time needed to complete an activity. By finishing steps in the timebox, projects stay on track.
- Continuous delivery pipelines (CDP): Scrum and SAFe use a continuous delivery pipeline. This approach delivers software updates at frequent, regular intervals. It also leverages automation to quickly move products through testing, staging, and production.
Scrum@Scale: Reaching for the best of both worlds
Scrum@Scale is a workaround for Scrum’s dependency on small teams that some firms have implemented. A few adjustments have been made to bring Scrum into compliance with SAFe. Scrum@Scale unites several teams and developers into a core, mutable team. Employees create networks and ecosystems through this approach to work together toward common objectives.
Many of the advantages of Scrum are extended to larger businesses via Scrum@Scale. They might therefore have to decide between SAFe and Scrum@Scale. Although it eliminates some complexity and unites workers around shared objectives, this requires more cautious management than Scrum. In order to address these problems, Scrum@Scale creates new roles:
- The Chief Product Owner (CPO) oversees individual Product Owners and teams. The CPO aligns each team within a wider strategic approach.
- The Scrum of Scrums Master (SoSM) manages individual Scrum Masters and organizes shared processes.
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Selecting between SAFe and Scrum needs serious thought. Leaders must balance their objectives and resources with the requirements of each framework. Although it takes time to understand, Agile may completely change the way you approach development. You can satisfy consumer needs and make your company run like well-oiled machinery with the appropriate strategy.
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