Mixed Deck — All SAFE Topics Flashcards

Flow Efficiency in SAFe is calculated as:

Answer: Active time divided by total flow time, expressed as a percentage

Flow Efficiency = (Active Time / Total Flow Time) × 100%. In most organizations this is surprisingly low (5–15%), revealing how much time is spent waiting rather than actively working.

In SAFe, what is 'Shared Leadership' at the team level?

Answer: The Scrum Master, Product Owner, and team members collectively leading from their roles and domain expertise

Shared Leadership means the Scrum Master, PO, and team members each lead within their domain — the SM leads process, the PO leads vision, and the team leads technical decisions.

What does the 'Program Board' track during PI Planning?

Answer: Features, cross-team dependencies, milestones, and risks for the upcoming PI

The Program Board visualizes Features planned by each team, with dependency threads (strings or lines) showing inter-team dependencies and delivery milestones.

What is 'Flow' in the context of SAFe's Lean-Agile principles?

Answer: The continuous, smooth movement of value from concept to delivery without interruption or waste

Flow in SAFe means work items move continuously from backlog through development to delivery without queuing, rework, or waiting — optimizing for throughput.

In SAFe, what is the 'Minimum Viable Product (MVP)' used for?

Answer: A version of a new product with just enough features to test a hypothesis and gather validated learning from real users

An MVP is the smallest experiment that tests the most critical assumption of a business hypothesis, generating real user data to inform the next build-measure-learn cycle.

How many core competencies make up the SAFe Business Agility model?

Answer: 7

SAFe defines seven core competencies of Business Agility: Lean-Agile Leadership, Team and Technical Agility, Agile Product Delivery, Enterprise Solution Delivery, Lean Portfolio Management, Organizational Agility, and Continuous Learning Culture.

What does 'Organizing Around Value' mean in SAFe?

Answer: Structuring teams and ARTs around the value streams that deliver customer outcomes

SAFe recommends structuring ARTs and Solution Trains to align with the Value Streams that create customer value, rather than organizing by function or technology layer.

What is a 'Non-Functional Requirement (NFR)' and how is it handled in SAFe?

Answer: A system quality attribute (e.g., performance, security, scalability) that constrains how the system must work

NFRs define quality attributes (performance, security, reliability, usability) that constrain the system and are incorporated into the Definition of Done and Enabler Stories.

What does 'ART Velocity' measure?

Answer: The average number of story points delivered per PI across all teams on the ART

ART Velocity is the sum of all team velocities on the ART, used to forecast how much work can be committed to in a PI.

What is the typical size of an Agile Release Train?

Answer: 50–125 people

An ART typically consists of 50–125 people organized into 5–12 Agile teams, sized to maximize communication and coordination.

Which competency in SAFe Business Agility addresses the enterprise's ability to quickly adapt strategy and funding in response to market changes?

Answer: Lean Portfolio Management

Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) enables the enterprise to align strategy and execution by applying Lean and systems thinking to strategy, investment funding, Agile portfolio operations, and governance.

Organizational Agility in SAFe refers to:

Answer: The proficiency of the entire organization to think and act in Lean-Agile ways and to rapidly adapt its structure, people, and work to respond to new opportunities

Organizational Agility means the enterprise can think Lean-Agile across all functions—HR, Finance, Legal, etc.—and rapidly shift structure and resources as market needs evolve.

Which flow metric helps teams understand the balance of different work types (features, defects, risks, debt) flowing through the value stream?

Answer: Flow Distribution

Flow Distribution shows the proportion of each work item type (feature, bug, risk, technical debt) being processed, helping leadership make informed decisions about where to allocate capacity.

Which of the following best describes the SAFe 'Lean-Agile Mindset'?

Answer: Combining Lean thinking and Agile principles to deliver customer value

The Lean-Agile Mindset blends Lean's focus on flow and waste reduction with Agile's iterative, customer-centric principles.

In SAFe, what is the key difference between a Product Manager and a Product Owner?

Answer: Product Managers define Features and program-level priorities; Product Owners manage team-level stories and the Team Backlog

Product Managers operate at the ART/program level (Features, what to build), while Product Owners operate at the team level (Stories, how to build it).

What is an Agile Release Train (ART) in SAFe?

Answer: A long-lived team of teams that delivers value on a regular cadence

An ART is a long-lived team of 5–12 Agile teams (50–125 people) that plans, commits, and delivers together on a PI cadence.

In SAFe, who is responsible for the Lean-Agile transformation of the enterprise?

Answer: Lean-Agile Leaders (executives and managers) who model and coach the mindset change

Lean-Agile Leaders — executives and senior managers — must model and embody the Lean-Agile mindset to drive the transformation from the top.

What is the responsibility of the 'Enterprise Architect' in SAFe?

Answer: Defining the technical direction for the portfolio and facilitating the development of Architectural Runway across ARTs

The Enterprise Architect drives the technical vision for the portfolio, works with Solution Architects to maintain Architectural Runway, and guides technology choices across ARTs.

What is a 'Communities of Practice (CoP)' in SAFe?

Answer: An informal group of practitioners who share knowledge, tools, and practices around a topic area

Communities of Practice are voluntary, cross-team groups where practitioners (e.g., Scrum Masters, UX designers) collaborate, share lessons, and improve skills.

What does 'Gemba Walk' mean in the context of SAFe Lean-Agile leadership?

Answer: Leaders going to where the work happens to observe, understand, and support teams directly

A Gemba Walk ('go to the actual place') has leaders visit teams, observe real work, ask questions, and identify improvement opportunities firsthand.