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The concept of “shift-left” means moving testing and validation activities earlier in the work cycle to get faster or continuous feedback. This helps to identify and fix defects, errors, or issues as soon as possible, reducing the cost and risk of rework and delays. Shift-left testing also supports the agile principle of delivering working software frequently and the lean principle of building quality in. By shifting testing left, teams can ensure that the solutions they deliver meet the customer needs and expectations, as well as the quality standards and compliance requirements. References: Built-In Quality, Shift Left Testing: What, Why & How To Shift Left, What Executives Should Know About Shift-Left Security, What is Shift Left Security?

Respect for People is one of the four SAFe Core Values. It means that the enterprise fosters a culture of mutual influence, trust, empowerment, and collaboration among all the people involved in delivering value, including customers, employees, partners, and suppliers. Respect for People also implies that the enterprise values diversity, inclusion, and psychological safety, and that it treats people as the most important asset. Respect for People supports the following practices in SAFe1:

Turn mistakes into learning moments. Mistakes are inevitable in complex and uncertain environments, and they provide opportunities for learning and improvement. Instead of blaming or punishing people for making mistakes, the enterprise encourages them to share their learnings, experiment with new ideas, and apply the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) cycle.

Create a trust-based environment. Trust is the foundation of effective collaboration and high performance. The enterprise builds trust by being transparent, honest, supportive, and accountable. It also empowers people to make decisions, take ownership, and self-organize around value delivery.

Visualize work. Visualization helps people see the flow of value, identify bottlenecks, dependencies, and waste, and collaborate on solutions. The enterprise uses various tools and techniques to visualize work, such as Kanban boards, Cumulative Flow Diagrams, Program Boards, and Value Stream Maps. References: 1: Respect for People and Culture - Scaled Agile Framework

A program board is a visual summary of the features or goals, when they need to be reached, and any cross-team dependencies impacting their delivery. The program board helps teams within the Agile Release Train (ART) to coordinate their work and communicate their plan to the entire organization. One of the main purposes of the program board is to help teams identify and manage dependencies between teams, which can affect the delivery of value and increase the risk of delays or failures. By visualizing and tracking dependencies on the program board, teams can avoid or resolve them during the Program Increment (PI) planning event or throughout the PI execution. References: SAFe Program Board 101: Everything You Need To Know, SAFe Program Board: Good Practices for SAFe PI Planning, Tips for using a SAFe program board

he Problem Solving Workshop is a structured approach to identifying the root cause and actions to address systemic problems. It is part of the Inspect and Adapt event that occurs at the end of each Program Increment. The six steps in the Problem Solving Workshop are:

Choose a problem to solve—agreement not required: The Release Train Engineer (RTE) facilitates a brainstorming session to generate a list of potential problems that affect the ART’s performance. The participants use dot voting to prioritize the problems and select the most important one to solve. Agreement is not required, as the majority vote determines the problem to focus on.

Perform root cause analysis: The RTE leads the team in applying the ‘Five Whys’ technique to drill down to the root cause of the problem. The team asks ‘why’ repeatedly until they reach a cause that is actionable and within their control.

Brainstorm solutions: The team generates a list of possible solutions to address the root cause. They use divergent thinking to come up with as many ideas as possible, without judging or evaluating them.

Decide on the best solution: The team uses convergent thinking to narrow down the list of solutions and select the best one. They can use criteria such as feasibility, impact, cost, and alignment with the SAFe Principles and Values to evaluate the solutions.

Define and visualize the improvement backlog items: The team defines the improvement backlog items that will implement the chosen solution. They write them in the format of ‘As a [role], I can [action], so that [outcome]’. They also visualize the items on a Kanban board or a similar tool to track their progress and status.

Assign owners and agree on the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals: The team assigns owners to each improvement backlog item and agrees on the SMART goals that will measure the success of the solution. They also define the acceptance criteria and the expected benefits of the improvement.