How Organizations Leverage Market Rhythms And Events In SAFe®?

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) enables an organization or project team to systematically organize themselves into autonomous cross-functional teams delivering business value in iterative cycles, maximizing return on investment at scale.

SAFe® customer-centric approach is critical to keep in mind while developing the solution. This includes considering the following three aspects:

1) The customer's situation before the solution was developed

2) The customer's situation after the solution was implemented

3) What improvements are expected for how the customers are doing after implementing the solution.

The Customer-Centric Approach in SAFe® is not just about justifying or analyzing an idea through its future benefits to customers but also being able to understand what did not work well for customers before and what should be improved within this new iteration. This will help you get aligned with your customers’ needs and build trust.

Transform your organization and team for a lean-agile mindset with SAFe® Certification.

Leverage Market Rhythms & Events

By being customer-centric, Lean and Agile encourage us to consider how delays in solving a problem affect the customer’s perception of our organization. In simple means, the release value can differ depending on when the item was released. To create maximum value for all end-users, organizations with customer-centricity use market rhythms and events to:

Market Rhythm

A sequence of events that repeat at a predictable cadence. For example, many retailers update their computer systems to process more transactions during the holiday season and maintain an edge over competitors. Market rhythms help companies identify and seize opportunities that are obvious and need long-term planning.

 

Figure 1: Examples - Market Rhythms For Different Companies

(Source: Scaled Agile Inc.)

 

Figure 1 shows three different companies' market rhythms. The Y axis shows how much value a product delivers to the market, while the X axis shows when that value is delivered. The social media company on the green line in Figure 1 trades at a relatively stable value, indicating that it is less susceptible to market fluctuations.

Figure 1 shows examples of typical product release cycles for companies get their products prepared for market and must respond to a known rhythm. Before the January holiday shopping season begins, a B2B software vendor selling real-time software updates should post important warnings to customers who may need to make updates. It’s also worth noting that most of the hot toys from the previous holiday season will have been played with and discarded by then.

Market Event

It's a one-time event whose effects can extend to many decisions. That event can be either external, like introducing a government regulation, or internal, such as at the annual customer conference.

Figure 2: Market Events – Examples

(Source: Scaled Agile Inc.)

 

By understanding the rhythm of an armed market, customer-oriented guidelines tend to focus on market events’ impacts. Figure 2 shows the three general events that impact industry participants today: new regulations, changes in competition and technology, and modernizations and transformations.

Market events are usually given as a guide and have a significant influence on decision-making time. They can also provide information on the content and timing of any feature development activities or solutions identified in the PI (Program Increment) planning.

Scaled Agile certification program for Agile project management professionals provides the knowledge and skills needed to manage complex projects in dynamically changing environments.

This certification can help you become more agile or help you better understand how to work with an agile methodology. The SAFe Agile certification is applicable to all industries, delivering value for organizations of any size. Learn more about this framework through SAFe training and demonstrate your lean-agile skills that supports your enterprise transformation.