Everyone has a role in an agile transformation. You are either contributing directly to the creation of value or supporting the creation of value. Mapping roles from old to the new style of working is always a topic of great interest, especially during the early stages of the transformation.

The ScaledAgile Framework has a dedicated section on its website to identify the main roles needed to scale agility. The triads are found at each level (essential, large solution and portfolio) indicating the conceptual framework needed for effective functioning of an Agile Team, ART and Solution ART.

Early in the transformation, SAFe website (as well as the Big-Picture) is a good resource to gain familiarity with the structure of an ART and associated roles. For those who do not see their role listed on the big-picture, a role-mapping activity can bring much needed clarity on how they can participate in the transformation.

If your organization already has agile teams with scrum masters and product owners, they are likely to have an easier time finding their way in the framework. However, project managers, portfolio managers, account managers, sales, legal, audit, marketing, HR and operations may need to attend a Leading SAFe or SAFe for teams class on how the framework introduces a new operating system (of value streams) that works in parallel to the organizational hierarchy.

The introduction of value streams and ARTs brings transparency to the flow of work and often highlights areas that have convoluted org structures leading to red-tape and lax culture. When conducted in accordance with the implementation roadmap, the role-mapping activity can be helpful in staffing teams and ART with an appropriate training plan.

However, many transformations are delegated downstream where middle managers with legacy mindset treat the increased transparency with extreme caution. After all, it’s detrimental to the interests of information-brokers since their positional authority can now be overridden by allowing communication across silos. In those cases, the ART roles are invariably aligned to match closely to the organizational hierarchy.

Here below is suggested mapping of ART roles

Release Train Engineer

As a chief coordinator of Agile Release Train, the RTE wears many hats – servant leader, trusted advisor, coordinator and a mentor to the ART. This role requires understanding and deft navigation of the political landscape as well as trust of sponsors and senior stakeholders. Program/Portfolio managers, Agile Coach and Project Managers are good candidates.

SAFe RTE training is a must for every RTE and it should not be their first SAFe class. Fundamental understanding of the framework is necessary before attending a RTE class. SAFe Scrum Master or Advanced Sscrum Master course can provide the foundational knowledge necessary to make the most of the SAFe RTE course.

While attending the SAFe training courses is a good start, RTEs should strive to improve by engaging in the following:

• Run problem solving workshops (you’d be surprised how few RTEs do this well)
• Practice asking open-ended questions
• Practice conflict-resolution techniques
• Limit command/control behavior (it’s a journey to servant-leadership)
• Insist on the use of metrics to identify improvements

Product Managers

Product Managers define the product vision, strategy and roadmap. This role is usually pulled in many different directions and is a highly visible role. Department Leads, Area Managers, Marketing Leads and Functional Managers may fill this role. For technology products, Architects and Tech Leads may also fill this role. Funding for this role may also dictate if the role is sourced from corporate, business or technology workstreams.

Product managers can continuously improve by engaging in the following activities:

• Create / Maintain Vision and Roadmap (few exists and fewer are updated)
• Create Program Epics (one-pager)
• Ensure alignment with Portfolio Epics
• Practice WSJF prioritization. (Jointly prioritize with System Architect)
• Maintain a healthy product backlog
• Insist on demo of working system / software

System Architects

Each ART may have one or more system architect, depending on the domain expertise required to maintain the architecture runway. ARTs may need architects with expertise in Cloud, Data, Application, Integration, Security etc.; thus, it’s not unusual to have system architects shared across multiple ARTs. Some ARTs relegate the role of system architect over to Dev leads (within Teams). These teams may need greater coordination to maintain the architecture runway and work with product manager(s).

System architects can achieve the most by engaging in the following:

• Setup a continuous delivery pipeline (it’s not IF but WHEN..)
• Automate Testing (as much as possible)
• Resist the urge to setup an Architecture Review Board
• Consider Agile Team as your customer
• Identify Enablers and jointly prioritize those with Product Manager
• Attend SAFe for Architects course

Business Owners

Sr. Managers, technology and operations leaders helping the ART achieve its objectives are identified as business owners. Stakeholders who have an interest in the successful delivery of value from an ART or need to be in the know of ARTs execution could also map to this role. Business owners have decision making authority to guide the ART thus many would vie for this role. Coordination can be challenging if this turns into a committee, which can delay decisions on funding, prioritization and release of value. Business Owners should take Leading SAFe and Lean Portfolio Management courses, ideally before the ART. Embracing a Lean-Agile mindset, value and principles of agile is a must for business owners.

Business owners should aim to adopt the following practices:

• Ensure availability throughout PI execution (not just PI planning and demos)
• Phase out legacy process and practices
• Track progress on portfolio Epics
• Fund value streams (instead of projects)
• Seek opportunities to realize value sooner.

Scrum Masters

Each team should have a dedicated Scrum Master. Unlike Scrum, this role has extended responsibilities that are part of the coalition of scrum masters supporting the RTE in PI planning, prep and execution. If you have two teams sharing a scrum master, ensure one of those is a mature agile team that does not need active hand-holding. Rotating the scrum master role within the team is another practice that has found acceptance with organizations looking to cut costs, but doing so limits the role of the scrum master to a meeting facilitator.

Scrum master is a servant leader, tasked with transitioning the team to a high-performing agile team. Project and Program managers, Dev Leads, Business Analysts and Team members are all good candidates for this role; however, each would need a temperament suited to survive in a role that does not have positional authority but relies on logical reasoning, empathy, ability to influence stakeholders to embrace agile values and practices.

Scrum Masters should attend the Adv SAFe Scrum Master course if they have prior knowledge / certification or have been practicing in the Scrum master role.

Scrum Masters will benefit by engaging in the following practices:

• Setup / maintain working agreements e.g. team norms, DoD, DoR etc
• Encourage teams to operate as a unit
• Phase out older patterns such as status reports, tasking, being a conduit for the team
• Move towards using team boards and metrics
• Proactively identify issues and impediments within / outside the team

Product Owners

Business Analysts, Project and Program managers, Architects, Dev Leads, Operation Leads, Team Leads and Functional Managers can be identified as Product Owners. Each team should have only one Product Owner; however, in some instances, an analyst can be identified as a proxy (for remote teams). Product Owner and Scrum master roles should not be assigned to the same individual on the team. Two teams can share a product owner but no team should have more than one product owner. Platform teams can have a service owner instead of a product owner with similar responsibilities.

Product owners can continuously improve by:

• Maintain a healthy product backlog
• Conduct regular refinement sessions (not just with the planning session)
• Assist Product Managers in updating vision, roadmap
• Work with System Architects to enhance the architecture runway.

System Team

Many ARTs do not see a need for a dedicated system team. Justifying the spend for a dedicated system team can be an issue that leads to an agile team double up as a system team. ARTs that have teams delivering value without the need to integrate with other teams opt to not have a system team. If you plan to forgo a system team, indicate the reason next to the placeholder on the role-mapping sheet to ensure agreement on the particulars of the said decision.

System teams can continuously improve by:

• Creating / publishing a test strategy for ART deliverables
• Evaluating tools for Automating the pipeline
• Working with System Architects for app rationalization
• Working with agile teams to demo increments of value.

LACE

Coalition of SAFe experts, Agile Coaches, Release Train Engineers, Sr. Leaders, LPM stakeholders and PMO representatives should form the lean agile center of excellence (LACE). This coalition usually dissolves into the Agile PMO or a training unit by the end of the first year of agile transformation.

For LACE, the continuous path to improvement can be achieved by:

• Defining a roadmap for business agility
• Indicating measurable benefits to business (not just a training curriculum)
• Partnering with business owners to rollout LPM
• Partnering with Technology on AI initiatives to improve productivity

Role mapping can lay the foundation for a successful agile rollout or it can create anxiety and discontent within teams. Beyond introducing new roles and proposing a new structure (ART) for teams to work together, role mapping is not about eliminating your role.

Being effective in the agile way of working requires unlearning the older methods and understanding how best to transform your role to fit the new paradigm. Let us know your thoughts on role mapping and how useful it has been in transforming to an agile way of working.