What is the connection between project management software such as COMAN and the SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)?
The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a proven framework for scaling agile methods in large organizations and projects.
It is a kind of collection of methods that combines current methods in the IT landscape such as Lean, DevOps, Scrum, Kanban etc. and transfers their benefits from individual teams to entire companies and company processes.
SAFe enables the coordination and synchronization of multiple agile teams to implement complex projects efficiently and effectively.
Project management software such as COMAN can play a crucial role in this by supporting the principles and practices of SAFe.
Here are some key points that illustrate the connection between COMAN and SAFe:
1. Transparency and visualization
- SAFe: Transparency and visualization are central principles of SAFe. Everyone involved must be able to see the project status at all times. What sounds simple and banal quickly becomes a real challenge for extensive, large-scale industrial projects with long durations and many stakeholders.
- COMAN: Transparency in complex projects is COMAN's core competence. The software offers comprehensive dashboards and innovative project visualizations that make the progress and status of projects visible in real time within seconds, regardless of project size. This promotes transparency and helps teams to make informed decisions.
2. Coordination and synchronization
- SAFe: One of the main goals of SAFe is to coordinate and synchronize multiple teams in order to manage dependencies and achieve common goals. Different departments and trades, internal teams and external suppliers must be monitored and coordinated.Collaboration with each other also poses a challenge in multicultural teams with different system, process and method landscapes.
- COMAN: With functions for planning and tracking tasks, multiple teams can coordinate and synchronize their activities. This supports cross-team collaboration and ensures that all teams are on the same page. All project participants can view the current status, but never receive more information than they need or are allowed to see. Interlinked follow-up tasks allow critical paths to be mapped, but also allow the project structure to be adapted during the ongoing project.
3. Program and portfolio management
- SAFe: SAFe places great emphasis on the management of programmes and portfolios to ensure that the strategic goals of the organization are achieved. This requires comparability of projects and programs, uniform standards, reports and KPIs that can be found everywhere.
- COMAN: The COMAN software is based on models. Templates that can be reused and adapted once set up. This leads to uniform standards in designations, visualizations and reporting. The software makes it possible to manage multiple projects and programs, monitor their progress and ensure that they are in line with the organization's strategic goals. A dashboard enables global portfolio management and comparability of projects, for example in project performance, defect and claim management, reporting, costs and target/actual progress.
4. Continuous improvement and feedback
- SAFe: Continuous improvement and regular feedback are essential components of SAFe in order to optimize processes and continuously improve products. Defects are often documented, rectified and then closed during the ongoing project. Subsequent analysis is often rudimentary or incomplete.
- COMAN: COMAN supports continuous improvement through the integration of feedback loops and the ability to analyze project data. Teams can gain insights and make adjustments to increase efficiency and quality. A list of open points board enables the targeted discussion of problems and delays. In the dashboard, the processing status of open defects can be viewed, evaluated and discussed using fever curves or LoP burndown charts. An extremely flexible ticket system enables defects to be properly documented, assigned and rectified, which can also be filtered and analyzed after the project has been completed.
5. Risk management
- SAFe: Effective risk management is crucial for identifying and addressing uncertainties and potential obstacles at an early stage. Comprehensive and, above all, up-to-date knowledge about the critical path, costs, time and quality of the project is also required during the implementation phase.
- COMAN: With special risk management modules, COMAN helps to identify, assess and monitor risks. This enables proactive measures and minimizes negative effects on the project. Current target/actual comparisons, cost management overviews and performance analyses show those involved in the project at an early stage if threshold values have been exceeded. In complex plant construction projects in particular, reports are already out of date by the time they reach the decision-maker - with a tool like COMAN, data is recorded on the construction site on a daily basis and made available for all to see. This saves valuable time in finding solutions to otherwise critical problems.
6. Scalable planning
- SAFe: Planning at different levels (team, program, portfolio) is a core component of SAFe.
- COMAN: The software offers functions for scalable planning which, for example, make it possible to create and manage up to seven schedules at different levels. Critical milestones in project planning can be monitored, controlled and documented with COMAN, as can subsequent project implementation. The model can be adapted fluidly to changing requirements and tasks during the still very agile planning phase. This supports the implementation of SAFe principles in practice.
Conclusion
In summary, project governance software like COMAN supports the implementation and execution of SAFe by promoting transparency, coordination, risk management and continuous improvement.
Thanks to a novel visualization approach, even complex projects, such as an entire product development process (PDP), can be mapped in extreme detail and still remain quickly comprehensible and clear.
As a rule, companies and PMOs need a variety of different tools to bring sufficient control, speed and transparency to project management in accordance with the Scaled Agile Framework. COMAN covers most needs with its own functions, thereby reducing the toolchain to a minimum
The software acts as a central data hub for all upstream and downstream systems. What is not already covered by existing functions can be mapped in the model thanks to incredible flexibility or imported from other solutions via open interfaces, but can also be exported again.
By using COMAN, organizations can maximize the benefits of SAFe and implement their projects efficiently and successfully.
