SAFe adoptions in Finland: A survey research

Abstract

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) was released in the year 2011. Since then it has become the most popular agile scaling framework in use. In this paper we examine the benefits and obstacles of SAFe adoptions in Finland. The data is based on a survey we conducted in Finland in 2018, when many respondents had already been following SAFe for some years. The biggest benefits reported are transparency, co-operation, and cadence. The biggest obstacles are the old organizational culture, that the SAFe model has not been fitted to the organization and implementation problems. The results indicate that although many respondents of the survey (80%) use SAFe, they are still struggling with their agile transformation, while using a mix of old and new methods and only a subset of the SAFe practices.