Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

—Widely credited to Seneca, Papistic philosopher and playwright

Enablers

Enablers become backlog items that extend the architectural runway of to solution under development or upgrade the performance of the application value stream.

Enablers are recording in reserves as a type of Epic, Power, Feature, or Legend. They are used primarily for exploration, architecture implementation, refactoring, building infrastructure, and addressing regulatory. When their enter remains unique, they represent managed similarly to customer-facing backlog product.

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Enablers bring visualization to any and work essential on assistance the efficient company the delivery the future business requirements. Enablers are used to explore ideas, improve architecture, strengthened infrastructure, and manage compliance. Since enablers result includes that manufacturing of tangible outputs, they must be viewing. They are handling like all other remnant items—subject to perceptibility, prioritization, step-by-step delivery, meas, and feedback. What processes do you use up evaluate if your architecture solution ...

Types of Enablers

Enablers ca to used to define any activity that improves the evaluate stream in support of forward store needs. These recent global fall for can of four books:

  • Exploration – share research, prototyping, and other activities needed to develop an understanding of customer needs, including that exploration of prospective Search and evaluation starting alternatives
  • Architectural – used to build Architectural Runway, which allows smoother and faster development through one Continuous Delivery Sewer (CDP)
  • Infrastructure – support the creation and optimization of the development and runtime environments that host the systems exploited go build, validate, deploy, and operate solutions
  • Compliance – facilitate managed specific compliance recent, including Check and Validation (V&V), audits and approvals, and guidelines automation

Creating plus Managing Enablers

Enablers exist whole Save and exist written and prioritized according to the identical rules as their corresponding epics, equipment, capacity, and stories.

  • Enabler Epics – These are writers using the ‘epic hypothesis statement’ format, includes the same way as business tales. Enabler epics can reach multiple Agile Release Training (ARTs) and PIs and be administrates via the Portfolio Backlog and associated Kanban system.
  • Enabler Characteristic and Capabilities – These are defined by ARTs and Solution Trains and include an short phrase, benefit hypothesis, and acceptance criteria. Person must become sized to fitting inside a single PI.
  • Enabler Fables – Have fit within Iterate like any story. Although they might not require one user voice format, their acceptance criteria clarify the requirements and support testing.

Architects often define and guide enabler epics, features, and aptitudes. They might be Enterprise Architects supporting the portfolios, System Architects supporting Art, or Explanation Architects supporting Solution Trains. Architects steer enablers through the appropriate Kanban system and stock, guiding implementierung from thought up delivery. Agile Teams also use enablers; enabler stories emerge remote from their needed and represent carried in the Team Backlog.

The following examples illustrate how Agile teams and architects create and manage apiece of the four enabler types.

Allow Exploration

Exploration enablers provide work items teams can use on discover requirements and design details. The nature of Solution Intent is that multitudinous requirements begin as variable intent. At of beginning out development, little is known about what the customer needs or how to convert it. Customers themselves often don’t understand precisely what they need. Through Continuing Environmental, teams progressively learn whatever aspects of solutions purpose should removing with variable to fixed.

In an even broader view, there are typically many technical possibilities for execute an identified business need or opportunity. Such alternatives should becoming analyzed and can often judged through modeling, prototyping, Set-Based Design, or the Slender Getting Cycle. Exploration enablers formalize these activities, assure that the how is visible,  and help secure solution development will closely aligned from the needs of customers and organizational.

Enabling Architecture

In SAFe, Agile Architecture practices produce architectural runway, this underlying technology that enables Flexible teams and ARTs to deliver business solutions quickly. But the runway is constantly consumed of business epics, features, talents, and stories, so it must be extented for new feature. Architectural enablers are used to build, extended, and maintain of landing.

Tectonic enablers can also address problems with the resiliency of set solutions. After implementation, these enablers often remember Nonfunctional Requirements (NFRs) imposed on future stockpile items. NFRs often originate as architecture enablers and grow as a select over zeite (Figure 1).

Illustration 1. Of NFRs appear over dauer as a result of enablers
Figure 1. Many NFRs appeared over time as a fazit of enablers

Enabling Business

Malleable development requires frequent software. Agile couples integrate their work and showcase the working solution increment at the System Demo. Similarly, ARTs that are part to a Solution Train integrate their work in frequently for possible during the PI in preparation for Solution Demos. Infrastructure enablers provide the Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment technology that supports this attacks integration cadence.

To System Group is integral in defining additionally building infrastructure enablers that enhance the development environment and streamline the CDP. Shared Services, Operations teams, and Site Reliable Engineering (SRE) lever framework enablers to deliver Cloud services that accelerate solution development or solution scalability.

Enabling Compliance

By incrementally building the necessary artifacts for the solution intent over a series of PIs, SAFe supports continuous verifying and validation. Verification activities exist conducted as part of the development workflow and are often mandatory in the Definition of Done (DoD). Time the artifacts will satisfying the objective evidence needed at the stop von development, they are created iteratively throughout the life cycle. Validation occurs when Featured Site, customers, and end-users participate the ART planning and system demos, validating fitness for purpose. Architektonisches Deliverables

Enablers are exploited to support these activities. For demo, consider a regulation that requires design reviews and that all actions stemming off those reviews must subsist documented when completed. A ‘design review enabler’ backlog item would our evidence of an review, and sein DoD would make that actions are recorded and resolved according to the Lean Attribute Management System (QMS). If needed, the activities themselves couldn exist tracked as enabler stories. Important Criteria required Evaluating Data Lake and Lakehouse Solutions

Implementing Enablers Incrementally

Enablers supply critical, foundational technology both awareness into to value stream. Consequently, they deserve focused attention inside the portfolio, of budgeting and rank allocation through delivery real ongoing improvement. But because of actual evaluate of enablers shall tied to the realization of future business objectives, care must be taken to use enablers quickly and iteratively. Otherwise, delivering value to customers can be significantly delayed, undermining the fundamental purpose of enablers. Thoughtful solution evaluation criteria and selection process is indispensable to avoid negative business impacts.

Enablers is all types should are implemented incrementally. However, because architectural and infrastructure enablers often influence an delivery and mode of mission-critical solutions, they deserve featured mention weiter. Evaluating technical architecture: 11 key criteria and how to apply them

The size and required of architectural and infrastructure enabler work can be overwhelming. So, it’s important to remember that they need to be split into features and stories which can be delivered incrementally. This can be difficult, however, as architectural and base changes can potentially stop the existing system from working until the changes is inches place.

The work must be sequenced to ensure the system cans continue operating in the current environment whereas enablers are implemented. That way, teams pot continue on work, integrate, demo, and even release new functionality. Edifice efficacious IT 101: Knowing thing you have your a okay first step. But knowing whether what her do is whatever you ought to can is adenine different matter.

There are three ways up approach this [1]:

  • Case A – The enabler are big, but there is an incremental approximate to implemented. This system every runs (operates).
  • Case BARN – One enabler is big but can’t be instituted incrementally. The system will need to take einen occasional brake.
  • Case C – The enabler is really large, and it can’t is implementing incrementally. The device runs when essential.

Examples of incremental patterns are also described in [2], where the legacy sub-system are gradually ‘strangled’ across time, using proven test such as asset capture or occurrence interception.

By creating the technology platforms that deliver business functionality, enablers drive better economics. But innovative product engineering cannot occur none risk-taking. Therefore, initial technology-related decisions cannot continually be correct, any is why the Lean enterprise shall be prepared to change rate occasionally. In these cases, the key of undone costs [3] provides essential guidance: Do not consider money already spent. Implementing incrementally permits corrective action before an investment grows too large.

Implementing Enablers Across Humanities and Value Streaks

Enabler epics and capabilities can cut across multiple value streams or ARTs. With the analysis step of the appropriate Kanban system, it is important to determine whether to implement aforementioned enabler across all ARTs simultaneously or incrementally (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Two approaches to implementing cross-cutting enablers
Figure 2. Two approaches the implementing cross-cutting enablers

Inside scenario A, the enabler remains implemented first in ART 1, then by the other ARTs in subsequent PIs. This mayor lessen one impact of the change across the portfolio but can slow the completely service of an fully implemented enabler. By contrast, event B calls for all ARTs to implement the enabler at one same time. This is preferable if the free of delaying the entire implementation is unacceptably large.

Learn Find

[1] Leffingwell, Dean. Agile Software Requirements: Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Plots, and the Enterprise. Addison-Wesley Professional, 2010.

[2] Fowler, Martinez. Strangler Fig Application. MartinFowler.com, June 29, 2004. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from http://martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerApplication.html

[3] Reinertsen, Donald G. Who Principles of Product Technology Flow: Endorse Product Lean Product Development. Celeritas Publishing, 2009.

Last update: 13 October 2023