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Advanced SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) with Structure

Owned by Jaramy Conners
Last updated: Aug 14, 2024
2 min read

The following guide will walk you through an advanced SAFe implementation in Structure.

Requirements

To do this, you will need:

  • Jira Software and Confluence 

  • Structure 

  • Structure.Pages

  • Structure.Testy

Ready-to-use demo space: Live Demo

Before You Begin

We assume that your Jira is prepared for scaling. The most common configuration is to create separate projects for each level:

  • Kanban project for Portfolio level, with the following Epic issue type and statuses: Funnel, Reviewing, Analyzing, Portfolio Backlog, Implementing and Done

  • Kanban project for Solution level, with the following Issue types: Capability and Enabler

  • Kanban project for Program level, with the following issue types: Feature and Enabler

Features are named "Epics" in Jira, so you can rename them in Administration. Projects for each Team (Scrum or kanban, Scrum is preferable) and Issue types (User Story, Bug, Improvement, Enabler) can be left as is.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Define your company Strategy in Confluence
    Create a Space in Confluence for high-level documents and describe the Strategy of your company.


  2. Define Themes
    Define Strategy more precisely by dividing it into several themes, each a sub-page of Strategy.


  3. Link Themes to Epics
    Define Epics, or high-level tasks for implementing your theme. Link Jira issues with their corresponding themes in Confluence.


  4. Add Capabilities
    Since you have a separate project for Capabilities, divide your Epics into more precise Capability issues and put them into a Capability Board. Don't forget to link each Capability with a corresponding Epic! You can use standard Jira issue link types, but it will be more convenient to create you own "implements"/ "is implemented by" link type.


  5. Add Features
    Add details to any large Capabilities and divide them into Features. Don't forget to link each Feature to its corresponding Capability.


  6. Stories
    Each Feature can be divided into more detailed Stories. Don't forget to link Features and Stories with an epic link.


  7. Sub-tasks
    If you need more detailed tasks, divide Stories into Sub-tasks.


  8. Put it all together with Structure
    Create an empty Structure and visualize everything in one place.
    -  Find your Strategy page and add it to the Structure.
    -  Click the Automation button to enable automation. Then click the + icon next to the Automation button, and use the Extend generator to add the following rules:
         -  Add all child pages (extend | child pages).
         -  Add issues linked to pages 
         -  Add Capabilities linked to Epics
         -  Add Features linked to Capabilities
         -  Add Stories linked to Features
         -  Add Sub Tasks linked to Stories


  9. Take it to the next level!
    Now that your structure is created, you can modify it to fit your needs:
    -  You can Group issues on a specific level. For example, group by Sprint on the Team level to track progress.
    -  You can prioritize issues by sorting by WSJF.
    -  You can specify your Objective during PI planning in Notes.

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