Agile Release Train

In order to align the different teams on an equal mission, as a part of the Agile Methodology, they are organized in an Agile Release Train (ART). The ART team organization is based on a long-lived combination of Agile Teams, formed to develop and deliver one or more solutions as part of a value stream. ARTs operate based on a set of common principles of SaFe such as fixed schedules, programmed incremented schedules, and agile dedicated teams. Opposite to functional organization, ARTs focus on value forming cross-functional teams. Each team has everything it needs to define, deliver, and operate solutions and every team has well-defined responsibilities that are based on the team type. To simplify the team design it is possible to apply SaFe four fundamental team topologies, where each of them is organized around a specific set of responsibilities. The challenges that arise at the time of forming an ART are related to defining and structuring the organization around value streams, handling cross-team dependencies between ARTs, and integrating teams with fewer dependencies into ARTs.

The Agile Release Train (ART)

An Agile Release Train is a predefined cycle which has been strictly planned in advance in order to deliver a certain goal. It is divided into phases and projects teams that align in order to achieve a specified shared mission. In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®), the Agile Release Train (ART) is a long-lived team of Agile teams, which, along with other stakeholders, incrementally develops and delivers one or more solutions in a value stream.

ARTs have all the people needed to define, deliver, and operate the solution. They are organized around value streams and exist to achieve a promised value by building solutions that deliver an expected benefit. Their final purpose is to deliver a continuous flow of value.

The trains operate based on a number of common principles:

• Fixed schedule: The release cycle functions as a train, it departs the station on a known and controlled schedule which is determined using the Program Increment (PI) cadence.
• Structured increments every two weeks: Each train delivers a new increment every two weeks.
• Synchronized teams: The teams that are part of the train are synchronized to a specific Program Increment length and have aligned start and end dates and duration.
• Known velocity: Each ART can estimate how many tasks can be delivered in a single PI.
• Agile Teams: The ARTs are formed by agile teams which embrace the SAFe core values and principles.
• Dedicated people: Human resources part of the ART teams are dedicated full time to the train independently of their functional reporting structure.
• PI Planning: To organize the work load needed in each PI is necessary to schedule periodic and presential sessions.
• Innovation and Planning (IP): At the end of each program increment (PI) it is necessary to perform IP iterations to keep the focus on delivering the defined goals and identify potential issues.
• Inspect and Adapt (I&A): An I&A session is organized at the end of every PI. In these sessions the state of the solution is evaluated and the teams involved work on identifying possible improvements through problem-solving workshops.
• Develop on Cadence, Release on Demand: ARTs apply a specific rhythm and synchronization to help manage the variability of research and development projects. IT is important to mention that releasing the final product is usually independent from the development cadence, ARTs can release a solution at any time while meeting the release criteria.

The way ARTs are organized breaks down the traditional functional units that organizations have. While there are advantages on these functional units, it is important to mention that the value doesn’t flow quickly as it must cross through the different units. It is necessary a close control from the managers to move the work across and as a result, progress is slow. Instead, ART applies systems thinking and organize around value to build a cross-functional organization. This structure helps the flow of value from ideation through deployment and release, and into operations. This cross-functional organization all the resources that needs to deliver solutions. This creates a far leaner structure, where daily task controls and project management are no necessarily required. This improves the value flow with a minimum of control.

It is important to mention that ARTs solve one of the most common problems with traditional Agile development, this is teams working on the same solution usually operate independently and unaligned, which makes it extremely difficult to integrate the full system. This way, the risk of bypassing problems and late discovery increases. Instead, applying cadence and synchronization, it ensures that the system is iterating as a whole focusing on the evolution and assessment of the full system rather than its separate elements.

ARTs are formed to continuously deliver value to customers. This goal is supported by a Continuous Delivery Pipeline, which contains the workflows, activities, and automation needed to support the release of new features. Each ART builds and maintains a Continuous Delivery Pipeline with the assets needed to deliver solution value as independently as possible.

Annotated bibliography

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How Are Agile Release Trains Formed in Practice? A Case Study in a Large Financial Corporation - Abheeshta Putta, Maria Paasivaara, and Casper Lassenius