Agile Release Train

Abtract

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)

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.