Tailor SAFe® per ART without fragmenting it.
Keep one organizational baseline while each Portfolio, Large Solution, ART, Product or Team gets the process that fits its actual context.
As SAFe® scales, one process no longer fits every context.
Hardware and software teams operate under different constraints. Some use Scrum, others Kanban. Some products require functional-safety controls, others do not. Traditional and agile lifecycles may also need to coexist within the same organization.
- Forcing all of them into one processcreates waste
- Letting each team invent its owncreates fragmentation
Necessary variation turns into process fragmentation.
- One-size-fits-all creates unnecessary work
- Local variants create process islands
- Hardware controls appear in software-only projects
- Compliance steps are applied where they are not needed
- Dependencies get harder as interpretations diverge
One baseline. Tailored to the situation.
Each Portfolio, Large Solution, ART, Product or Team inherits the organizational operating model, while tailoring resolves the activities, work products, controls, and practices that actually apply to its context. Teams can work differently without becoming disconnected.
- Activities
- Work products
- Controls
- Practices
How tailoring runs
- 1Capture the context
Identify what genuinely changes the process: hardware vs. software, lifecycle, risk level, functional safety, team method, or other project constraints.
- Hardware / software
- Lifecycle
- Risk level
- Team method
- 2Resolve the effective process
Use tailoring to include what is needed and remove what is not. A software-only project does not inherit hardware testing; a safety-relevant product gets the additional controls it requires.
- 3Keep everyone connected
All tailored processes inherit from the same organizational baseline. Common deliverables, dependencies, roles, and interfaces remain aligned even when the teams use different methods or controls.
Waterfall and SAFe®, running in parallel.
A transportation company runs Waterfall projects and SAFe® projects in parallel. Some teams build hardware, others pure software; some products require full functional-safety compliance, others none. Tailoring gives each project the process it actually needs while keeping deliverables and dependencies aligned across lifecycles. That is the model described in the customer case study.
The right process for each team. One operating model for the organization.
Teams work with fewer irrelevant activities, clearer responsibilities, and more flexibility — while still sharing a common process model and understanding how their work connects.
- 30%less waste
- 55%less SAFe® interpretation time
- 2/3faster ramp-up
- Hardware, software, agile & traditional teams stay connected
Product capabilities behind this use case
Describing a context, resolving the process that applies to it, and delivering that process to the team without cutting it loose from the baseline.
Questions we get
- Does every ART or Team need to follow the exact same process?
- No. The goal is not uniformity. Each Portfolio, Large Solution, ART, Product or Team can get the process that fits its actual context, while still inheriting from the same organizational baseline.
- What kinds of differences can tailoring account for?
- Tailoring can reflect factors such as hardware vs. software, lifecycle, risk level, functional-safety needs, Scrum vs. Kanban, supplier model, and other project-specific constraints.
- How do you prevent local tailoring from turning into process fragmentation?
- Tailored processes remain connected to the same governed baseline through inheritance. Shared roles, interfaces, deliverables, and dependencies stay aligned even when local activities or controls differ.
- Can agile and traditional lifecycles coexist in the same operating model?
- Yes. Different projects can use SAFe®, Waterfall, iterative, Scrum, Kanban, or other approaches while remaining connected through one organizational process model.
- What happens when the organizational baseline changes?
- Change-impact analysis shows which tailored variants are affected. Approved changes can propagate through inheritance, while local differences and their rationale remain explicit.
Need help building the operating model?
PEDCO can design the variant architecture with you and support the transformation that adopts it — so tailoring is a structure the organization governs rather than a habit it acquires.
Let teams work differently — without letting the operating model drift apart.
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