Born out of my experience as a SAFe Program Consultant for the last ten years, working on the Scaled Agile Framework in different industries, I've come to appreciate how the core values of SAFe Agile serve as the bedrock of successful enterprise transformations. It does not matter if you are at the start of your agile journey or if you are trying to enhance your already existing SAFe implementation, possessing core values is important for any sustainable endeavor.
This blog will cover a detailed elaboration on the core values of SAFe Agile and on their importance when scaling agile practices across levels of an organization. I will share my personal experiences at different companies that have helped me understand the value of these core values, along with practical examples and implementation guides.
The framework of SAFe Agile has a pre-defined set of values. Values form the belief system and the framework that guides actions and choices across an organization. It is the values that shape the culture of the organization and its approach to issues, and which ultimately makes the implementation of SAFe possible.
The four key SAFe core values are:
These values do not exist in isolation because they form an integrated system that makes it possible for organizations to successfully scale agile. It has become clear to me that neglecting one of these values can put the entire transformation at risk.
As Dean Leffingwell, creator of SAFe, aptly puts it:
"Values are the fundamental beliefs that drive behavior and ultimately create the cultural fabric of the organization. These values guide the way we work with each other, with our customers, and with our stakeholders."
Now, let us go through each of these SAFe core values explained to see their importance and how they can be implemented.
In my experience implementing SAFe across dozens of organizations, Alignment consistently emerges as one of the most challenging yet impactful values to establish. It means ascertaining that everyone from the executive level to individual contributors understand and work toward the same strategic objectives. For those new to SAFe, understanding what is SAFe certification can provide a foundation for aligning teams through structured training and shared knowledge.
Alignment in SAFe works vertically (from portfolio to teams) and horizontally (across teams and divisions). This is how effective alignment looks like:
In an organization, a proper alignment can only be achieved when there are distinct strategic themes defined at portfolio level, which then get translated into program and team goals. This creates what I term as the "golden thread" linking daily activities to organizational goals.
From my perspective, I have noticed the following strategies as being particularly useful for achieving alignment.
For example, I once assisted a financial services firm which had 30+ agile teams that were all operating with differing priorities. After they started holding quarterly PI Planning events and building program boards that were visible to everyone, they reported a reduction in conflicting priorities of 72% and an increase in predictable delivery of 45% within six months.
This second core SAFe Agile principle emphasizes that quality should be embedded in the processes as much as possible, instead of trying to "test it in" at the end of the development cycle. For a great number of companies that are used to traditional quality assurance methods, this is a point of paradigm shift. To deepen understanding, I recommend exploring SAFe books like SAFe 6.0 Distilled by Richard Knaster and Dean Leffingwell, which detail quality practices.
Built-in quality signifies that it is not the sole responsibility of QA to ensure this is done. It requires integrating quality processes throughout the entire development process - starting from ideation, during the development phase, delivery and after.
In my experience, these practices are optimally effective at various organizational levels:
Measuring built-in quality progress requires a blend of leading and lagging indicators. These are measurements I suggest:
| Measurement Type | Examples | Why It Matters |
| Predictive Indicators | Test coverage percentage, Automation rate, Technical debt measures | Foresee potential quality difficulties before they impact customers |
| Outcome Indicators | Defect escape rate, Mean time to detect/resolve, Customer-reported issues | Verify that quality practices are effective |
| Action Indicators | Code review participation, Pair programming frequency, DoD compliance | Ensure applied practices yield the expected results |
One of my healthcare clients experienced an 82% decline in production defects after adopting built-in quality practices. Most importantly, their teams reported greater satisfaction and an overall reduction in reported overtime, as they spent less time battling organizational fires. These outcomes highlight the benefits of SAFe in fostering sustainable quality improvements.
"Transparency" is likely the most culture-altering of the SAFe framework core values. It entails opening up work, progress, and—most troubling of all—problems for everyone to see.
Transparency nurtures trust, speeds up problem resolution, and improves learning. I have witnessed organizations struggle with embracing transparency initially because of the vulnerability it showcased, only to uncover that it became the most remarkable strength.
Encouraging transparency requires tools as well as a shift in behavior:
I often encounter these inadequacies of transparency in my consultancy work.
For these barriers, the procedure can be simplified. Foster transparency among teams before trickling it down to program and portfolio levels. Leadership has to lead the charge by revealing personal challenges and mistakes.
A technology client I worked with created a "transparency wall" where all processes, their statuses, and issues were displayed for all to see. While discomforting at first, this practice reduced meeting time by thirty percent and enabled faster problem resolution by more quickly uncovering dependency issues.
In SAFe, program execution is where the 'rubber meets the road', which is the cornerstone of the first three values of SAFe. This core value emphasizes the need to consistently provide working, integrated solutions that are of value to the customer.
The absence of "alignment," "quality," and "transparency" simply makes consistent execution impossible. These SAFe core values are essential. Another layer of competencies is required for excellent execution:
Program execution in SAFe is primarily done through the Agile Release Train (ART). Based on my experience, the best ARTs have the following features:
While applying SAFe in a large insurance company, we created cross-functional ARTs aligned with customer value streams instead of technical partitions. The reorganization improved predictability in delivery from 65% to 91% and nearly halved the time to market.
A critical strategic understanding for any organization using SAFe framework is identifying how its core values work simultaneously. Each core value is inter-linked with and supports the other:
These interactions can also be represented as a feedback system:
The output offers alignment feedback to refine the system, consolidating control.
Weakness in one core value dilutes its effectiveness. For example, poor execution halt impact trust, transparency, and alignment as teams resort to workarounds.
To put the core SAFe Agile values into action, an approach with consideration on incremental steps is necessary. From my experience with accompanying many transformations, here's a practical roadmap:
Consider evaluating where your organization falls with respect to each value in a brutally honest manner. Assessment can be done using criteria below:
Assess each value using 1-5 scale, where 1 means "mostly absent" and 5 means "strongly present."
Using every value as a focal point, run workshops where leaders and team members are assisted in:
As per your assessment conclusions, pass ways which need bolstering first:
Define lead and lag indicators for value components:
To sustain these efforts, professionals should know how to renew SAFe certification annually by earning continuing education credits and paying a renewal fee, ensuring ongoing alignment with SAFe practices.
While these serve as the foundation, they integrate to the wider set of SAFe Agile core principles that include:
These guidelines enhance the implementation of SAFe, but as I have experienced, core values must precede foundational principles to ensure proper balance in application.
From working with countless organizations across their SAFe adoption journeys, I firmly believe that the SAFe core values embody the boundary between profound transformative achievement and mere superficial adherence. If organizations sincerely adopt these values, they don't just improve processes; they re-engineer entire ways of working for the better.
These values are not only a matter of methodology, but serve as the means to transform organizational culture. They form the basis upon which organizations can construct learning technologies that respond and adapt to volatile shifts in market conditions.
As you progress in your SAFe implementation journey, I recommend the following:
Keep in mind that the SAFe core values are not the end goal, but rather serve as the navigation for agility, innovation, and customer value guiding the journey. These core values will build an adaptable organization for the changing and evolving world.
A Lean/Agile Evangelist, Registered Scrum Trainer, Registered Scrum@Scale Trainer, SAFe Practice Consultant, SAFe Release Train Engineer, ICP-ACC Certified Enterprise Agile Coach, Advanced Scrum Master, and Scrum Professional. Passionate about helping teams excel and enjoy work. Specialties: scaled agile product development, lean engineering, DevOps, scrum and kanban, test-driven software, continuous integration, automated test, embedded software, C, C++, Matlab, Python
QUICK FACTS
Core values embody the basic attitude that drives the successful adaptation of agile methodologies throughout the organization. Without them, organizations tend to execute SAFe as a dynamics devoid of any cultural change needed for long-lasting effects. These values will shape conduct in cases where certain practices are not provided or need to be changed.
From my experience, organizations that embrace the core practices have over 70% of the potential operational benefits, unlike those that embrace the SAFe practices, which tap into 30-40% of the operational benefits. Without cultural transformation, organizations will revert to previously established practices in times of challenges.