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SAFe for Hardware Teams

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SAFe for Hardware Teams with SAFe Hardware Practitioner (SHWP) Certification

SAFe for Hardware Teams with SAFe Hardware Practitioner (SHWP) Certification

Bring Agile ways of working to the engineers who design and build physical systems

SAFe for Hardware Teams applies Lean-Agile practices to hardware development, with guidance and examples built for mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering rather than adapted from software. Over two days, teams learn to plan, deliver, and evolve physical systems inside an Agile Release Train: shifting learning left, designing for change, and building in compliance as development proceeds.

The course leads to the SAFe Hardware Practitioner (SHWP) certification.

This course is a strong fit when you need to:

  • Bring Agile ways of working to mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering teams
  • Shorten hardware learning cycles using digital, prototype, and manufacturing environments
  • Integrate hardware teams and suppliers into an Agile Release Train
  • Reduce late-stage risk by validating designs and assumptions earlier
  • Keep compliance and quality activities moving with development, not stacked at the end

Why Agile stalls in hardware

Many engineering organisations adopt Agile, see it work for their software teams, then find it loses momentum in hardware engineering. It stalls when:

  • A design decision takes months to validate, so feedback loops stay long
  • Mechanical, electrical, and software functions work in sequence, not as a team
  • Compliance and qualification are treated as a final gate rather than continuous activity
  • Suppliers are managed as vendors on fixed contracts, not integrated into delivery
  • Agile practices are applied as-is from software, where they don't fit the physics

SAFe for Hardware Teams builds the team-level capability to apply Agile in a hardware context, where the constraints are real and the cost of late change is high.

We offer SAFe for Hardware Teams in-house, online or in-person, for your people, set in your context and run on your dates.

Request in-house training

After a seat for yourself?
This course isn't run publicly, but one of our public SAFe courses might suit.


Why Choose Pretty Agile

Delivered by an aerospace engineer who contributed to the courseware

Your SAFe for Hardware Teams course is delivered by Adrienne Wilson, an aerospace engineer and SAFe Fellow who is also an SPCT and a contributing author of the SAFe for Hardware courseware.

That matters in a room full of engineers. Applying Agile to hardware, where a design decision can take months to validate, is a different problem from applying it to software, and it is taught here by someone who has worked in hardware engineering and helped shape the course itself.

Pretty Agile is Australia's most experienced Scaled Agile Partner and the authors of The ART of Avoiding a Train Wreck.

Who Should Attend

SAFe for Hardware Teams is designed for cross-functional teams that build physical and cyber-physical systems, and for engineering organisations bridging traditional development with Agile ways of working.

Typical participants include:

  • Systems engineers, developers, and engineering practitioners
  • Mechanical, electrical, and embedded engineers
  • Product and project managers
  • Team leads and engineering managers
  • Quality and compliance professionals
  • Agile teams that include or support hardware

This course is most effective when whole teams attend together, aligned to a shared engineering context. No prior SAFe certification is required. Experience working in or alongside an engineering environment is helpful.

What Changes After the Course

Following delivery, leaders should expect:

  • Shorter learning cycles, as teams validate designs in digital and prototype environments before committing to higher-cost ones
  • Hardware solutions designed for independent evolution, reducing the cost of late change
  • Mechanical, electrical, and software work planned and delivered together within an Agile Release Train
  • Compliance and quality activities integrated through development rather than concentrated at the end
  • Suppliers aligned to a shared cadence and roadmap instead of managed at arm's length
  • Decisions based on demonstrated, working increments rather than phase-gate documentation

SAFe for Hardware Teams strengthens the team-level capability that underpins faster, more predictable hardware delivery.

The course is delivered across seven focused modules:

  • Introducing SAFe — Building solutions in uncertain environments, digital disruption in hardware, and the Lean-Agile mindset
  • Forming Agile Teams as an ART — Building cross-functional hardware teams and aligning to the Agile Release Train
  • Connecting to the Customer — Customer centricity, design thinking, solution vision, and roadmaps
  • Planning the Work — Preparing the backlog, PI Planning, and team planning
  • Delivering Value — Accelerating learning cycles across engineering environments, sync events, and building quality in
  • Getting Feedback — Customer feedback, telemetry, Iteration Reviews, and System Demos
  • Improving Relentlessly — Retrospectives, flow accelerators, and Inspect & Adapt

Registration includes:

  • Two days of live, instructor-led training
  • Official SAFe course workbook with perpetual access
  • SAFe Studio membership, including the SAFe Hardware Practitioner learning plan
  • An unlimited practice test with question-level feedback
  • SAFe Hardware Practitioner (SHWP) certification exam access
  • Course certificate of completion

Participants must attend both days to be eligible for the SHWP certification exam.

Participants who attend both days of the course are eligible to sit the SAFe Hardware Practitioner (SHWP) certification exam.

The exam is 20 multiple-choice questions, 45 minutes, with a pass mark of 80 percent. It is web-based and closed book, accessed through the SAFe Studio learning plan after course completion. The first two attempts are included when taken within 60 days of course completion; further attempts incur a retake fee.

On passing, participants receive the SHWP certification, a certificate of completion, and a shareable digital badge. Certification is renewed annually through Scaled Agile and provides access to SAFe Studio resources.

Attendees may be eligible for PDUs and SEUs.

To claim PM PDUs, see the instructions on the Scaled Agile website. For SEUs, confirm requirements with Scrum Alliance's SEU policy.

SAFe for Hardware Teams is delivered as a private, instructor-led program for your organisation.

The course runs over two full days and can be delivered on-site at your premises or live online for distributed teams across Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia.

Sessions apply the practices directly to your engineering context, using hardware scenarios, planning exercises, and team-based work drawn from your operating environment. Alongside training, Pretty Agile supports the implementation itself, with the goal of building your organisation's capability to run SAFe without us.